Wolvers' Home Server Build

[wolvers]

So the Synology NAS that I bought last year, a DS210j, has been a big succes. It's been one of the best bits of kit that I've bought in years and has become the main storage for everything in the house. It's made my life so much easier in backing things up and making the whole network so much more flexible.

But now it's nearly full, and instead of just replacing the drives with larger capacity ones I've decided that improvements could be made. It was my first venture into a proper NAS and so was only an entry level choice and subsequently isn't the fastest one on the market. It's also just a 2-drive unit so is less flexible in terms of array options and future expansion. This meant I went looking for a fast, 4-drive unit but was immediately having second thoughts because of the £370-£400 price tags I was seeing for NAS units that met these requirements.

After a bit of research into building my own home server I decided that this was the solution I would go with. I could build a fast (faster than any off the shelf unit), 4-drive server for a lot less cash. I just had to put in some time searching for the right components, assembling and setting it all up.

Here's the components I'll be building it with;


Case
CFI-A7879 4-Bay NAS Chassis - £95

I knew this was the right case as soon as I saw it. 4 bays in the front, large 120mm fan in the rear and no space wasted with other drives that I would not be needing.

The only reservation I have at this time is the small fan on the PSU. It's really important that the server is as quiet as possible so I may have to attend to that at some point. I'll see how it is when up and running and go from there.


Motherboard/CPU/RAM
Gigabyte GA-D525TUD with Intel Atom D525 and 2gb DDR3 - £95

It took some researching to find the right ITX motherboard as it was essential that I found one with support for 4 SATA drives and GB LAN. It was a toss up in the end between the Gigabyte and an Asus board with a large fanless heatsink. With the Asus being around £60 more I felt it was too much and that I can do something with the small fan on the Gigabyte board. Like the PSU fan I will tackle this later. One 2gb stick of DDR3 will go in it so that I have the option to add 2gb more later should I wish. Dual channel memory isn't a necessity for performance in server of this type and the dual core (hyper threading) 1.8ghz Atom is well beyond the spec of any off the shelf NAS.


Hard drives
Transcend 4GB IDE Flash Module - £35

As the server is going to have lots of spinning platters in it anyway, I wanted to avoid adding another just for the OS. A fully fledged SSD would have been overkill so in the end I've decide on the industrial IDE flash module. It's cheaper than an IDE/CF adapter and CF card and is a very neat and quiet solution. 4gb should be plenty for the OS.


Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s HDD - £65

The new Barracuda Green is the fastest 'green' drive and is well priced. It also draws just 6W under load, making a total of around 30W (the Atom boards rated power consumption is just 15W max!) Two drives will run in RAID1 to begin with.

So the total cost of the build is £225 (without HDDs), a big saving on the off the shelf units. This is helped by the OS being free, more on that and the build to come................

Comments extremely welcome.

 

[wolvers]

I was looking at those Gigabyte boards. Did you manage to find the DDR3 for them? It's DDR3 800 or something it takes... I looked everywhere. Could I find anyone selling it? Could I ****.

I just ordered DDR3 1333mhz as it was the slowest I could find anywhere and on the assumption that it will happily run at 800mhz. We'll see I suppose.

I was leaning more at the Intel variants as they're passively cooled and I'm trying to quieten down a horribly noisy 60mm or something heatsink fan and change my case to something using a power brick instead of the case PSU (the fan noise is ridiculous). What's the fan noise like on the CFI?

I don't know yet as I am still waiting for the flash drive to turn up before I can get it running. Those two fans are a concern though, but I'm hoping I can do something to slow them down or replace them. I did look at mobos with the brick PSU but they were all more expensive or didn't have enough SATA ports on board.

I have got the case though and I'm pretty happy with it. It's well built and well laid out and feels of reasonable quality. I'm particularly pleased with the amount razor sharp edges on it though!

 

[wolvers]

I know exactly what you're saying, I've got an D945GCLF board in another machine and the little CPU fan on that is pretty noisy. I'm fairly confident that I can slow it down though and it will still cool enough. Well, I'm hoping anyway.

The OS I've decided to use is Ubuntu Server edition. I found a good comparison of Ubuntu and FreeNAS on an Atom based system here;

Build Your Own Atom-based NAS - Part 2 - SmallNetBuilder

It's a little old but still relevant I feel and reading around it's recommended quite a lot, fast and doesn't seem overly complicated to set up.

