Hardware ideas for new NAS Server?

[neonplanet40]

Hi guys,

I am looking to update my main server which is the following specs (it is being sold):

Home Server=Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R, Intel E4500 Core2Duo 2.20GHz, CMaster CM690, 400W ENERMAX , Gigabyte HD 2400 XT, Corsair TwinX 2GB DDR2 6400, , 3x Seagate 2TB, 2x 1.5TB WD Green, 3 X Samsung 1TB HDD, 2 X 500GB, Windows Home Server OS


Ideally I do not want to run WHS as its dire. However I did like how to stored all the hard drives as one big disk.

So I have 2 areas I need help with:

Hardware and software.

What hardware will I run it on? I do not want to spend much to be honest. I would like it to work well, not lag etc. Anyone have any ideas? I will want to be able to connect at least 8 Hard drives so the motherboard would need to be able to hold this (or separate SATA cards).

Unfortunately I haven't kept up to date on the latest low powered cpu's etc which is why I am stuck"



Finally - Software

I do have Windows 7 which I could run on it. However, how can I have my hard drives like they are on Windows Home Server - e.g. one large drive which you can duplicate easily at the click of a button?

Or is their another OS etc which would be better? Basically I want this drive to be a large 24/7 NAS which my Media centre etc can connect too?


Thank you for your help!

Mark

[shaithis]

If I was building again now, I would go with Kabinis and FreeNAS (again). The problem with Kabini though is lack of both SATA ports and PCI-E slots. It could get expensive to add >6 drives in the system (2 onboard + 4 port add-in card).....also RAM slots if you want to start doing things like ZFS with dedupe.

Moving away from Windows Home Server will mean going JBOD or proper RAID as well. Any thoughts on what type of disk system you want going forward?

[Biscuit]

Using FreeNAS with ZFS and RAIDz is a pretty decent option. You do have to have a lot of RAM (they recommend ~1GB per TB of usable storage IIRC) but there is a lot of support for the platform and you can put a system together with reasonably cheap hardware. Just make sure everything you get is ECC capable!
You will need to check Intel ARK, but im pretty sure some of the Pentium chips have ECC support.

[jim]

I have an 8 6 drive server in my sig, although it's got way more power than required for a NAS. The case is excellent though.

The downside is that the mobo can't run RAID10 on 6 drives, which is what I wanted. A RAID card or unix with software RAID would be my recommendation.

For software, there are quite a few unix options. I've used Openfiler as recommended when we were all buying the N36L servers, and it worked flawlessly. Now I've moved onto Server 2013, but that's for Windows-specific software and services rather than NAS capabilities.

[neonplanet40]

Is it not possible to use Windows 7 as the OS? Or is that quite limiting?

Ideally I wanted to keep away from RAID cards etc and I know absolutely nothing about them.

If I am honest - I want to try and build it (Minus hard drives) for about £350. But I don't know if that will be possible.

[jim]

Windows 7 would work, but it's a bit overkill. Ultimately you're just putting a bunch of files on a disk and sharing them by some means.

Also, you'd need to think really carefully about the storage solution because no RAID card means software RAID (or direct from the mobo, which in my experience can be stupidly fussy at times, and at worst it's just rubbish) and that's never been good in Windows (storage spaces may be an improvement in 8 / S2013, but it's not in 7 anyway).

Given that RAID cards aren't cheap, I can see the attraction of avoiding them, but in that event I'd be inclined to go with a unix solution with decent software RAID. My only proviso there is that when I had to set up Openfiler, it was hellish. It had a GUI etc, but nothing ever worked properly the first, second or third time and half the menus made no sense to me whatsoever. I've heard that Freenas is easier to work with though.

[neonplanet40]

This seems like a nightmare I thought I could just install Windows 7 (I have a spare copy) and then I could just use software raid. I assumed wrongly that it was no much better and more reliable

[Bonebreaker777]

Just throwing it out there -> XPEnology?

[shaithis]

This seems like a nightmare I thought I could just install Windows 7 (I have a spare copy) and then I could just use software raid. I assumed wrongly that it was no much better and more reliable

Essentially you can but Windows software raid isn't particularly good and the OS footprint is a lot heavier then needed.

I would just try slapping FreeNAS on and see how you go, its quite strait-forward to setup and has a very good software RAID implementation.

[Biscuit]

...I want to try and build it (Minus hard drives) for about £350. But I don't know if that will be possible.

Definitely possible. Even if you went the route of motherboard RAID which is a kind of hybrid between software RAID (as there is still notable CPU overheads) and hardware RAID (As the controller is on the motherboard) it would do what you wanted it to do, but its not really advised as you are relying on the motherboard for the arrays logic.

...My only proviso there is that when I had to set up Openfiler, it was hellish. It had a GUI etc, but nothing ever worked properly the first, second or third time and half the menus made no sense to me whatsoever. I've heard that Freenas is easier to work with though.

Both were hellish in the early revisions of the OS, but both have made huge steps forward. FreeNAS actually has a lot of support for plug ins such as PLEX and OpenVPN so its worthy of another plug.

I would just try slapping FreeNAS on and see how you go, its quite strait-forward to setup and has a very good software RAID implementation.

There is also a lot of guides on youtube to help you through the process of getting it set up.

[neonplanet40]

Seems I have some homework to do

Can anyone advise on a hardware list? Like I said, it doesn't need to be a beast but I don't want it to lag etc. Low powered would be great. I use my HP Microserver as my Media center. So my HP would just connect to this server for files etc.

[DanceswithUnix]

The problem with Kabini though is lack of both SATA ports and PCI-E slots. It could get expensive to add >6 drives in the system (2 onboard + 4 port add-in card).....also RAM slots if you want to start doing things like ZFS with dedupe.

Which is exactly why I went socket FM2. It still sips power on idle, but has the grunt to run a few VMs as well as serving files. I get 6 SATA ports, and 4 ram slots (now all full so glad of that).

[Bonebreaker777]

Seems I have some homework to do

Can anyone advise on a hardware list? Like I said, it doesn't need to be a beast but I don't want it to lag etc. Low powered would be great. I use my HP Microserver as my Media center. So my HP would just connect to this server for files etc.

I would say it depends how big machine you are happy to accommodate first (ATX,mATX,ITX). For example FM2 ITX boards tend to be more equipped for the same price as opposed to 1155/1150 boards.

Then Intel CPUs tend to offer more performance per clock per watt as opposed to AMD CPUs. They tend to be more expensive as well.

The IGP in the AMD CPUs is a miles better, as long as you can use it, otherwise it is wasted silicon and consumption.

My NAS is very nice what I am currently building and only costs £120 and is able to accommodate up to 4x drives (both the MoBo and the case).

[jim]

If you're trying to connect 8 drives, mITX probably won't be the best approach. And the case will need to be pretty beefy anyway. Personally I'd consider a Fractal R4 or XL, because the hard drives mount neatly, it's quiet and it's unobtrusive. Probably not a cheap option though - I can't remember now.

As for the machine itself, I'd be inclined to go FM2 if I could get the right motherboard - given your SATA requirements you should probably start with the motherboard and work from there.

[Bonebreaker777]

I missed the 8x drive requirement. My apologies.

If it is 8x drives, ATX sounds like the most sensible option but could be a nicely done mATX board. Unfortunately likely more expensive as well.

[neonplanet40]

Yes 8x drives is needed. I had thought ATX. I am not bothered if it isn't a small dainty box. It will be located out of the way anyway!

FM2 you say? I haven't bought an AMD cpu in 6 years