Home file server options

[razorsedge541]

I'm trying to figure out what exactly would be a good storage solution for a home file server.

I'm considering running raid 1 (mirrored) on the onboard RAID controller of a Asus P8H77-V LE motherboard, but I'm not sure if the onboard controller would be good for this application. Also, I'm not sure if I should go for something like two 3TB WD Red drives, or something different. Essentially any suggestions for the build (especially cutting costs where I don't need it but keeping solid parts and long warranties) would be greatly appreciated.

Not totally sure if this would be better suited in a build section of the forum, but depending on the reaction I might cross post it there.

Build:

Case: Corsair 400R ~$100

Storage: 2x 3TB WD Red Drives ~$170 Each

PSU: Corsair TX650 ~$90

Motherboard: Asus P8H77-V LE ~$120

CPU: i3-2100 ~$120

Cheers!

[Rain]

Assuming you are planning on using Windows, using onboard RAID will work fine for a mirror, but I advise against it. Down the road, if your board dies and you cannot get a replacement with the same chipset, newer boards may not recognize the old RAID volume.

Instead, try a Linux or FreeBSD based distribution that is made for this sort of thing. FreeNAS is the most popular and I highly recommend if you want to try something other than Windows and don't want to configure everything your self. Set up a software mirror (ZFS Mirror) in FreeNAS instead of using the onboard RAID, that way if the board works, all you need to do is boot the system with the drives plugged in on any other working board it will still recognize the volume. (Even if you are hell-bent on using Windows, at least try FreeNAS first; nothing ventured, nothing gained).

Also, don't install the OS to your main volume. It isn't good practice. Get the smallest name-brand SSD you can find and install the OS to that.

[razorsedge541]

Alright, thanks Rain!

Yeah I was considering something other than windows since this is kind of a budget type operation. So with ZFS, can I take one of the drives (if the other one died) and plug it into a windows build and have it read up? I guess I'm not sure how exactly the RAID mirror is set up if it's basically interpreted like the higher RAID levels or if it's all just plain files on there.

So in addition to storage, would a small ssd with hard drive backup work out? I guess I don't really see the need of an SSD in this non-performance system.

Speaking of non performance, what would you think of a Celeron G530? it's the same socket as the board I picked out, but considerably less cost (plus it's a 2.4 ghz dual core with onboard graphics, which is all I really forsee needing).

Cheers!

[Rain]

Yeah I was considering something other than windows since this is kind of a budget type operation. So with ZFS' date=' can I take one of the drives (if the other one died) and plug it into a windows build and have it read up?[/quote']No. Windows cannot read ZFS volumes. If the other drive died, you could still access the data in FreeNAS, and plugging in a new drive and initiating a "resilver" would recreate the mirror with the new drive and mirror all existing data over to it.

So in addition to storage' date=' would a small ssd with hard drive backup work out? I guess I don't really see the need of an SSD in this non-performance system.[/quote']The only reason I recommend an SSD is for reliability and lower power draw. You shouldn't (and can't in most cases) install the OS to one of the storage volumes; as cheap as SSDs are getting, you're much better off buying a $80 60gb Intel SSD than a $60 500gb 3.5in HDD, for example. Its only $20 more but much more reliable. Using a HDD (or even a USB stick) for the OS would be fine though.

Speaking of non performance' date=' what would you think of a Celeron G530? it's the same socket as the board I picked out, but considerably less cost (plus it's a 2.4 ghz dual core with onboard graphics, which is all I really forsee needing).[/quote']If you only plan on doing simple mirroring, the G530 will be fine, yes. If you ever plan on doing some sort of parity raid (ZFS RAIDZ/RAIDZ2 are similar to RAID5/6) down the road with more drives, the i3 will provide better performance.

[wpirobotbuilder]

Depends on what you want to do. If it's just for file storage and backups then you'll be fine with a Pentium or Celeron (go with the low-power if the CPU will be running 24x7, save a few bucks on your power bill. If you want it to also be a media server and be able to send multiple 1080p streams to other computers, you'll want to go with something more powerful.

