I have been living on borrowed time for years and really need to come up with a backup system and centralized NAS. Currently, I have over 40 hard drives, both PATA and SATA, stuck in static bags in my closet. I would really appreciate it if you could help me out with some of my questions and give feedback on my thought process.
Priorities:
- Automatically backup two desktops and a laptop
- Low power usage (Will be on 24x7)
- Quietness (I live in a small apartment)
- Reliability (Probably ECC and Intel/LSI disk controllers if I build my own)
- Act as a NAS and present the files as a single pool
- Can be expanded incrementally to a large number of disks (would be nice if I could use the disks I already have without wiping them).
- Ease of administration; probably windows based since I don’t have time to learn something else.
- Easy way to make at least partial off-site backups
- I don’t want to need to update the hardware or make substantial modifications one year from now.
Nice to have options:
- Integrated video
- I am not immediately planning to use virtual machines but it would be a nice option to have so vt-x and vt-d would be a plus.
- Relatively low cost
- IPMI/KVM management
- Ability to spin down drives when not in use.
Option 1: Repurpose a stock HP Mediasmart EX-490
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Repurpose a stock HP Mediasmart EX-490 with either Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials or Windows Server 2011 (Still have a license I never ended up using) with SnapRAID (1 OS Drive, 2 Parity Drives, and up to 5 data drives) and Stablebit DrivePool. And hooking up a TowerRAID TR4M+BNC over eSata running in IT mode. If I don’t go with this option I may give the hardware to my parents for a back up of their systems or use it as an offsite backup for my files.
=Cost= Essentially free except for the DrivePool license
=Pros=
-I already have the hardware and the cost is cheap.
=Cons=
-The hardware is quite old (Celeron 2.2 Ghz). I am not sure how well the EX-490 will run Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials and it could be quite slow
-I am not sure if there is a size limit on the hard drives that can be used with it.
-I don’t really like the idea of an external DAS from a reliability perspective.
-No ability to expand beyond 8 disks.
-No IPMI ability
-Might not be much support.
-No ECC
Option 2: Buy a Synology DS1815+ 8-Bay Diskless NAS
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=Cost= ~$970
=Pros=
-Works straight out of the box
-Can be expanded with additional Synology expansion boxes for substantial cost.
=Cons=
-Need to buy new disks or somehow clear old disks
-Might be more difficult to mix disk sizes and expand on an incremental basis.
Option 3: Build My Own NAS
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If I build my own NAS I am leaning towards a Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials based system (I get free licenses for this through school) and using SnapRaid (Maybe FlexRAID) with Stablebit Drivepool. This should let me reuse disks that are already populated and expand the system easily. Most of the files will be fairly static media files. The exception to this would be files being backed up from the laptop. Other software that I would like to run include SABnzbd and utorrent.
For the offsite backup I have been thinking about repurposing the old HP Mediasmart EX-490 with either Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials or Windows Server 2011 (Still have a license I never ended up using) and hooking up a TowerRAID TR4M+BNC over eSata running in IT mode. Still trying to figure out how to sync data to it in some manner other than having to haul it home. Maybe BTSync or some kind of Rsync that will work with Windows.
I have some hardware I was going to build a computational node for running simulations that could wholly or partially be repurposed.
i7-4790k (I would like to keep this for running simulations)
ASUS Z97-AR ATX motherboard (Could be repurposed for the storage NAS but doesn’t have sufficient SATA connections)
Samsung 840 EVO 512 GB
Seasonic SS-660XP Platinum-660 Power Supply
Fractal Design Define R5 (I could repurpose this to a storage NAS)
Beyond the hardware I already have I am considering the following other options:
Processors:
Intel Xeon E3-1200 v5
Intel i3 6th Gen (If I reuse the ASUS Z97-AR motherboard though I would give up ECC)
Another option which I haven’t investigated yet is the Xeon-D processors and boards would these be better? From a quick check of the prices they seem quite expensive.
Motherboards:
Supermicro X11SAE
http://www.supermicro.com/products/moth ... X11SAE.cfm
Supermicro X11SAE-F
http://www.supermicro.com/products/moth ... 1SAE-F.cfm
Supermicro X11SAE-M
http://www.supermicro.com/products/moth ... 1SAE-M.cfm
The difference between these mother boards seem to only be the form factor for the –M version and the addition of VGA for IPMI in the –F version. I am not sure exactly what it is.
For more SATA ports the X11SSL-CF could be an option.
http://www.supermicro.com/products/moth ... 1SSH-F.cfm
Other options include the following ASROCK motherboards.
ASROCK C236 WS
ASROCK C236 WSI
ASROCK C236M WS
http://www.asrockrack.com/general/products.asp#WS
All these motherboards require DDR4.
Cases:
Fractal Design R5 – $110
=Pros:=
-Quiet
-I already have one that I could repurpose
=Cons:=
-Can only fit 8 3.5” drives without modification. Probably 11 3.5” drives with a 3 to 2 adapter or potentially finding another bottom bracket.
Fractal Design Node 804 - $70
=Pros=
-Form factor and design
=Cons=
-A little less quiet than the Fractal Design R5.
-Can only fit 8 3.5” drives without modification. Probably 11 3.5” drives with a 3 to 2 adapter.
-Not really further expandable
U-NAS NSC-800
=Pros:=
-8 drive bays
=Cons:=
-Unknown noise levels
-Can only fit 8 3.5” drives without modification
-Not really further expandable
Other case options would be more of a 4U rackmount case such as
Norco RPC-4220 ($330)
Norco RPC-4224 ($430)
X-CASE RM 420-Gen II
X-CASE RM 424-Gen II
X-CASE RM 424 Pro Short
=Pros=
Lots of room for expansion
=Cons=
-With the NORCO there is a concern with the quality of the backplane
-These cases take a lot of room and may require other steps to make them quiet.
-The X-CASE models might be expensive and difficult to source in the US.
-Might need to buy expensive reverse breakout cables to connect to the backplanes.
Questions:
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Any recommendations which option I should go with or suggestions for other options?
I have never used a Windows Server OS of any vintage. How easy is it to administer?
How well does Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials perform backups when the clients to be backed up are not joined to its domain? Can it do some sort of differential or incremental image? Can it do versioning?
What processor, motherboard, and case would you recommend if I build my own NAS?
Which system would you go with and why?
Living on Borrowed Time, Need Help with Storage Server
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