onboard raid that can expand volumes

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INFINITE

Limp Gawd
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Nov 22, 2004
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I'm looking at building my own NAS and in the effort of keeping it simple was hoping to just use a basic Intel motherboard with 8 or so internal sata ports. One prerequisite though - the controller needs to have the capability to expand a raid 5 volume / array if new or larger drives are added later. I looked at a couple different boards on newegg - then checked for their online manuals and no luck.

Are there any Intel boards with internal sata raid that can do this? Or am I gonna have to use a addon controller card with that capability? :confused:
 
Nvidia Nforce chipsets can expand raid volumes. Intel doesn't and I have no idea if AMD allows you either.
 
Ok is it me or are these nforce boards nearing extinction? Are there any other boards / chipsets that can do this or is my best bet going to be just use an add on card?

Oh btw when I said Intel mobo I meant just a board for an Intel CPU.
 
sorry for little off topic but i wonder if after making deal with nvidia, the future intel mobo (a board fo an intel cpu) will have that future?!
 
Unfortunately the ICH9R or the more current ICH10R do not support Online Capacity Expansion or OCE, the ability to expand a RAID array without destroying it and starting again.

And yes NForce motheboards are basically near extinction since Nvidia stopped chipset development close to a year and a half ago. Not a real loss anyway. They weren't as stable or as fast as Intel's or AMD's native chipset solutions.

Anyway, your best bet would be to use an add-on card. The feature you want to see in whatever RAID controller you buy is OCE or Online Capacity Expansion. If it's not mentioned in the manual or specs for that card, good chance that it doesn't support it.

However if you're planning on using FreeBSD, Linux, or virtually any-non Windows based OSs, you can use whatever software RAID package that comes with those OSes. Linux or FreeNAS/FreeBSD software RAID does provide pretty decent performance and supports OCE even if the controller doesn't.
 
What OS do you plan to run? if linux i'd take linux software raid over motherboard vendor fakeraid any day.
 
Danny - THANKS for the info! I figured there must be a term for what I'm asking for and you delivered.

I was going to use FreeNAS - which by the sounds of it I should be set then.

To expand a bit more on my idea I'd like to build it on a budget of course - relatively inexpensive motherboard however hopefully land 6 or 8 SATA ports on it. Out of curiosity has anyone had luck with using sata expanders / multiplexers with onboard controllers? As for the case probably a Norco or Chenbro hot swappable. Nothing too crazy maybe start with 6 1TB drives and have room for expansion. This box' main purpose would be storage for an esxi box I'm going to build, along with everyday file storage, and possibly stream media throughout the house. Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks again everyone.
 
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At least over in the Data Storage subforum, port multipliers aren't generally recommended since they have a severe impact on performance as well as a poor price to capability ratio. In addition, many consumer grade desktops don't support SAS expanders or even have SAS ports.

The most commone ESXi, FreeNAS, or just about most Norcos setup that I've seen and recommended over in the Data Storage Subforum have been this:
$120 - Intel Core i3-540 CPU
$280 - Supermicro X8SI6-F because it has 8 builtin SAS2 6.0 gbps ports. The LSI2008 ROC it uses supports expanders like the HP SAS Expander (recommended below). ATX size, LGA1156 for use with Core i3 CPUs for plenty of horsepower when needed but still low energy use and low heat. Has builtin IPMI 2.0 with virtual media over LAN and KVM-over-LAN support (you can access the BIOS and install the OS from a remote computer, no keyboard, mouse or monitor needed).
$51- Kingston 2 x 2GB ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1333 RAM
---
Total: $451 plus tax and shipping.

The above setup would allow for about 14 hard drives right off the bat. Great review of that motherboard here:
http://www.servethehome.com/supermi...ew-including-onboard-lsi-sas-2008-controller/

So despite the high costs of that motherboard, once you really look at it, it's actually a really good bargin for the features you're getting as shown in the above review.

To expand the storage of the above setup, you can go with the following:
A) Combine the above setup with the HP SAS expander and you can get an additional 32 hard drives:
$300 - HP SAS Expander - PM Synergy Dustin for exact Price

B) Or if you're fine with roughly 20 to 22 hard drives, then get this:
$120 - Supermicro AOC-USAS-L8i PCI-Ex8 8 Port SATA Controller Card (Will need some slight modification to work in normal ATX cases)

For both options and assuming that you're going with the Norco 4224 or Norco 4220 case, you'll need these cables too:
$20 - Norco C-SFF8087-D SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 Multilane SAS Cable
$13 - Norco C-SFF8087-4S SFF-8087 to Multi-lane SATA Reverse Break-out Cable

You'll need at least four multi-lane cables to connect the onboard SAS controller, HP SAS Expander, and/or the Supermicro card to the Norco 4220 and 4224 backplanes. IN addition, if you go the HP SAS Expander route, you'll need an additional multi-lane cable to connect the onboard controller to the HP SAS Expander. The reverse break-out cable converts four of the onboard SATA ports of that motherboard to the Norco 4220 and 4224 backplanes

Another thread that you should check out:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1572188

You don't need the SSD or the UPS or the high-end PSU but that's generally along the lines of the more common ESXi, WHS, FreeNAS, or just plain Norco based setups out there. Huge amount of storage capability, lots of features and pretty good price to performance ratio.
 
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