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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    QC, Canada
    Posts
    49

    Need help for choosing the right parts and building my SuperMicro 1U.

    Hello,

    I'm in the process to build a 1U for personal use but i'm not an expert to choose the right parts. I do not want to have compatibility issues or missing parts.


    Any expert that could help me ? I would be grateful.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    Case: SuperMicro 1U (813MTQ-350CB) with 350W GOLD, with RAILS.

    + [OPTIONAL] 1x. Air Shroud for UP (single processor) (MCP-310-18009-0N)
    + [OPTIONAL] 1x. 1U, 40x28mm 4-pin 13k RPM High-Performance PWM Fan (FAN-0065L4)
    + [OPTIONAL] 1x. Front Bezel Black (CSE-PTFB-813LB)
    + [SPARES PSU] 1x. 350W 1U Multi output 80 Plus GOLD PSU (PWS-351-1H)
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    SuperMicro microATX X9SCM-F LGA1155 with IPMI2.0

    4x SATA2 (3Gbps) w/ RAID 0, 1, 5, 10
    2x SATA3 (6Gbps) w/ RAID 0, 1, 5, 10
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    Processor: XEONQUADCORE E3-1270 80W 3.4GHZ 8M 911170S (BX80623E31270)

    + Supermicro CPU Cooler SNK-P0046P 1U Passive Heatsink for X8SIS LGA1156 LGA1155 Retail
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    RAM: Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Server Memory
    (KVR1333D3E9SK2/8G)
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    HDDs: 4x Western Digital RE4 1TB SATA 3 Gb/s 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Hard Drive OEM (WD1003FBYX)
    (RAID-10 with onboard controller)
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    Last edited by Cyberr; 03-30-2011 at 09:44 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    NJ, USA
    Posts
    6,645
    Onboard RAID is BAD.
    AS395558

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    QC, Canada
    Posts
    49
    No budget for now for buying a 500$ Hardware RAID card.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    NJ, USA
    Posts
    6,645
    Then use software RAID.

    If you are that short on cash, get an Adaptec 2405 they are $200 and do 4 ports. But you should have them put in an extra fan to help cool it (~20 more).
    AS395558

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    QC, Canada
    Posts
    49
    @Dougy:

    Thanks for your advice. I will think about that. I'm not an expert in RAID setup.

    For now, my preoccupation is ordering parts. I want to be sure that everything is correct.

    I'm planning to install Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard (because i do not have the choice).

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    QC, Canada
    Posts
    49
    I have read that SOFTWARE RAID on Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 could be a pain in the ass when a mirror fail.

    If i go for Hardware RAID, can i install the OS on it and no worry if a mirror fail ?

    I want to do a RAID-10. Thanks for your help.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    SFO,MIA,ATL,AMS
    Posts
    650
    u should NOT use software raid or raid cards that pass the processing to the cpu,
    if you dont undertand raid, dont use it sata 6 is pretty friking fast as it is

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    QC, Canada
    Posts
    49
    Put the RAID on hold and what about my setup.

    Any missing parts or compatibility problem ?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Posts
    3,872
    I would downgrade the CPU from E3-1270 (3.4Ghz 4C/8T) to E3-1230 (3.2Ghz 4C/8T) and I would also forgo the front bezel which is really useless for a production server. then, I could use the saving toward either a hardware RAID-10 controller such as Adaptec 2405 or make it 16GB RAM. the benefit of extra 0.2Ghz is not apparent at all, but hardware RAID card or extra 8G RAM definitely is. must spent money wisely...

    if you did decide to go for hardware RAID card, then you would need:
    CSE-RR1U-E8 1U PCI-E riser
    CBL-0278L fan-out cable with 4x 90d SATA connectors.

    if you opt for software RAID, then WD 1TB caviar black 64M buffer (WD1002FAEX) will do just fine, no need to use RE4 drives. this will easily save you 200 bucks toward more RAM, perhaps.
    Last edited by cwl@apaqdigital; 03-31-2011 at 10:12 AM.
    C.W. LEE, Apaq Digital Systems
    http://www.apaqdigital.com
    sales@apaqdigital.com

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    QC, Canada
    Posts
    49
    @cwl@apaqdigital: thanks for your advice.


    I'm starting to think that doing RAID-10 not worth the money for my personal server installed into a datacenter on a 100mbits.

    #1. bottleneck of 100mbits
    #2. not really I/O intensive
    #3. I have physical access and i can shutdown the night for hardware maintenance.


    What do you think of 3x WD 1TB Black Caviar SATA3 64M (WD1002FAEX)

    1 for OS + SQL
    1 for db + file
    1 for image backup

  11. #11
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Posts
    3,872
    Quote Originally Posted by Cyberr View Post
    @cwl@apaqdigital: thanks for your advice.


    I'm starting to think that doing RAID-10 not worth the money for my personal server installed into a datacenter on a 100mbits.

    #1. bottleneck of 100mbits
    #2. not really I/O intensive
    #3. I have physical access and i can shutdown the night for hardware maintenance.


    What do you think of 3x WD 1TB Black Caviar SATA3 64M (WD1002FAEX)

    1 for OS + SQL
    1 for db + file
    1 for image backup
    not sure you need large storage size or not? if not, then it seems you can certainly use SSD drives than RAID-10 approach.
    C.W. LEE, Apaq Digital Systems
    http://www.apaqdigital.com
    sales@apaqdigital.com

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Cyberr View Post
    @cwl@apaqdigital: thanks for your advice.


