Thomas Burgess wrote:
On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 4:46 AM, Dan Dascalescu
<bigbang7+opensola...@gmail.com
<mailto:bigbang7%2bopensola...@gmail.com>> wrote:
Please recommend your up-to-date high-end hardware components for
building a highly fault-tolerant ZFS NAS file server.
I've seen various hardware lists online (and I've summarized them
at http://wiki.dandascalescu.com/reviews/storage.edit#Solutions),
but they're on the cheapo side. I want to build a media server and
be done with with for a few years, (until the next generation
storage media (holograms? nanowires?) becomes commercially
available. So please, knock yourselves out. The bills for ZFS NAS
boxes that I've seen run around $1k, and I'm willing to invest up
to $3k.
Requirements, in decreasing order of importance:
1. Extremely fault-tolerant. I'd like to be able to lose two
disks and still be OK. I also want any silent hard disk read
errors that are detected by ZFS, to be reported somehow.
2. As quiet as it gets.
3. Able to easily extend storage
4. (low) If feasible, I'd like to be able to use a Blu-Ray drive
with the system.
I also have a few software requirements, which I think are pretty
independent of the hardware:
a. Secure – I want to be able to tweak and control access at every
level
b. Very fast network performance. The server should be able to
stream 1080p while doing a number of other tasks without issues.
c. Ability to serve all different types of hosts: NFS, SMB, SCP/SFTP
d. Flexible. I do a number of other things/experiments, and I’d
like to be able to use it for more than just serving files.
Really only #1 (reliable) and #2 (quiet) matter most. I've been
mulling over this server for too long and want to get it over with.
Looking forward to your recommendations,
Dan
What i did was this:
I got a norco 4020 (the 4220 is good too)
Both of those cost around 300-350 dolars. That is a 4u case with 20
hot swap bays.
Then i got a decent server board. I used supermicro mbd-x7se because
it has 4 pci-x slots.
I got 3 supermicro AOC-SAT2-mv8 cards for the sata ports (each has 8)
20 1tb seagate drives, but you could use any size which fits your budget.
8 gb ddr2 800 ecc memory
3 64 gb ssd's (2 for rpool mirror and 1 for l2arc)
Intel q9550 cpu.
This gives you a pretty beastly machine which has around 18-36 raw TB's
I went with 3 raidz2 groups.
I plan to expland it with a sas expander and another norco case. I
hope this gives you some ideas.
Simple. Cheat. Buy something someone else has already put the effort
into making nicely.
http://computers.shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=ibm+%28x3500%2C3500%29&_sacat=58058&_trksid=p3286.m270.l1313&_odkw=ibm+%28x3400%2Cx3500%2C3500%2C3400%29&_osacat=58058&bkBtn=1
IBM x3500
2 dual-core 5140 Xeons (2.3Ghz)
12 DIMM slots
3 8x PCI-E, 2 64-bit 133Mhz PCI-X, 1 32-bit PCI slots
2GB RAM
4x73GB SAS drives
Baseboard Management Controller and Remote Supervisor
IBM 8K raid controller with 256MB Battery-backed cache
< $600
Extra (redundant) power supply: $50
8GB (4 x 2GB) more RAM: $200
4 more IBM hot swap trays: $100
Replace 4 x 73GB SAS with 8 x 1TB SATA drives: < $800
4 x 2.5" Hot Swap in 5.25" HH bay chassis = $80
(http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/mobilerack/CSE-M14.cfm
or similar)
multi-lane to 4 SATA breakout cable = $15
2 x 100GB 2.5" 7200 RPM hard drives = $100
SSDs only if you want them (unlikely)
Total: < $2000
It's noisy on startup (when all the huge numbers of fans surge at max
speed for 5 seconds), but then is very quiet. If you're careful, you
can get one that's still under some portion of IBM warranty.
It's a monster - likely to out-perform anything else you'll be able to
get for anywhere near that cost. Plus, 2 Gbit ethernet controllers, AND
a IP KVM/console.
Frankly, at this point, for $1000 (before disks), NOTHING can beat a
used (or refurbed) X3500.
--
Erik Trimble
Java System Support
Mailstop: usca22-123
Phone: x17195
Santa Clara, CA
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