As far as storage goes, the WD Red drives are very good for NAS. If you want a NAS solution, don't go with any consumer drives that aren't explicitly designed for it. However, if you intend on using Windows, you might want to look into Windows Storage Spaces, which can do 2 or 3-way mirrors and parity volumes. That would be a good solution, but make sure you are backing up your server as well (somewhere not on the computer)

[razorsedge541]

Yeah I was considering something other than windows since this is kind of a budget type operation. So with ZFS' date=' can I take one of the drives (if the other one died) and plug it into a windows build and have it read up?[/quote']No. Windows cannot read ZFS volumes. If the other drive died, you could still access the data in FreeNAS, and plugging in a new drive and initiating a "resilver" would recreate the mirror with the new drive and mirror all existing data over to it.

Alright, it doesn't sound too bad to recover a ZFS RAID array, but if windows can't read ZFS volumes, how would I use the file server? Obviously I'm not up to stuff on how ZFS works.

So in addition to storage' date=' would a small ssd with hard drive backup work out? I guess I don't really see the need of an SSD in this non-performance system.[/quote']The only reason I recommend an SSD is for reliability and lower power draw. You shouldn't (and can't in most cases) install the OS to one of the storage volumes; as cheap as SSDs are getting, you're much better off buying a $80 60gb Intel SSD than a $60 500gb 3.5in HDD, for example. Its only $20 more but much more reliable. Using a HDD (or even a USB stick) for the OS would be fine though.

Alright I'll definitely consider my options, then.

Speaking of non performance' date=' what would you think of a Celeron G530? it's the same socket as the board I picked out, but considerably less cost (plus it's a 2.4 ghz dual core with onboard graphics, which is all I really forsee needing).[/quote']If you only plan on doing simple mirroring, the G530 will be fine, yes. If you ever plan on doing some sort of parity raid (ZFS RAIDZ/RAIDZ2 are similar to RAID5/6) down the road with more drives, the i3 will provide better performance.

If I use an add-on RAID card for a RAID 5/6 setup, wouldn't all processing for parity be done on the dedicated card? I'm thinking the RAIDZ/RAIDZ2 uses the CPU due to the software nature of that RAID, correct?

Thanks for the input!!!

Cheers!

[razorsedge541]

Depends on what you want to do. If it's just for file storage and backups then you'll be fine with a Pentium or Celeron (go with the low-power if the CPU will be running 24x7' date=' save a few bucks on your power bill. If you want it to also be a media server and be able to send multiple 1080p streams to other computers, you'll want to go with something more powerful. As far as storage goes, the WD Red drives are very good for NAS. If you want a NAS solution, don't go with any consumer drives that aren't explicitly designed for it. However, if you intend on using Windows, you might want to look into Windows Storage Spaces, which can do 2 or 3-way mirrors and parity volumes. That would be a good solution, but make sure you are backing up your server as well (somewhere not on the computer)[/quote']

Alright the G530 seems to be the same wattage as an i3, so I'll check around for something sub 40W. I hadn't considered the issue of compressing data to send over the network (is that the right terminology?) to come into play with the file server. Seems pretty obvious, but I overlooked it.

My main reason in going with the Red drives was their longer warranty and, since I was planning on using them in RAID (even if it's a basic one), I thought the NAS optimization would prove useful. Also I was thinking of backing up onto a couple 2TB externals (maybe a 3TB one for a total image when I can). Would it be better to use two 3TB drives for the RAID 1, and then another 3TB in the system to serve as a daily backup or the like? Also I'll consider storage spaces, as I haven't really looked into it as of yet.

Cheers!

[Rain]

Alright' date=' it doesn't sound too bad to recover a ZFS RAID array, but if windows can't read ZFS volumes, how would I use the file server? Obviously I'm not up to stuff on how ZFS works.[/quote']Assume a drive in a ZFS mirror fails on your FreeNAS server. Because it is in a mirror, the other drive will (hopefully) still be functioning and therefore has all of the data. You will still be able to connect to the server and use the share as if the drive had not failed. When you plug in a new drive, you will be able to replace the dead drive in the mirrored volume with the new drive. This will copy all existing data from the still working drive onto the new drive and the volume will be in an optimal state again (two working drives). Windows itself is never involved; it all happens server-side.

If I use an add-on RAID card for a RAID 5/6 setup' date=' wouldn't all processing for parity be done on the dedicated card? I'm thinking the RAIDZ/RAIDZ2 uses the CPU due to the software nature of that RAID, correct?[/quote']Correct, but any RAID card that can handle RAID5/6 at acceptable speeds will be quite expensive.