 

[wolvers]

The server is up and running now. It took quite a bit of time to get it all working though, mostly due to my limited experience with Linux command line stuff. Just some final tweaking and setting up to do now.

It was worth it though as it's more than double speed for both read and writes compared to the Synology NAS. That's just for starters too as I have only set up Samba shares so far (native Windows access) but will be trying out NFS shares later which is supposed to much faster again, but takes more effort to set up.

Also, it was much much quieter than I was expecting. In fact the noisiest fan was the big 120mm one so I added a LNA adapter to it and the whole thing is whisper quiet now. : I'll be copying large volumes of files to it later so I'll find out then if either of the small fans starts to make a racket. It's been switched on for a few hours now though so it's looking good.

I'm seriously pleased, even did a jig if I'm honest!

Anyway here's some shots of the build. It's neat little case and the location of the PSU makes the wiring quite easy to tidy.

As usual comments very welcome.

 

[wolvers]

In the end I bought an Acer H340, which came with an Atom 1.6Ghz, 2GB DDR2, Windows Home Server and 2x1TB, all for £400.

They look good, and are available for £335 now I see which is good as it comes with those two 1TB drives. I've been able to build this one for £350 with two 2TB drives so I'm still fairly pleased with the build. I'm hoping that running Ubuntu Server will make it a little more flexible too, although so far I've a lot to learn!

Have you looked into the HP Proliant Microservers ?. Very similiar

Yeah, another good option. They have lower spec CPU and RAM though and the case it a bit bigger than I would have liked.

 

[wolvers]

I like this a lot. In particular thanks for the model number of the case, every time I've looked at doing something like this previously it's fallen down with the case, and I haven't found time to build one yet. That one looks ideal.

What speeds are you getting with it?

Please feel free to ask any configuration questions here, I haven't used Ubuntu for a while but do have a single disk NAS running Debian quite satisfactorily at present, startup scripts and the like will be similar if not identical.

Thanks Jon, nice to see you around. I had 40MB/s sustained earlier, which I believe it good for a Samba share. I intend to try out NFS at some stage as I have read that is faster.

I'm using Webmin so that I can configure it in a browser and it's working very well. Here is a screenshot of the front page in case you are unfamiliar with it;

I enjoy the simplicity of WHS, drive pooling is so simple and easy to use. I do see the advantages of linux as I use it all day a work, however for home use I couldn't be doing with the hassle of configuring and maintaining a linux server. I'd be to tempted to keep tweaking it and changing things.

I totally know what you mean, I'm forever playing and tweaking with all of our PCs. Still, that's the way we like it isn't it?!

Nice build mate. Thorough and the product details are helpful.

Let me know if you want to part company with the DS210J mate!

Cheers bud. The DS210j will be going on the MM soon.

 

[wolvers]

I have one question, in what ways is the flash module better than a USB stick?

It appears as an standard HDD so is simpler to configure for boot and installation of the OS, well that's my theory anyway. I though it was neater for the build and it's faster than a USB stick too.

 

[wolvers]

Sounds pretty good, quite an interesting thing, I wasn't aware of their existence. What is the performance like? Snappy enough to use? I might be interested in using one as a second boot drive to run ubuntu/mint for using when I build my next rig, can you get them any bigger (say 16/32gb) as it would be mainly for an SSH shell, but also some processing of files too (although I would have different hard drives too for files, but a couple of programmes would be useful).

There's a 16GB one but it's silly expensive. You're better off getting a cheap SSD.

 

[wolvers]

I'm trying to do exactly this at the moment but was struggling to find a decent looking small case. I found this http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&prod=43 but its quite big due to the stupid horizontal drive stacking and apparently it doesn't cool the drives that well, which is a shame because it looks pretty awesome!
The case you're using doesn't look too bad, any chance of a few more pics of the outside?
You mention that the 120mm was the noisiest and you used an LNA adapter to quieten it, what is an LNA adapter exactly?
Does the IDE flash module just sit on top of the IDE port? Is there a 2.5" drive bay in addition to the 4x 3.5" bays if I wanted to use that instead of the flash module?

