5 TB server

[Valentin Bud]

On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 8:38 PM, Modulok <modulok at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 11/28/08, Valentin Bud <valentin.bud at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hello community,
>>
>>  I have to come up with a solution for a company that has as we speak
>> 4 TB of data spread among 3 computers with lots of HDDs. Of course
>> i've recommend
>> them to buy a server for that storage capacity and for data organization.
>>
>>  I thought of going on the ZFS way (on FreeBSD of course) with some
>> raidz. One of the problems
>> is that the server will stay in their office so it has to be quite silent.
>>
>>  I honestly don't know what hardware to look for so if you have any
>> suggestions
>> i'm more than open to hear them.
>>
>> a great day,
>> v
>
> I'm not sure what kind of fans everyone here is running, with all
> these complaints about noise...
>
> For a single server sitting in an office, use a regular desktop case
> with some good 12cm fans. Get a few fan-speed-controllers to reduce
> the RPMs a little and you can have a computer with several disks in it
> that is damn near silent, even when it is sitting right next to you.
> Put a good power supply unit, with a slow 14cm fan in it and you can't
> hear the computer at all. As far as heat goes, a well ventilated
> aluminum desktop case disperses heat very, very well, permitting the
> reduction of fan speed.
>
> I have a server built this way sitting not 2 feet from me, which
> contains 5 hard drives providing 24/7 file storage via samba for the
> entire local area network, and unless one puts their ear against the
> case, it's difficult to tell if it is even running...even under heavy
> load. (This is in a quiet room.) As far as heat goes, the case blows
> out room temperature air and all components are cold to the touch.
> Built for around...$800-$900 USD. (I'm not exactly sure on the figure,
> as some components have been upgraded over the years.)
>
> Case: Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Mid Tower. Best case ever. Cheap.
> Simple. Roomy. Very well ventilated. I now personally own 4 of these
> cases. No regrets.  Ditch the factory fans though. Replace them with a
> few Zalman 12cm fans. These usually come with a resistor so you can
> reduce the fan speed (and noise).
>
> Processor: Whatever. I went with a cheap dual core Opteron at the time.
> Board: I usually stick with Tyan. whatever fits your processor, your
> budget and provides you with enough SATA headers. For a simple file
> server, stick with a lower-end single-socket board. Unless you plan to
> do some serious number crunching or have a lot of money to spend, you
> don't need the extra processors sitting around doing nothing, with
> their fans making noise.
>
> Memory: Start with a few (say 2) gigs, it's cheap.
> Power Supply Unit: I've had good luck with Thermaltake W0144 Purepower
> RX. They use 14cm fans which are silent, but move a lot of air and
> I've had zero problems with them. The ability to only plugin the power
> components you require helps maintain good airflow in the case.
>
> Network: Not all network cards are created equal! Go with one (or two)
> PCI Intel network cards. If it's based on the Intel PRO/1000GT, it
> will be supported by the em(4) driver on FreeBSD. I use the Intel
> PWLA8391GT. Zero problems.
>
> As far as hard drives go, I've found recently that Western Digital
> drives are quite silent, even under heavy read/writes, but I haven't
> tried Seagate or any of the other major drive manufacturers in a long
> time, so they may be about the same.

Thanks for sharing. I'm just wondering what is the maximum number
of hard disk a motherboard can support, i mean desktop motherboards.
And is it easy to attach a storage unit in case you want more space?
 This company i'm talking about is growing with 1 Tb per year. I have talked
to them to archive the data but it's out of discusion because they almost
always need random parts of old projects and they want to access it ASAP.

a great day,
v

>
> With a little work, your goal of a silent, high-capacity server is
> quite attainable. It can be pretty cheap to build too.
> -Modulok-
>