[azeotrope]

If you want it to also be a media server and be able to send multiple 1080p streams to other computers' date=' you'll want to go with something more powerful.[/quote']

You don't need anything more poewrful for streaming. You can easily stream media from a G530. maybe not on windows, but definately on a linux/BSD box.

If you run RAIDZ/RAIDZ2 then there will probably be some slow down for gigabit copies over the network, especially writing to the server.

Alright' date=' it doesn't sound too bad to recover a ZFS RAID array, but if windows can't read ZFS volumes, how would I use the file server? Obviously I'm not up to stuff on how ZFS works.[/quote']

you simply SAMBA on the server, which is a linux/BSD implementation of the SMB/CIFS protocol. This way, windows will see your drives on your server like any other network storage. A lot of people don't seem to understand that a servers filesystem is not directly read over the network (unless you use iSCSI) but it is transmitted via some kind of protocol for read/write operations.

[MG2R]

This is what I did: get an ASUS AT3IONT-I deluxe, throw in two WDC green 2TB and a 32GB SSD in there. Throw Lunix (Ubuntu) on the machine and configure a software RAID1 with mdadm. I configured the machine to turn the hard drives off at night if noone had his computer turned on, so it was completely silent when I went to bed (it was in my bedroom).

Now, the ASUS board kind of misfunctioned and blew everything to pieces (still have all my data though), so next time, I'll probably be going for a dedicated PSU board instead, but you get the poiont. Unless you're doing something like a RAID 5, you don't really need a decent CPU. (I'll be doing a how to file serve with Linux guide on here when I get my new parts)

Oh and about the case: just build it out of Knex, that's what I did...

Pics: https://plus.google.com/photos/11477...22317703943905

--

EDIT: With my first iteration of the server, I did a how to in Dutch. Google translate can make that English for you, so you get a basic idea of what steps are required to configure Ubuntu as a file server.

Link: http://www.facebook.com/notes/simon-beirnaert/een-diy-nas-how-to/195006640523170

[azeotrope]

This is what I did: get an ASUS AT3IONT-I deluxe, throw in two WDC green 2TB and a 32GB SSD in there. Throw Lunix (Ubuntu) on the machine and configure a software RAID1 with mdadm. I configured the machine to turn the hard drives off at night if noone had his computer turned on, so it was completely silent when I went to bed (it was in my bedroom).

Now, the ASUS board kind of misfunctioned and blew everything to pieces (still have all my data though), so next time, I'll probably be going for a dedicated PSU board instead, but you get the poiont. Unless you're doing something like a RAID 5, you don't really need a decent CPU. (I'll be doing a how to file serve with Linux guide on here when I get my new parts)

Oh and about the case: just build it out of Knex, that's what I did...

Pics: https://plus.google.com/photos/11477...22317703943905

--

EDIT: With my first iteration of the server, I did a how to in Dutch. Google translate can make that English for you, so you get a basic idea of what steps are required to configure Ubuntu as a file server.

Link: http://www.facebook.com/notes/simon-beirnaert/een-diy-nas-how-to/195006640523170

I suspect that you could do raid5 with that board and still max out a gigabit conneciton, if you configure it correctly

[MG2R]

This is what I did: get an ASUS AT3IONT-I deluxe, throw in two WDC green 2TB and a 32GB SSD in there. Throw Lunix (Ubuntu) on the machine and configure a software RAID1 with mdadm. I configured the machine to turn the hard drives off at night if noone had his computer turned on, so it was completely silent when I went to bed (it was in my bedroom).

Now, the ASUS board kind of misfunctioned and blew everything to pieces (still have all my data though), so next time, I'll probably be going for a dedicated PSU board instead, but you get the poiont. Unless you're doing something like a RAID 5, you don't really need a decent CPU. (I'll be doing a how to file serve with Linux guide on here when I get my new parts)

Oh and about the case: just build it out of Knex, that's what I did...

Pics: https://plus.google.com/photos/11477...22317703943905

--

EDIT: With my first iteration of the server, I did a how to in Dutch. Google translate can make that English for you, so you get a basic idea of what steps are required to configure Ubuntu as a file server.