Thanks

Tell me what pics you want and I'll post them.

The LNA adapter came with a Noctua fan that I have in another machine, it just reduces the voltage to the fan from 12v to 5v.

Yes, the flash module plugs straight into the IDE socket and yes there is a 2.5" drive bay internally that you could use instead.

Hope that helps.

 

[wolvers]

Thanks, just a few shots of the front/back of the case would be good.
With that motherboard, can all the SATA ports be used to make one large 4 disk array? Just thought I'd check since according to the gigabyte website each pair of ports has a different controller chip.

There isn't much more to show you of the front, other than with the door open (in the OP) but here is a shot of the back of the case.

It doesn't matter how the RAID works on the mobo as Ubuntu Server uses a software form of RAID, as does FreeNAS AFAIK, so it may depend on the OS that you choose as to whether this mobo is suitable for you or not. I hope that makes sense.

 

[wolvers]

40MB/s is very good for samba, I'm still using a 100mbit switch, so all I know for certain is that my NAS will saturate 100mbit. I'd be thrilled if it gets anywhere near 40 with a better switch. NFS is generally faster, but does limit you to communication with other linux machines. If you're doing backups or similar, rsync & rsnapshot are fantastic tools for reducing the amount of data transferred.

I just did a quick comparison transferring a 2.5GB video file from both network drives to the HDD of a PC attached via gigalan. The speeds were 28MB/s from the Synology and 52MB/s from the Ubuntu Server. I'm pretty pleased with that. I think it's possible to install an NFS client on windows PCs, it's something I'm looking into now.

Thanks for the backup sync recommendations I will look into those.

That's the first I've seen of webmin; I'm not convinced I like that.

Really? What's not to like? It's just a browser based config tool, like the Synology one, so that you can admin the server from any PC.

 

[wolvers]

Probably your best bet is to ask in the windows forum. Personally, I have no experience with any of the windows server versions.

 

[wolvers]

I suspect that whatever you do, the factor limiting performance is going to be the LAN speed. So, a few questions . . . have you tried:

• connecting a PC to the NIC via a crossover cable?
• replacing the RAM with a 512MB and/or 1GB stick?
• installing two sticks of RAM to test out the impact of dual channel memory

I haven't tried either of those items but you are correct that I am reaching the theoretical speed limits of gigalan. At this time I'm not too concerned with trying to push that further, although it may be something that I will look into in the future. I am considering getting another stick of 2GB RAM to see what impact more RAM and dual-channel may have on performance of transferring larger files.

You have 2 (out of a possible 4) x 2TB HDDs mirrored; I believe that there are reasons why it is challenging to move beyond 2TB - have you researched this?

Are you saying that the LinuxRAID package only supports up to 2TB? If you know more I'm keen to hear.

How will you backup this NAS box (assuming you plan to do so)?

USB drives plugged directly into the server, set to sync nightly.

As a completely unrelated question, is there any way of using this box as an external USB drive?

I've no idea, it's not something I have given any consideration to. Is that something you would want to do?

Finally, how noisy is the box and have you made any progress on silencing it still further?

I'm very happy with the noise levels now. The small fans are not noisy at all and the 120mm fan is inaudible now that I have reduced it's speed. While transferring large amounts of data I noticed that I could just about hear the HDDs in the DS210j (I forget what they are now), but the HDDs I have used in the Ubuntu Server could not be heard at all.

Again, a GREAT thread.

Thanks, everyone's feedback and help are much appreciated.

 

[wolvers]

This issue may only apply to NTFS partitions. I'm not sure if it an issue with LinuxRAID. Have a look HERE for an explanation and possible fixes.

The file system I chose is the newest linux one called ext4. I found this when searching so I think I'm OK for future storage expansion;

The ext4 filesystem can support volumes with sizes up to 1 exabyte and files with sizes up to 16 terabytes

May I ask why have you bothered with this? You already have the drives in RAID 1, the only thing more secure would be something off site or in a different location (which USB drives aren't) and it just makes it look untidy. If you wanted more redundancy why didn't you just use 4 drives in RAID 1?

