New server - check spec please

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 651465
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Deleted member 651465

Deleted member 651465

Hi guys,

Can you have a look at the following spec. I am replacing my current DroboPro with Mac Mini setup, for a single unit, and like the look of WHS 2011.

  • Asus P8H77-I Intel H77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 MiniITX Motherboard
  • Fractal Design Array R2 Mini-ITX NAS Case
  • Intel Core i5-3450S 2.80GHz (Ivybridge) Socket 1155
  • Corsair Memory Vengeance Jet Black Low Profile 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz CAS 9
  • LSI MegaRAID SAS 9240-8i KIT Controller Card
  • MS WIN HOME SERVER 2011 64-BIT

I already have plenty of hard drives (6), and I know the RAM is excessive, but I want things to last :)
 
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Your motherboard is Micro ATX and the case is Mini-ITX. You need a bigger case or a smaller board.

What are you going to be running on the server, a 2500K might be overkilll.
 
jamesfreddie said:
1) What do you currently use the mac mini for?
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The DroboPro is connected to my Mac Mini as a massive storage array. Without the Mac Mini being switched on, I cannot access the storage.

jamesfreddie said:
2) The board you have put is MATX and the case is MITX.
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Can you spec a MITX board? My only requirement is that it can run 6 SATA HDDs.

ChileanLlama said:
Your motherboard is Micro ATX and the case is Mini-ITX. You need a bigger case or a smaller board.

What are you going to be running on the server, a 2500K might be overkilll.
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Just want it to run WHS 2011 and be able to stream HD rips across a gigabit network.
 
jamesfreddie said:
Where are you streaming the HD rips to? Does the device decode the rip?

What sort of backups are you going to have?
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By streaming, I mean, I want to be able to open the .MKV files from the NAS and play them on a PC or use AirVideoServer to transcode them to play on iPhones/ iPads etc.

For backup, I wanted to get a RAID card and run RAID 5.
 
EVH said:
By streaming, I mean, I want to be able to open the .MKV files from the NAS and play them on a PC or use AirVideoServer to transcode them to play on iPhones/ iPads etc.

For backup, I wanted to get a RAID card and run RAID 5.
Click to expand...

Will you be streaming to more than one iphone/ipad at a time?

I would reccomend using Drive Bender or simular for backup/raid.
 
jamesfreddie said:
You could use this motherboard

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8H67I/

Or the H77 model http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-523-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2071
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What is the difference? The H77 is significantly easier to come by!

jamesfreddie said:
Will you be streaming to more than one iphone/ipad at a time?

I would reccomend using Drive Bender or simular for backup/raid.
Click to expand...

Probably 2 iOS devices at any one time, not really thought about it. I just want to get the hardware up and running first.

When you say Drive Bender, do you mean to use that instead of the built in WHS backup utility? :)
 
EVH said:
What is the difference? The H77 is significantly easier to come by!



Probably 2 iOS devices at any one time, not really thought about it. I just want to get the hardware up and running first.

When you say Drive Bender, do you mean to use that instead of the built in WHS backup utility? :)
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I didn't see the H77 version when i was looking but then i saw it. I would get the H77 version because its a later chipset and is eaiser to get.

If you want a i5 go with a 3570k as they are lower power consumption and are later.

WHS 2011 doesn't have a Drive Extender util built in anymore so you have to use a add in/program to get the functionality.
 
I don't want an i5, but it seems like a decent CPU for the purpose, although I have been tempted to upgrade my main PC which could free up an i7 2600K :D

What is your view on hardware RAID?
 
EVH said:
I don't want an i5, but it seems like a decent CPU for the purpose, although I have been tempted to upgrade my main PC which could free up an i7 2600K :D

What is your view on hardware RAID?
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I think hardware raid is good if you have the money and need a system that can run on 2 failed drives. But for most home users Drive Bender is good enough.

I think a i3 would do what you want with out a problem. So a i5 will be abit wasted.
 
So, would the system continue to run on 1 failed drive, using software RAID?

This may change my plans somewhat :)
 
I'd agree if the decoding is being done on the client device, an i3 should be more than sufficient. If the server is going to be shut away and on 24/7 it's a good idea to try get something power efficient and as cool as possible.

As for RAID what number and what size are your drives? If you used your chipset RAID, in RAID 1 you could survive a single drive failure. But WHS2011 allows you to set certain drives as "backup". So it backups your primary shares to another drive on a set schedule. It's obviously not real time, but offers some protection, especially against accidental deletions. It also gives you the option to only backup the shares that are critical rather than the entire drive, so saves you disk space.

Edit: What do you mean by software RAID? Such as MS dynamic disks? Or a chipset RAID? Also are you including your system disk/partition?
 
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ChileanLlama said:
As for RAID what number and what size are your drives? If you used your chipset RAID, in RAID 1 you could survive a single drive failure. But WHS2011 allows you to set certain drives as "backup". So it backups your primary shares to another drive on a set schedule. It's obviously not real time, but offers some protection, especially against accidental deletions. It also gives you the option to only backup the shares that are critical rather than the entire drive, so saves you disk space.

Edit: What do you mean by software RAID? Such as MS dynamic disks? Or a chipset RAID? Also are you including your system disk/partition?
Click to expand...

It sounds like you are talking about Drive Extender in WHS V1. And not 2011.
 
No in WHS2011, say you have 2 drives, you can create your shares on one drive and then set your second drive as a backup. You then setup Server backup on a schedule and it runs the W2K8R2 backup to the backup drive, as part of setting up the schedule you can choose which shares and folders are contained in the backup (very similar to the WHS2011 client backup properties).
 
Thanks for the input guys.

I've made up my mind now, I will buy a hardware RAID card and run 6 drives off that, then use a smaller SSD as a boot drive from the motherboard. In effect, I will have the maximum number of drives that the case will fit, and I won't be stuck with limited motherboard options.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CC-003-LI&campaign=pcm/googleshopping

This is the card I've seen. It can handle up to 8 drives at 6GBps, so should be plenty.

Just need to decide on the i3/i5 route and I'll be ready to buy. One is almost double the price of the other, so that'll depend what I can sell the Mac Mini and DroboPro for :)

Thanks again!
 
Yeah. I like the monolithic look, and it's not a million miles away from what I had in mind when I originally got my Drobo.
 
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