Building a File Server

2009-02-22 04:46:04

#1

Swope: Member; +55|6433|Germany

Ok, so I came up with the idea of building a file server. Not in the next few weeks, but the next few months.
I want to use parts from my main pc, some parts which lie around and buy some new ones.

What I have in my main pc which I want to use in the server:
Intel C2D E6300Gigabyte P965 DS3WD 250 GB HD (now using for os and programs)WD 750 GB HD (important Data such as pictures, music, documents, etc.)WD 1 TB HD (only for SD and HD movies, full atm)What I have, but don't use:Geforce 7950 GTDVD driveWhat I want/have to buy:Yeong Yang YY-B0221 Server CubeIntel C2D E8400Asus P5QZalman CNPS 7700A-DATA 2 GB DDR2-8002x WD 160 GB HDWD 750 GB HD2x WD 1 TB HDbe quiet! Straight Power BQT E6-550W (because of 8 SATA power plugs)I wanna build from all above named parts:Main PC:

Intel C2D E8400
Asus P5Q
WD 160 GB HD

File Server:

Yeong Yang YY-B0221 Server Cube
Intel C2D E6300
Zalman CNPS 7700
Gigabyte P965 DS3
Geforce 7950 GT
A-DATA 2 GB DDR2-800
WD 160 GB HD (OS and some programs only
WD 250 GB HD (dedicated just for downloading and unpacking from rar-archives)
2x WD 750 GB HD (RAID 1 for more protection for the important data)
3x WD 1 TB HD (JBoD to merge all to one drive to store all movies)
be quiet! Straight Power BQT E6-550W
DVD drive
maybe a RAID controller just for the 2 750GB drives

Some questions:

Which OS is best to manage all?
I want to run JDownloader to download files over the internet and remote control it from my Main PC (like adding, deleting downloads, etc.)
After reading kylef's thread about JBoD I thought it was a good idea to merge the 3x 1 TB drives, but would windows recognize it as one 2,8 TB drive?
How to I share the RAID 1 drive and the 3 TB JBoD drives? With the OS or maybe FreeNas?
Is setting up RAID 1 difficult?
How about Truecrypt? I know a little bit how it works, but will it work with the RAID 1 and JBoD drives?RAID shouldn't be the problem, but crypting the JBoD drives? Truecrypt creates a container-like file which is password protected, stripping this container over 3 drives without having later the problem of losing data when one ore more drives fail?

Thanks and +1 for answers, help or suggestions for making it better.

Last edited by Swope (2009-02-22 07:34:01)

2009-02-22 04:54:43

#2

max: Vela Incident; +1,652|6831|NYC / Hamburg

The main question here is how are you going to control the file server?
- On the one side of the scale it can be connected to a monitor and m/k and essentially just be a second PC
- You can run it headless and use Remote Desktop or VNC to control it.
- You can run some linux distro without even a GUI and remote control via SSH.

Which OS is best to manage all?

This really ties into my above question. JDownloader is platform independent and has a webUI so you're free to use whatever you want really. In either case Windows has the advantage of being more familiar but requiring maintainance every so often, Linux - once set up - will run maintainance free.FreeNAS, while being a simple way to create a NAS isn't all that useful when you want to run additional apps. I'd stay away from it

I want to run JDownloader to download files over the internet and remote control it from my Main PC (like adding, deleting downloads, etc.)

Use the WebUI plugin and you're ready to go

After reading kylef's thread about JBoD I thought it was a good idea to merge the 3x 1 TB drives, but would windows recognize it as one 2,8 TB drive?

exactly. Just remember that if one drive dies getting back your data - while theoretically possible - can be quiet a chore

How to I share the RAID 1 drive and the 3 TB JBoD drives? With the OS or maybe FreeNas?

JBOD can be done in the OS or BIOS. RAID 1 has to be done via the BIOS with windows. Linux also supports software RAID 1. Sharing is done in windows either by right click -> share or by using admin shares (drive letter followed by a $). In linux you'll have to set up samba. There are a billion tuts out there for samba

Is setting up RAID 1 difficult?

nope

Last edited by max (2009-02-22 05:12:18)

_{once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.}

2009-02-22 05:40:55

#3

Swope: Member; +55|6433|Germany

max wrote:
The main question here is how are you going to control the file server?
- On the one side of the scale it can be connected to a monitor and m/k and essentially just be a second PC
- You can run it headless and use Remote Desktop or VNC to control it.
- You can run some linux distro without even a GUI and remote control via SSH.

I want to configure it with monitor, keyboard and mouse and later run it headless and control it with remote desktop.

max wrote:
Which OS is best to manage all?
This really ties into my above question. JDownloader is platform independent and has a webUI so you're free to use whatever you want really. In either case Windows has the advantage of being more familiar but requiring maintainance every so often, Linux - once set up - will run maintainance free. FreeNAS, while being a simple way to create a NAS isn't all that useful when you want to run additional apps. I'd stay away from it

First I thought about running linux but, I'm closer to windows. I think I will run XP on it.