Link: http://www.facebook.com/notes/simon-beirnaert/een-diy-nas-how-to/195006640523170

Not really, During a file transfer you only get 50MB/s. Samba for some reason needs a lot of CPU power and works single threaded (well, a single thread per file transfer, I think), so you're stuck at 50-60% of a gigabit link. Throw RAID5 in that equation and it might be even less...

[azeotrope]

This is what I did: get an ASUS AT3IONT-I deluxe, throw in two WDC green 2TB and a 32GB SSD in there. Throw Lunix (Ubuntu) on the machine and configure a software RAID1 with mdadm. I configured the machine to turn the hard drives off at night if noone had his computer turned on, so it was completely silent when I went to bed (it was in my bedroom).

Now, the ASUS board kind of misfunctioned and blew everything to pieces (still have all my data though), so next time, I'll probably be going for a dedicated PSU board instead, but you get the poiont. Unless you're doing something like a RAID 5, you don't really need a decent CPU. (I'll be doing a how to file serve with Linux guide on here when I get my new parts)

Oh and about the case: just build it out of Knex, that's what I did...

Pics: https://plus.google.com/photos/11477...22317703943905

--

EDIT: With my first iteration of the server, I did a how to in Dutch. Google translate can make that English for you, so you get a basic idea of what steps are required to configure Ubuntu as a file server.

Link: http://www.facebook.com/notes/simon-beirnaert/een-diy-nas-how-to/195006640523170

Then you must have samba configured wrong, or maybe your network is configured wrong. samba uses 10-20% of a single core on my setup, with a cpu that's not much better than an atom. Have a look at your TCP socket options, you may be able to tweak that for better performance. also have a look at your packet transfer size in relation to the frame size you NIC uses

[wpirobotbuilder]

You don't need anything more poewrful for streaming. You can easily stream media from a G530. maybe not on windows' date=' but definately on a linux/BSD box. [/quote']

True that.

[MG2R]

This is what I did: get an ASUS AT3IONT-I deluxe, throw in two WDC green 2TB and a 32GB SSD in there. Throw Lunix (Ubuntu) on the machine and configure a software RAID1 with mdadm. I configured the machine to turn the hard drives off at night if noone had his computer turned on, so it was completely silent when I went to bed (it was in my bedroom).

Now, the ASUS board kind of misfunctioned and blew everything to pieces (still have all my data though), so next time, I'll probably be going for a dedicated PSU board instead, but you get the poiont. Unless you're doing something like a RAID 5, you don't really need a decent CPU. (I'll be doing a how to file serve with Linux guide on here when I get my new parts)

Oh and about the case: just build it out of Knex, that's what I did...

Pics: https://plus.google.com/photos/11477...22317703943905

--

EDIT: With my first iteration of the server, I did a how to in Dutch. Google translate can make that English for you, so you get a basic idea of what steps are required to configure Ubuntu as a file server.

Link: http://www.facebook.com/notes/simon-beirnaert/een-diy-nas-how-to/195006640523170

Hmmm, will be looking into this when I get my parts back. Thanks!

BTW: what CPU are you talking about?

[azeotrope]

This is what I did: get an ASUS AT3IONT-I deluxe, throw in two WDC green 2TB and a 32GB SSD in there. Throw Lunix (Ubuntu) on the machine and configure a software RAID1 with mdadm. I configured the machine to turn the hard drives off at night if noone had his computer turned on, so it was completely silent when I went to bed (it was in my bedroom).

Now, the ASUS board kind of misfunctioned and blew everything to pieces (still have all my data though), so next time, I'll probably be going for a dedicated PSU board instead, but you get the poiont. Unless you're doing something like a RAID 5, you don't really need a decent CPU. (I'll be doing a how to file serve with Linux guide on here when I get my new parts)

Oh and about the case: just build it out of Knex, that's what I did...

Pics: https://plus.google.com/photos/11477...22317703943905

--

EDIT: With my first iteration of the server, I did a how to in Dutch. Google translate can make that English for you, so you get a basic idea of what steps are required to configure Ubuntu as a file server.

Link: http://www.facebook.com/notes/simon-beirnaert/een-diy-nas-how-to/195006640523170

It's an AMD a4 3400. SAMBA can be tricky to optimize well, but it can be worth it if you want to squeeze some extra performance like anything linux.