New HTPC Backend / File Server

Q

qfour20

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 17, 2005
Messages
314
I am a very lucky guy:cool: . My wife actually *WANTS* to build up a new htpc backend and fileserver box for our network. She has been working her way up as a sysadmin, and has discovered that the part of the job she most enjoys is when she actually deals with the hardware (plugging in cabling, troubleshooting why a cyclades isn't working, installing solaris, etc.) After talking to her about this, she feels that maybe she has gone about her "computing education" out of order, and that she would benefit from actually *building* a box herself.

Being the caring, compassionate husband that I am, I decided that this would be a GREAT way to get my backend box rebuilt. I'd like some help in deciding on components.

I'll be working on a S939 platform, since I want to upgrade the opteron144 in my HTPC to a dual core chip before S939 is gone forever, and this will allow me to re-use the RAM that I already have as well.

I will be building a linux box, most likely linuxMCE (built on ubuntu). I will be re-using these components:
* Antec Case (needs new power supply)
* Opteron 144
* 1 Gb of pc3200 RAM
* 2x 300Gig PATA hard drives
* 3x 250Gig PATA hard drives
* 7300GT video card (once I get my 7900gs back for the HTPC)
* Adaptec Firewire card

This means that the components I need to buy are:
* s939 motherboard
* cpu cooler (zalman?)
* sata drive backplane (I want to move all data storage off to sata hard drives so that they are hot swappable)
* power supply
* raid controller (again, as budget permits)

The main duties that this box will perform are:
Mythbackend for 2 firewire cable boxes
Web Server (both for mythweb and other uses)
mysql server (for mythtv)
dhcp server for home network
samba server / nfs server for home network
possible nis+ / ldap / SSO / Cert Authority server

Anyone have input about hardware choices? Any suggestions for teaching the wife how to build a box without making a fight out of it?

-q
 
qfour20 said:
Anyone have input about hardware choices? Any suggestions for teaching the wife how to build a box without making a fight out of it?

-q
Click to expand...

Yes, you are very lucky.

When making your choices, one of the number one priorities is to make sure that the kit is all linux-compatible. But you probably already knew that. Make sure to take pics for us :D

As for the build itself, it might seem obvious to us, but make certain that she knows that if a plug doesn't fit in a socket, it almost certainly isn't supposed to go there and that if there's only one possible place something can plug in, that's probably where it's supposed to plug in. The absolute only screwup I can think of happening from this is Western Digital's hdds, which have both molex and sata power connectors and blow up if both are used. I don't buy WD.

I'm not joking with this last part. Back in the days of joysticks with DB15 connectors, my little brother came running to ask me to plug his joystick in. The only connector with which it could possibly live happily was the joystick port on the soundblaster.
 
For the sata backplane

I own this:
http://shopper.cnet.com/system-accessories/athena-power-bp-sata2131b/4014-8896_9-31207863.html
31207863-2-200-0.gif


got it from ockie

they also make 5 in 4's that are vertical or 4 in 3's that are horizontal

they are easy to find.... icy dock make the same model as well

they work great and the fans are not to loud....

raid card... id get highpoint rocket raid the PCIe 1x with 4 ports

either but multiple cards or
get a port multiplier and use only 1 card

either way....
 
I ended up getting this SATA backplane for putting the storage system in:
http://www.bigbruin.com/2006/mb455spf_1

It will hold 5 sata drives, which I am still looking into what exactly I want to buy. I am leaning heavily towards buying 3 x 750Gb drives in the near future, which should be enough for my needs.

All necessary hardware has come in and been shuffled through, so my current frontend setup is:
Silverstone LC11M case (love it!)
foxconn 6150 s939 board
amd 3800+ x2 cpu
msi 7900gs (woot special!)
chaintech av710 soundcard (I need to get the onboard sound set up instead, but have been too lazy)
200Gb seagate ide drive
NEC dvdrw
1gb pc3200

It's QUITE capable of handling anything that I throw at it now. I need to reinstall the os on this box, but I'm waiting until the new backend has been completed. I will be trying out linuxMCE.

