My new file Server

Wyvern971

Wyvern971

Wyvern971

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Joined
6 Oct 2004
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London
Just built a file server (after scraping togather enough cash for the Controller & HDDs)

Previously been using a Maxtor 200Gb drive for file storage, and frankly it was a pain to have to switch my main rig on to have to get at files (and it was getting a bit full)

Anyway I had a Lian Li PC 6 case and a P3 500 rig spare....

I bought a 5 port XFX REVO raid card (as it's cheap £50ish)

5 SATA 250Gb Samsung Spinpoint HDDs (I know only 250Gb but they are quiet and I really don't need more than 1Tb of storage)

The Revo Card:
Uses RAID 3, only supports SATA (not SATA II)

Anyway Pics
Box for Revo Card
STA60010.JPG


In The box you get:
The Card itself
STA60013.JPG


5 Green SATA cables

STA60014.JPG
 
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For the OS I installed UBUNTU 6.06 Server (i.e. stripped down)

I installed webmin using instructions on the FAQ and got it set up.

The longest job was copying data to the server though 190Gb takes ages over ethernet.

RAID Definitions
http://linux.cudeso.be/raid.php

The REVO card:
Upside:
Cheap
RAID 3 so reasonably fast
Very easy to set up - in the BIOS screen for the card it takes about 5 mins even for a noobie

Downside
No SATA II support
Drivers - though it does state it's "driverless" if you plan to use LINUX then I found quite a few distros (particularly older ones do NOT pick it up (the latest UBUNTU release does.

Feel free to ask questions :)

EDIT:
I chose the Samsungs as they are quiet and I want the File Server to be as quiet as possible,

The fans in the case are Papst 80mm fans and the PSU is a Tagan

The CPU is a slot CPU and in the last pic you should be able to see I've mounted an 80mm fan where the old fan was (50mm I think)

With all the above measures the case is virtually silent
 
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Is it fast?
What would you say is the limiting component, are the disks working flat out or are they waiting for the cpu?

Have you got a fan in front of the disks?
With that many together in a small space you might need one.

Looks like a successful project. :)
 
Joe42 said:
Is it fast?
Click to expand...
It works fine, though I did find that while copying data to it reading from another PC did slow down vid playback on my brothers PC (at the time though I was copying over my MP3s from my main rig circa 40Gb)

Joe42 said:
What would you say is the limiting component, are the disks working flat out or are they waiting for the cpu?
Click to expand...

It's a network file Server so the limiting factor would be the network connection as it's only 100Mb (though even running at 1Gb I doubt this would change)

Joe42 said:
Have you got a fan in front of the disks?
With that many together in a small space you might need one.
Click to expand...

Yes there are 2 x 80mm PAPST fans in front of the drive cage


Joe42 said:
Looks like a successful project. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks :D
 
did u partiton any of the drives?

how do you go about backing up files on your server?

what is the server going to be used for?

what cpu do you have in the pc's accessing the server?

how much was overall setup costs?

overall looks great :) well done m8!!!
 
xirokx said:
did u partiton any of the drives?
Click to expand...

Nope just let the installer do it's thing as I'm not a bit of a linux noob

xirokx said:
how do you go about backing up files on your server?
Click to expand...

I haven't.

The drive is 953Gb which would require a very expensive solution to back up anless I invest in another and cluster them - Don't put ideas in my head I can't afford it :(
(it's raid 3 so unless more than 1 drive goes at the same time it will be fine)

xirokx said:
what is the server going to be used for?
Click to expand...

File Server and nothing else, I've already got a mail / web server and am building an IP PBX in the next couple of weeks

xirokx said:
what cpu do you have in the pc's accessing the server?
Click to expand...

P3 500 384Mb RAM

xirokx said:
how much was overall setup costs?
Click to expand...

£300 for the card + HDDs

+ old CPU / MoBo / RAM / case which I already had

xirokx said:
overall looks great :) well done m8!!!
Click to expand...

Thanks :D
 
Realistically you might be best off getting a tape drive and using it to put your REALLY important stuff on.

edit - I haven't read through fully but don't forget a UPS surge protection jobby.
 
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The problem with raid is it only prevents data loss caused by hardware failure, it won't help if you accidentally delete something and want it back.
 
Joe42 said:
The problem with raid is it only prevents data loss caused by hardware failure, it won't help if you accidentally delete something and want it back.
Click to expand...

I know, just means I have to be careful not to accidentally delete something.

I've also got it running off a UPS (actually all my PCs run off UPS's (plural?)
It's not very expensive tbh I've got several APC 1000s and a couple of 650s and a beast of a 2200.

FirebarUK said:
That's where the ADIC 10k with Tivoli Storage Manager comes in ;)
Click to expand...

Do you work for them or something? Because I wouldn't recommend something like that to a home user because of the costs involved.
 
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Ooooh you run all PC's off a UPS, nice one although quite expensive I suppose.
I only use surge protectors personally as my little file server isn't very important.
 
Silver_&_Gold said:
You should have used gigabit!!

I can transfer 4.36Gb files to and from my fileserver in about 85 seconds :D
Click to expand...

I don't have any Gb ethernet cards spare (even though they are cheap) and unfortunately my 3Com switch is 10/100 (24 port managed) as is my Cisco 2950
 
Just curious, have you looked at network utilisation in task manager when its transferring to check that its near 100%?
I presume wired networks get close to their max theoretical throughput, unlike wireless ones?

Mine went to about 85% when transferring from a freecom network drive and i wonder if this was limited by the network...
 
Joe42 said:
Just curious, have you looked at network utilisation in task manager when its transferring to check that its near 100%?
I presume wired networks get close to their max theoretical throughput, unlike wireless ones?

Mine went to about 85% when transferring from a freecom network drive and i wonder if this was limited by the network...
Click to expand...

I haven't tested this, unfortunately I don't have any software on the server to record this.

The only way I could check would be to see what % the source PC is utilising of it's network connection (which I think may not be particularly accurate)

I can give this a go tonight if you'd like to know

EDIT:
Right just checked it out it seems to top out at 70% network utilisation, but remains fairly solid

And Thanks Curiosityx, it is a shame it isn't raid 5, I guess the old addage applies, you get what you pay for. At the end of the day it's no longer on a single disk but a raid array which is the most important part.
 
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I must admit Wyvern971 im impressed, the setup looks extreamly tidy and well thought through, Top Marks!

Im often hearing the phrase "Ive build a file server" only to find out they have bought an external IDE USB drive and hooked it up.

This is Pleasant surprise, shame the card doesnt support Raid 5 but it will be more than fast enough over a Lan connection.


:)
 
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Wyvern971 said:
EDIT:
Right just checked it out it seems to top out at 70% network utilisation, but remains fairly solid
Click to expand...
Is that the limit of the network or does that suggest its limited by something else?
 
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