DIY NAS build help and advice needed!

[mergwyn]

I currently have a ReadyNAS NV+ that has worked well but that I have now decided to replace as it is too slow. After some experience of using Debian squeeze on another server and inspired by the experience of other people in the forum, I decided not to buy an off the shelf NAS but to build my own.

My proposed build is:

CFI A7879 Case, £89
E35M1-I DELUXE, £91
OCZ Technology 32GB Onyx 32Gb, £50
Kingston Valueram 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1066MHz, £22
disks in from my existing NAS
OS Ubuntu Server
Total £252

Case
I also considered the Chenbro es34169 but decided that the extra £30 was not justified.

Motherboard/CPU
I chose this over something like the Gigabyte GA-D525TUD with Intel Atom D525 as I the CPU is a little faster and 5xSATA 6.0 Gb/s ports, 1xExternal SATA 6Gb/s and 2 USB3. I figure this gives me better performance and more options.

I want the NAS to be efficient but powerful. Is it worth spending the extra to get a mobo capable of taking a low TDP CPU such as the i3-2100T or a Xeon E3-1220L (or an MAD equivalent)? Although these have a higher TDP, I understand they are very good when idling, which the NAS will do most of the time, and have the extra power when needed.

OS
Which file system is recommended. I was planning to use ext4 in a RAID 5 eventually, but wondered if XFS will be better? I have also been reading about ZFS, but that would push me towards Opensolaris with which I have no experience. I am also concerend about ZFS performance and a relatively low powered CPU.

I am also toying with the idea of using the box as a VM server, either using KVM, VMWare or Cisco. Will the atom/Zacate processor be pwoerful enough, or do I have to move to a more pwoerful CPU.

I welcome your thoughts and opinions!

Many thanks
Mergwyn

 

[GregN]

The big question that all DIYers should answer, is what is the primary use that you are going to use your NAS for? Filesize, multi-node usage, random vs. sequential access all impact decisions to be made. The advantage of DIY projects is that you can save money, and customize the NAS to your needs. Double Plus Good.

You have not configured a raid card, which means software raid, if going software raid I'd recommend FreeNAS with ZFS, the issue here is memory ZFS is more memory hungry, 4GB should be fine. Yes the performance is not quite as good with EXT4, but featurewise it is by far much more flexible.

Beyond filesystem performance, you need to look at Raid performance, Raid-Z scales much better than software raid-5 with EXT4. But again, it is partially dependent on how you are using your NAS, Media files (large amount of sequential I/O) vs. small file shared storage make a big difference, Raid-5 EXT4 seems to handle small files quicker.

Of the filesystems you mentioned, benchmarks indicate that EXT4 will give you better performance.

I'm not a fan of the Realtek 8111 embedded controllers, lower performance and driver issues are commonplace. If you can find a server board with Intel NIC(s). I'm a fan of supermicro, but that comes at a price.

I've not run any VMs, so I'm not up to speed, maybe someone else can address that.

Need Hot Swap? Other than Noise I really like the Norco 4220.

 

[mergwyn]

Thanks for the very quick reply. The NAS is for mixed use, it holds all (ie 4!) home directories for the family as well serving music and pictures. We don't currently have many movies on disk. I currently also use it to serve a number of virtual box disks, but I will probably move them off the new NAS.

I am assuming software raid, and based on you comments and other research I am getting more interested in ZFS. I was wondering if ZFS disk formats are compatible, ie once I have set up ZFS with one OS can I install another without reformatting the data disks?

Thanks for the tip on realtek NICS, I'll do some more research on alternate boards.

Finally, the Norco looks good, but is much too big for me. I can live without hot swap, but do want a small case.

 

[GregN]

Take a look at the Wikipedia entry for ZFS, the ability to migrate appears to be based on the zpool version (table of OSes at the end of the entry), and the FreeBSD version seems highly compatible.

Take a look at the SuperMicro Sandy Bridge board, C7Q67 that combo'ed with a Celeron G440 doesn't pull more than an Atom processor, both are rated at 35W.

What is nice about this sol'n is that it doesn't dead end, it is wholly upgradable, and supports usb3 and sata3. One of those pay me now, or pay me later situations. The Asus board is a one shot, and SM has significantly better support.

I should have looked at the Chenbro you listed, I'm mostly familiar with their server cases....

Have you looked at the Fractal Design case
or the Lian-LI case?

It seems the folks recently do builds have spoken well of them

 

[Hydaral]

I am assuming software raid, and based on you comments and other research I am getting more interested in ZFS. I was wondering if ZFS disk formats are compatible, ie once I have set up ZFS with one OS can I install another without reformatting the data disks?

Yes, as long as the new OS supports the same or higher ZFS version.

It's actually very simple, you just tell the OS you want to export a file system, and it will make sure everything is written to disk then remove all references of it from the current OS. Then you pull the disks and put them in the new machine and tell it to import, it even remembers all the settings for the pool because they are stored within the pool on the disk, not on the host OS.

http://dlc.sun.com/osol/docs/content/ZFSADMIN/gbchy.html

 

[mergwyn]

Thanks, that's great. I think this wekeend I will investigate alternate mobos and CPU options that deliver a good combination of performance and low power consumption. Does anyone know of any MD equivalents of the I3-2100T or Xeon E3-1220L??

