NAS Server re-build coming together ..

[Vipersan]

Before Christmas I had a half decent Silverstone All metal Tower Case Donated ..
Sadly without the full complement of plastic Tool-less hard drive supports ..
I did contact Scan International ..who are the UK agents fo Silverstone ...and who originally sold the case to its previous owner..
They chose not to even acknowledge my enquirey ...
So ...I made a latex mold from one of the plastic supports and started to ma-d-ufacture replacements for the missing ones in liquid plastic (resin) ..
A laborious task ...about 50% were useable...the rest went in the bin ..
Anyhow ....
I finally had enough parts to start the transfer and rebuild of the original servers ...motherboard ...drives ...psu...and Freenas- OS ...(compact flash based)
The OS is on a homebrew Compact flash reader on a white plastic base ..
You can see this at the bottom of the Server case ...with a red led lit in the photo..
It is IDE connected so boots first ..
It employs an 800watt psu (so rated 100W higher than the UPS)
This should not be a problem except for an extended power outage..
Hard drives are spun down when not handling data..
There is also one 750gb IDE Hard Drive at the bottom of the case ..
All others are Sata ..
Currently there are 9 Sata Drives ...and 1 IDE ...with room for one more Sata to be added at a later date ...
3 Sata hot swap removeable caddies in use ...the final drive when added will occupy the 4th ..
The Silverstone case is huge and has much space inside ..so air can circulate better ..and is currently aided by 2 large internal fans ...and 1x small fan ..but has space for 2 more mans to be fitted ..
These issues were of much concern in the original build ...
Smaller case and no room for internal fans ...
The unit currently runs cool in all aspects but for the plastic hot swap caddies ..soon to be rectified with metal caddies (on order via aliexpress) as this will allow better heat conduction from the drives.
The Server doesnt use raid ..as I actually use raid Zero...
Ie the contents of ALL server drives are cloned in case of failure ..
Thus theoretically no data loss.
Current storage capacity of the NAS is approx 16 terrabytes...
Yes I am a data collector..
All my O/S are backed up..
All software installs
All Media ...audio and video..
Various bit cloned drive backups of personal and customer hard drives ...
Things like proprietory format drive images from Sky/ freeview set top boxes ..
I guess Ive spent a small fortune on hard drives ...
Though £75 for 3xTB is relatively cheap these days.
Im attaching some photos ...
The homebrew hard drive tool-less slides are white ..
The originals are black ..
I have also got a second UPS (APC) which can be seen in the photos ...specifically for just this server..
Another kind donation this time from NelsonB ..
Was not working but is now ..and has new batteries..
Cheers Nelson..
BUT ..I still need to get an APC UPS serial comms lead ...to make the UPS shut down the Server -softly- in the event of a power failure..
If anyone has one Id sure like to take it off your hands. ?
rgds
VS

 

[Vipersan]

So here are some photos...

 

[Captain Jack]

Very nice. Too much hassle for me to build this, so I make do with a Synology box, which does the job well enough.

Which folder has mature content, though?

 

[Vipersan]

Very nice. Too much hassle for me to build this, so I make do with a Synology box, which does the job well enough.

Which folder has mature content, though?

LOL ...
You noticed
That is on a different free standing western digital NAS mybook
The reason being that my parents can access the Freenas Server ...which is unpassworded..to make access easier.
So I keep the Adult stuff seperate and locked ...
;)

BTW ...The Freenas software version I use ..is the LAST one that allowed UFS formatted HD
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_File_Systemsupport ...
Later versions use ZFS
ZFS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ZFS does not really support raid-less systems ...which means no legacy support for UFS/GPT
One day I may have to transition ..but moving such a large amount of data ..WILL be a problem.

 

[lovelyperson]

LOL ...
You noticed .........

So I keep the Adult stuff seperate and locked ...
;)

¿Sounds to me and I pray I am right, that you are feeling a little bit better this week health wise VS?

Nice work and pics with the NAS build.

Be safe.

 

[Analoguesat]

Excellent stuff - Ive been contemplating building a server but I need to get a decent case cheaply first.

 

[battenfan]

Why I Do Use ZFS as a File System for My NAS

I was given a server card in the ssi format and looking for the cheapest, local sourced (to avoid shipping costs on this heavy item) chassi, I ended up with a Fractal Design XL R2.
I have only three 3.5" drives in it for now but there's room for eight, plus five 5.25" drives and still lots of room. More than I need. I am afraid of what it will sound like if I fill it up, it already makes too much noise.

 

[Vipersan]

Excellent stuff - Ive been contemplating building a server but I need to get a decent case cheaply first.

Well AS ..I wish you well if you decide to go ahead ..
FreeNas is of course linux based ...so takes a bit of getting used to ...
Plus all data has to be transfered in and out via a cifs share (samba) ....which can be slow for large amount of data ..
Something like 48 hours to upload 3TB..
That said ...
If I can help ...just ask..

 

[Analoguesat]

I'll squeak when I get stuck. It wont be just yet - its just an idea Ive been considering over the last week or so having enjoyed rebuilding my desktop pc. I thought a proper server would be fun to set up & get running. I never get to play under the bonnet with the servers at work so my very own one would be cool.

I had a look at Freenas a couple of years ago but it was pretty nasty & illogical back then...

 

[Analoguesat]

Evan have you thought about inverting every other drive in the vertical array - that will minimise the torque & any rattles in the enclosures.

 

[Vipersan]

Evan have you thought about inverting every other drive in the vertical array - that will minimise the torque & any rattles in the enclosures.

Good Idea AS ...
Next time I power down I think ..
cheers

 

[Analoguesat]

Is this replacing the white server in the corner of your workroom?

 

[Vipersan]

Naaa ...
that one isn't a server ...
That unit is purely a bare bones ...no operating system unit I use for spinrite ...or hard drive cloning using live boot CDs ....such as Part-ed ..
The original Server was a 7 bay black tower which will now be scrapped ..on account it was not really suitable.
rgds
VS

 

[Vipersan]

Got a delivery this morning ..
the 4 metal sata hard drive caddies I ordered via AliExpress from China arrived ..
Another part of the server can now hopefully be sorted..
I use a min 2tb drive in each of these 5.25 locations ...and currently they are plastic and fully encased ..
thus the temp rises quite substantially when a drive is in use ...and cannot dissipate the heat efficiently.
This new open case metal tool-less system was chosen to help with this problem ..
I'll let you know if they are effective.
certainly they were cheap enough to experiment with.
rgds
VS

 

[excollier]

I thought FreeNAS was FreeBSD based. All from the Unix family anyway.

 

[Vipersan]

I thought FreeNAS was FreeBSD based. All from the Unix family anyway.

AFAIK ..freenas was indeed the forerunner of Freebsd ..
the two systems diverged ...and freenas fell went dark-ish ...Freebsd having took up the mantle

 

[Vipersan]

Well ..the plug n play sata caddies are in ..
All 4 of 'em ...and they are a very nice fit indeed ..
Only time will tell if they conduct the heat away efficiently ..but so far the drives are barely warm to touch..
rgds
VS