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Thread: RAID and Server Hardware

  1. #1
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    RAID and Server Hardware

    Hello,

    I am looking to build a home file server with about 6 1TB drives in RAID 6. I have work exsperence with hardware RAID controls and don't really want to go through the exspense and headaches of dealing with one. So I am going to use Linux software RAID.

    My question is what kind of overhead should I expect to need to implament such a system? Another way of asking, would an old P4 do the job or do I need a new i7 to handle this job? I have read veraus tests but they don't seem to offer any really good advice or baseline for me to go off of. If I have missed anyone I am open to reading them.

    The server would be used for storing a large picture files asseced from photoshop, storing backups of other systmes, intranet web server, and occasional torrent grabber/host for when I find a new OS that I want to play with.

    Also I am still looking at hardware, motherboards, CPUs, etc. So if anyone has suggestions that would be greatly apprciated. My goal is something small, lower power I can put in the home rack.

    Or if you just have any other suggestions that you think might be better, I have already read into ZFS and decided against that on BSD/Solaris.

    Thank you
    I believe that we should have an open mind but not so open our brain falls out.
    ~unknown

  2. #2
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    Re: RAID and Server Hardware

    I have something similar based on AMD Athlon Neo NL36 (I think that's the official CPU name). I am completely happy with it but I use less transfer than what you described.

    Depending on your view, I guess you can go with one of the latest Atom or AMD equivalent CPUs. Usually they would come together with the board, so look out for the board spec if there is something special you need.
    Darko.
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    Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 64bit

  3. #3
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    Re: RAID and Server Hardware

    darkod, thanks for the response. The Neo looks like the predecessor to AMD Fusion (Atom competitor), If you don't mind, when you do a large file write what kind of system usages are you getting? I ask because every review/benchmark I have read shows every chip running at 100% usages for large writes which I feel is strange. I have actually been looking at the AMD Fusion line as an option, that is why I ask.
    I believe that we should have an open mind but not so open our brain falls out.
    ~unknown

  4. #4
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    Re: RAID and Server Hardware

    If you tell me what's the best way to look, I might do a short test later. Do I just fire off the copy and open top?

    Since I connect with ssh to mu headless server, how can I have in the same terminal top and do the copy command?
    Darko.
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    Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 64bit

  5. #5
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    Re: RAID and Server Hardware

    Depending on how you have ssh setup you can open to connections for the same user, so you would have two terminal windows open allowing for top (or 'watch cat /proc/loadavg') on one and copy on the other. If you aren't allowed two connections then I would use screen, it allows you to have multiply "screens" it is hard for me to explain well, it is like the multiply tty you have when sitting at a terminal and you press ctrl+(alt)+F2-F6.
    I would greatly appreciate the information.
    I believe that we should have an open mind but not so open our brain falls out.
    ~unknown

  6. #6
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    Re: RAID and Server Hardware

    Wow, I learned something new. Two separate putty sessions actually worked (I'm on windows right now).

    I used mv to move a 370MB folder from my ubuntu server to a network disk WD My Book World over 100Mb network. I still haven't upgraded to Gb.

    The info in top regarding the mv process was steady during the move with 5% CPU and 0.1% MEM.

    Does that help?
    Darko.
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    Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 64bit

  7. #7
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    Re: RAID and Server Hardware

    I would not purchase six 1 TB drives to use in RAID 6 configuration. Two 4 TB drives in RAID 1 configuration would be much easier to setup and have less overhead compared to RAID 6 with software. Less power, space, and time to setup as well. Also RAID is not backup, so if you're looking at RAID to prevent data loss look elsewhere. RAID is just to keep things running in the event of a hard disk failure. A better option might be to have one 4 TB disk in one machine (the server) and another 4 TB disk in another machine (as backup) that synchronize once a week or whatever.

  8. #8
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    Re: RAID and Server Hardware

    In a mirrored setup, you can lose one drive and be fine, but if you have one server with a single 4TB drive and another mirrored once a week, you could potentially lose up to a week of data.

    Personally, I used my server for file storage and VMs, the extra throughput I get from RAID5 vs single disk is worth it for me.
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  9. #9
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    Re: RAID and Server Hardware

    darkod, thank you for the more real world information, it is useful. The tests I was reading were using a benchmarking program so I feel the program was more for finding the limits not showing real world.

    lukeiamyourfather, I am very confused by your statements, the point of having RAID 6 was so I could have 2 drives fail and still have the data while new drives are being repopulated. Plus the girlfriend is a employed photographer and stores large amounts of photos that change often, so a single large drive failure with week old backups isn't acceptable, she has already had that happen and it wasn't fun. For other vitally important things I have other off sit backups in place, I understand what the uses of RAID is and proper backup procedures.

    CharlesA, when you say that you use it for VMs are you running a VM server or just storing the VM drive files on the server and running them on another machine? Also are you seeing the RAID 5 read performance benefits over ethernet or is the array local to the machine? I wasn't expecting to see any read benefits because of bottlenecks else where.
    I believe that we should have an open mind but not so open our brain falls out.
    ~unknown

  10. #10
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    Re: RAID and Server Hardware

    Quote Originally Posted by LeChacal View Post
    darkod, thank you for the more real world information, it is useful. The tests I was reading were using a benchmarking program so I feel the program was more for finding the limits not showing real world.

    lukeiamyourfather, I am very confused by your statements, the point of having RAID 6 was so I could have 2 drives fail and still have the data while new drives are being repopulated. Plus the girlfriend is a employed photographer and stores large amounts of photos that change often, so a single large drive failure with week old backups isn't acceptable, she has already had that happen and it wasn't fun. For other vitally important things I have other off sit backups in place, I understand what the uses of RAID is and proper backup procedures.

    CharlesA, when you say that you use it for VMs are you running a VM server or just storing the VM drive files on the server and running them on another machine? Also are you seeing the RAID 5 read performance benefits over ethernet or is the array local to the machine? I wasn't expecting to see any read benefits because of bottlenecks else where.
    I used to run a (10) disk mdadm RAID6 array on a AMD 4600X2 (about as powerful as the microserver processor) and had no problem saturating gigabit while maintaining very reasonable loads (half of one core at the most). Personally, I wouldn't use 1TB drives anymore (unless you have them laying around and they're free). I'd at least do 2TB drives, because they seem to be at the best price point.

    Also, with a professional photographer using the array, you'll be very surprised how quickly 4TB of usable space goes just with RAW photos, and Photoshop edits. Just my family photo library is 1.4TB alone. If you want to store home movies, videos, tv shows, music, etc, that 4TB will go FAST

    If you want any help getting it configured, I think my tutorials are pretty easy to follow.

    In CharlesA's example, I believe he uses Virtualbox on his fileserver, so the vms are stored locally. Accessing them over even gigabit would be a bottleneck compared to even 1 modern SATA hard drive. If you have any other questions, please feel free to post, myself or others will be happy to try to answer them.
    Last edited by rubylaser; September 13th, 2012 at 01:32 AM.

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