building a server for data collection/file serving

K

kencheeto

2[H]4U
Joined
Apr 17, 2008
Messages
2,851
I'm helping out with a server build for a physics lab that needs a server for data centralizing and collection. I haven't dealt much with server builds so I'm hoping you guys can help me out a little with the storage requirements. Here's what was laid out to me as requirements:

For a budget of $2000 (pref. under, of course)
1. 4TB capacity to start and the ability to scale up quickly
2. minimize any issues with robustness or stability.. uptime is not necessarily crucial but crashing during data collection would be unacceptable
3. preferably last at least 4 years or longer with HDD upgrades

I'm very comfortable with configuring gaming builds but this is something I need a little more research/insight with. I was tempted to suggest looking at a prebuilt that comes with good support, but if their needs are simple then building by themselves could save money.

Primarily I need to know what I need to do with respect to hard drives/controllers. I was thinking to go with four 2TB drives in RAID 1 with regular offsite or external backup. I also have no idea what controllers would be good; reliability > redundancy > speed. Thanks!

I don't think they're going to pay me as I'm doing this as a favor to them but if I do, I have no problem sending a little paypal tip to anyone that can really help me out :)
 
Last edited:
Linux and mdadm RAID6 will grow with you, but volumes of that size are going to take forever to expand. Each CentOS release has 7years of updates, Ubuntu LTS has 5 at release.
Nobody really does 4yr+ warranties on computers.
Four 2TB drives in RAID6 will net you 4TB of usable space. I'd recommend you start with 5 drives if you can.


You can do something as basic as teaming an Acer Aspire Revo to a big ESATA chassis.

Some other people here will probably chime in too, good luck!
 
The lab is planning to run Ubuntu Server on it; I'm not fluent with Ubuntu and certainly not the server edition. Could we just do RAID 1 and add drives in pairs as we go?

More input would be great! Thanks! I was thinking of getting a full tower chassis and using the hotswap 5-in-3 drive bays to make adding drives easier.
 
kencheeto said:
The lab is planning to run Ubuntu Server on it; I'm not fluent with Ubuntu and certainly not the server edition. Could we just do RAID 1 and add drives in pairs as we go?

More input would be great! Thanks! I was thinking of getting a full tower chassis and using the hotswap 5-in-3 drive bays to make adding drives easier.
Click to expand...

The hotswap bays are very nice and handy to have but they can be the absolute bane of your existence if something were to go wrong with them. I tend to stay away from them and use something like this from LIAN LI or similar stuff from CoolerMaster.
 
kencheeto said:
The lab is planning to run Ubuntu Server on it; I'm not fluent with Ubuntu and certainly not the server edition. Could we just do RAID 1 and add drives in pairs as we go?
RAID1, no matter how many drives you add to the array, will always appear as a volume the size of the smallest disk in the array.
four 2TB drives in one RAID1 would be a 2TB array

you could have multiple RAID1 arrays, but those couldn't really grow in the future unless you bought larger drives in pairs.

More input would be great! Thanks! I was thinking of getting a full tower chassis and using the hotswap 5-in-3 drive bays to make adding drives easier.
Click to expand...
those can be a maddening pain if they break. For under 8 drives I say go with the drive brackets that the poster before me linked to.

Also, Google the NORCO 4020 ;)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
prostuff1 said:
The hotswap bays are very nice and handy to have but they can be the absolute bane of your existence if something were to go wrong with them.
Click to expand...
I guess I could see that- its more of a convenience (and HDD density) thing I figured would make life easier for the grad students managing the server. Good to know.

LightningCrash said:
RAID1, no matter how many drives you add to the array, will always appear as a volume the size of the smallest disk in the array.
four 2TB drives in one RAID1 would be a 2TB array

you could have multiple RAID1 arrays, but those couldn't really grow in the future unless you bought larger drives in pairs.
Click to expand...
Ah, I was indeed thinking of multiple RAID 1 arrays, but RAID 6 makes much more sense.

those can be a maddening pain if they break. For under 8 drives I say go with the drive brackets that the poster before me linked to.

Also, Google the NORCO 4020 ;)
Click to expand...
Sounds like I need to ask them again how their needs might change over time- with RAID 6 the norco might better fulfill their expansion needs.

Can you guys suggest a good sata controller for a full atx case?

Thanks again for the help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top