Now, this leaves me with the following hardware for building the new backend:
Ahanix fileserver case (had it forever... using it out of nostalgia) http://www.bytewizecomputers.com/products/7/15/420/3289
Asus A8NSLI-32 (refurb from the egg for ~$40)
opteron 144
some questionable stick of 512mb ddr
seagate 40gb ide hard drive
7300GT card from xfx

We were going to start the build on saturday, but the wife's sister called and she sat on the phone for several hours, then wasn't in the mood to build afterwards. Then I was informed on tuesday morning that I will be travelling this week, so I'm waiting until I get home to get started now. :rolleyes:

So, any suggestions about sata hard disks? I'm leaning towards the samsung spinpoint disks since they are low heat.

-q
 
The Samsungs are quiet too.

I just picked up 4 of the 500 gig SATA's, quiet and low-heat.

I've used some of the 40 gig's as OS drives in the past, same deal with those.
 
alan.p said:
As for the build itself, it might seem obvious to us, but make certain that she knows that if a plug doesn't fit in a socket, it almost certainly isn't supposed to go there and that if there's only one possible place something can plug in, that's probably where it's supposed to plug in. The absolute only screwup I can think of happening from this is Western Digital's hdds, which have both molex and sata power connectors and blow up if both are used. I don't buy WD.
Click to expand...

Heh, that's a very good point. What's great about computer parts is the fact that most of the time, the plug can only fit in one other plug. I just taught my non-English speaking aunt how to unplug and plug in the components in the back of the computer. She learned really fast because there was only one plug where the monitor cable can go, mouse, etc. And thank goodness for the addition of colors too (especially around audio hookups).
 
I have such a server. I built it on the cheapest dual core platform I could find. The processor doesn't matter so much. I would advise you to find the lowest power components you can. It will be on all of the time, so it will impact your light bill. I would go with even a VIA integrated setup provided it will fit your card. You won't need the processing power. A 486 would fit your needs of just serving files.

My biggest choice was around case. I went with a Lian Li v2000 at first as it will accomodate 12 internal SATA drives. Since then I went with a Stacker 830 and use 10 hot swap sata bays in the front. You can easily go cheaper, but figure out how much you want this to scale. Ie. how much data/drives.

Your RAID choice is software/hardware. Software is cheap with linux, but be prepared to spend days getting your server to work properly. You can get a 3ware 9500S raid card that is backwards compatible to PCI for cheap ($200 for 8 ports) and it does online capacity expansion. That means, you can add in drives whenever you want. I just went from 3 to 4 in my data array. The rebuild took roughly a day.

Your choices of drives is a tough one. The $500's arent' the sweetest spot but they're close. 300's are good, but they eat up valuable case space. With something like a 9500S you can move to higher capacity drives as you go.

I have server 2003 enterprise running on my server, but you could get by with XP. It really depends on what you want to do with it. I went MS as I want to do some ASPX stuff and also want ease of administration. I don't want to be wasting my valuable life dealing with linux crap. If you're linux savvy, it is a cheap option though. Ubuntu would work well. If you have the time and want to learn something like EVMS then you could do software RAID and save the money. Just don't expect things to be documented well and don't expect the package manager to install a GUI for it by default.

For power supply, go with a high quality low to medium power drive. I read a review last week of a machine that was running a high end quad core intel proc, SLI, 4 hard drives and 4 fans all off of a low end 550W PSU. Don't go overboard on this. It just costs utility money and is bad for the earth.

Heatsink really only matters in terms of noise. You don't need a high end CPU so heat should not be an issue. If you're putting this in a closet/out of the way place, don't spend too much money on the heatsink. It won't get you anything.

My basic advice is spend the money on RAID card, good drives (I use WD RE2's), a case that is expandable and your sata bays.

Spend enough on a PSU to get 400W+ high end supply like Seasonic/Zalman. Don't buy a 800W PSU. You won't need it.

Don't spend a lot of money on CPU, server class motherboard, huge amounts of ram.
 
Well, the cpu and board are already purchased, so I'm committed to them. I really do need the processing power, as I want to be able to do commercial flagging and transcoding as well as run the Mysql database for mythtv on this box as well as having it serve as a fileserver.

I am seriously considering purchasing a decent raid card (around the $200 mark) even though I will definitely be using software raid and/or lvm2 on this box for one reason: staggered drive spin-up. I purchased a 500w Fortron powersupply, so I should be in good shape up to about 8 drives. More than that, and the powersupply will have issues starting the box up.

I'll have to look into some new cases, as I'm not entirely sure that the one I have will suffice for very long. It's rather old and doesn't have a lot of internal drive bays available to me.

-q
 
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