    I'm starting to think that doing RAID-10 not worth the money for my personal server installed into a datacenter on a 100mbits.

    #1. bottleneck of 100mbits
    #2. not really I/O intensive
    #3. I have physical access and i can shutdown the night for hardware maintenance.
    I'd stick with the raid 10. I don't understand though, what do these 3 points have to do with raid?

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    QC, Canada
    Posts
    49
    Quote Originally Posted by cwl@apaqdigital View Post
    not sure you need large storage size or not?
    1TB is way too much for now but i prefer to have more space than not enough.


    Quote Originally Posted by SamBarrow View Post
    I'd stick with the raid 10. I don't understand though, what do these 3 points have to do with raid?
    I was thinking to do a RAID-10 for security purpose because of the mirror.

    Plus, it is not I/O intensive, so i won't benefit from extra speed offered with RAID-10.


    I have read somewhere that the primary advantage of Hardware RAID is that it offloads parity calculations to a dedicated processor.

    But RAID 0/1/1+0 don't have parity to calculate.



    I am a little confused.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Jax, FL
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cyberr View Post
    I was thinking to do a RAID-10 for security purpose because of the mirror.
    RAID is NOT an alternative to backups!!! It should not be treated as such!

    RAID is there to provide some level of fault tolerance and for performance. Regardless if you use RAID or not, you should keep off-server, preferably in a different datacenter, backups of all important data!

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    QC, Canada
    Posts
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    Quote Originally Posted by SC-Daniel View Post
    you should keep off-server, preferably in a different datacenter, backups of all important data!
    Of course i will do backups elsewhere.



    Apparently I was misinformed, with Software Raid, the OS cannot boot from the RAID array.
    It requires a separate, non-RAID partition to be created for the OS.

    Does the same boot problem occur with fake raid ?

  16. #16
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cyberr View Post
    Of course i will do backups elsewhere.



    Apparently I was misinformed, with Software Raid, the OS cannot boot from the RAID array.
    It requires a separate, non-RAID partition to be created for the OS.

    Does the same boot problem occur with fake raid ?
    that's not quite correct! we install and boot from OS software RAID all day long...

    however, boot volume can only be RAID1 mirror! thus, you will need to create a pair of small RAID partitions from two drives for "/boot", then configure the rest from 4 drives for raid-10.
    C.W. LEE, Apaq Digital Systems
    http://www.apaqdigital.com
    sales@apaqdigital.com

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    QC, Canada
    Posts
    49
    cwl@apaqdigital:

    We are now talking of a total of 6 HDDs ?

    There is only 4x 3.5" Hot-swap SAS/SATA Drive Bays with the 1U model that i want to buy.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Cyberr View Post
    cwl@apaqdigital:

    We are now talking of a total of 6 HDDs ?

    There is only 4x 3.5" Hot-swap SAS/SATA Drive Bays with the 1U model that i want to buy.
    You wouldn't need separate drives for /boot, only separate partitions.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    QC, Canada
    Posts
    49
    SamBarrow:

    You're right.

    Excuse my ignorance, i mixed "drives" and "partitions"

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Cyberr View Post
    Plus, it is not I/O intensive, so i won't benefit from extra speed offered with RAID-10.
    Yes but 100mbps is fast. Your bottleneck will almost always be disk io.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyberr View Post
    I have read somewhere that the primary advantage of Hardware RAID is that it offloads parity calculations to a dedicated processor.

    But RAID 0/1/1+0 don't have parity to calculate.

    I am a little confused.
    You are correct about the parity calculations, that's why for raid 0/1/10 software RAID is a viable option.

  21. #21
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    Mar 2011
    Location
    QC, Canada
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    Quote Originally Posted by SamBarrow View Post
    100mbps is fast. Your bottleneck will almost always be disk io
    100mbps ~12.5 megabytes per second (this should be the standard speed for everyone)

    1000mbps ~125 megabytes per second (now we are talking's of fast speed )

  22. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by Cyberr View Post
    100mbps ~12.5 megabytes per second (this should be the standard speed for everyone)

    1000mbps ~125 megabytes per second (now we are talking's of fast speed )
    Right, but the disk io involves db access and things like that. It's not a 1:1 comparison when looking at disk io speeds to bandwidth used.

    On regular shared hosting, you'll usually max out on disk io well before you hit 100mbps of bandwidth usage.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    QC, Canada
    Posts
    49
    SamBarrow: You're right for disks I/O access to db and other. These need to be taken in consideration


    I will probably start with Software RAID on Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64

    I will create a boot volume of 100GB on two drives for the OS then do RAID1 mirror, then create RAID-10 with my four WD RE4 1TB.

    People here are so helpful.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Jax, FL
    Posts
    2,707
    Software RAID in Windows is terrible... I would either spring for a RAID card, or install CentOS/Debian on the bare metal hardware to use Linux md-raid and then add a virtualization layer (KVM or Xen) with Windows within a virtual machine.

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    QC, Canada
    Posts
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    Quote Originally Posted by SC-Daniel View Post
    Software RAID in Windows is terrible
    Some people hear the word "Windows" and runs away.

    I heard several good story and bad story with Software RAID in Windows.

    I need to take a final decision soon.

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