The server isn't just backup for the PC's in the house, it is the main storage for them all (the HTPC for example has just one SSD with the OS on it) so it's important that I back those files up I feel. I figure that if the PSU or mobo dies it could take any and all HDDs, that are connected to them, with it so it's best to have a separate backup. Also, even if it dies and didn't damage HDDs I would have instant access to my files until the server is up and running again.

 

[wolvers]

I think ext3 is good for 32TB if you use the right block size.

 

[wolvers]

I'm not one hundred percent au fait with the particulars of hardware and software RAID, but if you had say 1 drive fail, with it being RAID 1 would you not just have to remove the other drive and plug it in elsewhere and it would work immediately anyway? Or is it different for software RAID?

Sorry for the inquisition I just find it interesting

If I'm totally honest, I'm not so au fait with it that much either! But I'm learning as I go. From what I was reading over the weekend, if one drive in the RAID1 array fails then it's a case of removing the faulty drive (I'm assuming that the error logs will indicate which one?), installing the new one, booting up and then running some commands to rebuild the array.

Found some info here;

http://tldp.org/FAQ/Linux-RAID-FAQ/x37.html#AEN145

When you get the new disk, power down the system, and install it, then partition the drive so that it has partitions the size of your missing RAID partitions. Once you have the partitions set up properly, just run mdadm --add /dev/md0 /dev/hdc1, where /dev/md0 is the RAID array you're adding the partition to, and /dev/hdc1 is the partition that you're trying to add. Reconstruction should start immediately.

If you would prefer to use the RAIDtools suite, you can use the command raidhotadd to put the new disk into the array and begin reconstruction.

'mdadm' by the way is the name of the LinuxRAID package.

 

[wolvers]

Would this RAM work with the D525 mobo http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-296-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1180 ? Would I need to do anything to make it run at 800 or will it just work when I plug it in?

That's basically the same as the RAM that I bought, except it's branded. I haven't checked to see what speed it's running at but I assume it's 800. All working fine though.

 

[wolvers]

Thanks.
If I wanted to go down the fanless route and use a motherboard like the Intel Desktop Board D525MW (which only has 2 SATA ports) is there enough space in the CFI-A7879 to add a PCI SATA card?
For the 120mm case fan, can you buy LNA adaptors separately or do they just come with some fans? Are they easy to fit?

There are boards available that have 4 SATA and are fanless. Asus AT3IONT-I is one and is also available with a laptop style PSU so you don't have to use the onboard PSU and that cuts out another fan.

If you were to tell me what size the PCI card is that you have in mind I can check it for you.

For controlling the 120mm fan just use one of these and you can set it whatever speed you like;

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=OA-000-ZA&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=189

I like the way you're thinking maximum silence!

In case you haven't met it yet, there's the Supermicro X7SPA-H and similar. The star points in my opinion are the two Intel 82574L Gigabit LAN ports, six sata, no fans. It does use sodimm unfortunately.

Not that two gigabit ports are particularly useful for a NAS I suppose, but it's a nice board nonetheless.

Very nice, looks like the perfect board. Bit pricey at £165 though. I like the dual LAN thing I was thinking of adding a second giga NIC to mine cos I though it would increase throughput. Not sure how or why though!

I've added a recycle bin to my samba share tonight by following this;

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=1252880&postcount=7

Before hand I added an SSH package to Webmin so that I can do all this stuff from my Win7 laptop.

 

[wolvers]

The AT3IONT-I only has an Atom 330 though, doesn't seem worth going fanless for lower spec processor.

I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure that the 330 is still powerful enough for a server.

Umm, can't seem to find the dimensions of the SATA card, I was thinking about using something like this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CC-000-LL

If you ask OcUK I'm sure they would give you the dimensions.

Is it worth buying the cheaper motherboard though if you then spend the difference on an SATA card that has more ports than you can use? There must be a cheaper one around that has just the 2 ports that you need.

I'm a bit confused by the samba recycle bin. Is it a safety mechanism against people deleting files by mistake?

Yes, I prefer it to work that way. Read only, I don't think, would be any good as the network drive is the primary storage for some PCs.

 

[wolvers]

No PCIe and PCI aren't cross compatible. I'm sure there are SATA controller cards available in both flavours though.

What size is the OS install?

Edit; search '4 Port SATA PCI Expansion Card &IDE VIA VT6421a chipset'. it's a fiver on the jungle place.