 

[GregN]

Take a look at this

I think there is no AMD competitor (yet) that has the same excellent power to processing ratio, I think the closest is the A8-3850

Did you look at the new sandy bridge Celerons? From a review:

...However, there is also a very interesting Celeron G440 model that stands out from the rest of the line-up. This is a single-core processor with minimal clock speed, which, in fact, shouldn’t be called Celeron to begin with. But if we disregard this inconsistency and look at it as a nettop product, like Atom, for example, it will look way better. While its power consumption is at comparable level with the rivals’, it offers slightly better computational performance and radically better graphics, which is also capable of hardware HD video decoding. As a result, Celeron G440 based platforms can successfully compete with AMD Brazos in many aspects, including price. And even though E-350 processors appeal to users with their more advanced graphics, Celeron G440 CPUs boast higher average performance in regular applications and flexibility for future upgrades.

 

[mergwyn]

That's a really interesting link and on that basis the i3-2100T beats an atom hands down on most things except fully loaded power consumption. The only drawback is the initial higher cost. This would be a mch more powerful server, with just about the same power consumption. More research on a board to match next.

Thanks for all you help.

 

[GregN]

Did you look at the C7Q67 super micro board I mentioned?

It has dual Intel NIC, form factor is mATX, 6 Sata ports, 3xPCIe 2 slots (16,4,1)

Perfect for a mATX low power NAS, only issue I can see is price.

 

[mergwyn]

I did, and it looked perfect in terms of spec. I am struggling to find a source in the UK though.

 

[GregN]

I did, and it looked perfect in terms of spec. I am struggling to find a source in the UK though.

Write or call them, their support is top notch - they helped me with a 5 yr old PCI-X motherboard I bought used, I was impressed. (but in a jaded sort of way )

When I was living in the UK I found that I could often save cash by buying in the states and having friends ship abroad (even with shipping I'd save at least 20% on it). Given that the UK hasn't banned price fixing, you can often get a much better price here.

Had a friend, another expat, his policy was buy bespoke in the UK, anything mass manufactured, in the states (ticket items, other than cars, with cars your screwed in the UK).

If you need a friend on this side of the pond, let me know.

 

[mergwyn]

GregN, the board you suggest is micro ATX, and the case I am planning to use is mini ITX. I'll carry on looking over the weekend.

Mergwyn

 

[GregN]

I did, and it looked perfect in terms of spec. I am struggling to find a source in the UK though.

Dude,

SuperMicro is the Man....

Check it out, X9SCV-Q-O In the UK and BE

174 Euros, not bad. What 140/150 GBP? Here $195, 130 GBP - couldn't find a Sterling price....

Other boards, not nearly as nice. But maybe easier to find.

 

[mergwyn]

My proposed build is:

CFI A7879 Case, £89
E35M1-I DELUXE, £91
OCZ Technology 32GB Onyx 32Gb, £50
Kingston Valueram 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1066MHz, £22
disks in from my existing NAS
OS Ubuntu Server
Total £252

Afte lots of advice, I am settling on a proposed config of:

• Crucial 64GB m4 SATA 6Gb/s 2.5" Solid State Drive, £77
• CFI A7879 Case, £89
• Intel Core i3-2100T, 2x 2.50GHz, £73
• Kingston Valueram 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1066MHz, £22 (might upgrade to 8GB for another £10)
• ASUS 1155 P8H67-I M-ITX, £89 (has x6 SATA and x2 USB3)

I'm still checking out a possible SuperMicro board.

My last (?) questions are:

1. Do I need any CPU cooling?
2. Will the cirtualisation support avaiable for the i3-2100T be find to run a 2-3

VMs on this setup?

Thanks for all your help so far.

 

[GregN]

Build out looks good.

I like the look of the case, but couldn't find any reviews addressing the build quality or how easy it is to wire.
The Asus board is running the RealTek NIC, recommend against it, go Intel.

My last (?) questions are:

• Do I need any CPU cooling?
  Cooler and FAN that Intel includes should be fine
  
  
• Will the virtualisation support available for the i3-2100T be fine to run a 2-3 VMs on this setup?
  Not an expert on VMs, running them shouldn't be a problem, less powerful Xeons are used all the time, the performance hit I just don't know. Somebody with more experience with VMs?

Hope that is of some help

 

[mergwyn]

Hi GregN, thanks for all your advice.

I would also prefer to go with an intel NIC but, apart from the SuperMicro board, have struggled to find an ITX 1155 board with x5+ SATA, USB3 and Intel NIC. I have contacted SM and am waiting a call back for a price on the board you suggested.

Compromise is never easy and I was encouraged to go for the RealTEK NIC by the fact VMWare now supports them. I need the USB for my backups of the new machine.

 

[GregN]

Oops, I'm not sure if the triple post is an editorial comment or one of those things. If an error, you can delete the extra posts by Edit->Delete.

 

[mergwyn]

I've been a bit busy at work and so had to pause this project. I did hear from SuperMicro and the UK price is about £180 which is a little expensive for me.

I'll post back when I have time to pick this up again.

 

[GregN]

I've been a bit busy at work and so had to pause this project. I did hear from SuperMicro and the UK price is about £180 which is a little expensive for me.

I'll post back when I have time to pick this up again.

Bummer, high price. I think the US price is just over $200.

Thanks for updating us, what board have you decided to go with?

 

[mergwyn]

The asus board is in pole position at the moment, but I am trying to find an alternative that has an intel NIC.