+1

2009-02-22 05:50:52

#4

max: Vela Incident; +1,652|6831|NYC / Hamburg

XP is a terrible OS for networking. Go Vista

_{once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.}

2009-02-22 06:13:47

#5

Jenspm: penis; +1,716|6996|St. Andrews / Oslo

I have that case for my fileserver... It's awesome

I just use Windows Vista and share the Media HDDs, giving myself full editing access and everyone else on the network read-only. it's pretty sweet, I don't have a single movie/song/picture/document on this PC

I don't need any more tbh, it has its own screen and mouse/keyboard for setting up the night time downloads etc, and I just download with this PC and save it to the Server when the downloads are small/this PC is going to be turned on anyway.

https://static.bf2s.com/files/user/26774/flickricon.png

2009-02-22 06:26:16

#6

Swope: Member; +55|6433|Germany

Jenspm wrote:
I have that case for my fileserver... It's awesome

After you posted that you got that case I looked into some reviews and thought, wow thats massiv, I want one too. So much space for hdd's and seperated areas one for mobo, cpu etc. and the other for drives and powersupply.

How about noise and temperature? Do I need additional fans? Or sound proofing stuff?

I just use Windows Vista and share the Media HDDs, giving myself full editing access and everyone else on the network read-only. it's pretty sweet, I don't have a single movie/song/picture/document on this PC

That's what I wanted, too. I want to unload my Main PC. So I can game and watch movies whenever I want, without having issues that some files are downloaded or unpacked.

2009-02-22 07:06:05

#7

Jenspm: penis; +1,716|6996|St. Andrews / Oslo

Swope wrote:
Jenspm wrote:
I have that case for my fileserver... It's awesome
After you posted that you got that case I looked into some reviews and thought, wow thats massiv, I want one too. So much space for hdd's and seperated areas one for mobo, cpu etc. and the other for drives and powersupply.

How about noise and temperature? Do I need additional fans? Or sound proofing stuff?

It's made of a single layer of metal, so it is quite noisy. I have mine in a closet, so I don't really care, heh.

As for fans, it doesn't come with any, so yes, you'll need it. A single exhaust fan in the front (yes, the exhaust in the front) should do.

It also has mounting holes for 92mm fans behind/infront, depending on how you look at it, the HDDs, if you feel it's needed. I only have 3 HDDs, so I haven't filled any of those mounting bays, so I don't need any HDD fans

_{I use 'so' too much}

2009-02-22 07:33:38

#8

Swope: Member; +55|6433|Germany

oh shi- forgot something:

How about Truecrypt? I know a little bit how it works, but will it work with the RAID 1 and JBoD drives?
RAID shouldn't be the problem, but crypting the JBoD drives?
Truecrypt creates a container-like file which is password protected, stripping this container over 3 drives without having later the problem of losing data when one ore more drives fail?

_{updated opening post}

2009-02-22 08:17:19

#9

max: Vela Incident; +1,652|6831|NYC / Hamburg

Running truecrypt itself should be no problem.

If you span a container over several JBOD disks and a drive fails I think it will be very difficult to recover any data. All checksums will fail and truecrypt probs won't work if a part of the container is missing. You really shouldn't have any data you don't want to loose without a backup or at least on a RAID array with some sort of redundancy

Why don't you drop the 750GB drives, get more 1TB drives and do a RAID5 array? Then everything is safe from hardware failiures

_{once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.}

2009-02-22 08:32:38

#10

Swope: Member; +55|6433|Germany

If I drop the RAID 1 and make a RAID 5 out of my current 1TB drive and maybe 3 or 4 more 1TB drives, I will need a RAID controller for 6 (as there are no controllers with 5 ports) drives. Are there any good manufacturer for controllers? What's important?

_{This fileserver thingy will devour some more money as I tought}

2009-02-22 09:27:10

#11

kylef: Gone; +1,352|6757|N. Ireland

I'd aim to get as little hard drives as possible. The more you buy, the more chances there are of failures and also the heat aspect attached to each one.

# WD 160 GB HD (OS and some programs only
# WD 250 GB HD (dedicated just for downloading and unpacking from rar-archives)
# 2x WD 750 GB HD (RAID 1 for more protection for the important data)
# 3x WD 1 TB HD (JBoD to merge all to one drive to store all movies)

That's 7 drives you have there, totaling almost 5TB of space (excluding formatted space). First of all - do you really need all this space? This could end up being an expensive project. Secondly, I'd cut back on some drives and consider your RAID options. 4 x 1TB in RAID5 and 1 x 750GB for "OS ... same progams ... downloading and unpacking from rar-archives ... important data" would make more sense, or even just 3 x 1TB in RAID5.

Good luck with your file server and remember: protection is better than performance for this.

2009-02-22 12:00:35

#12

max: Vela Incident; +1,652|6831|NYC / Hamburg

Swope wrote:
If I drop the RAID 1 and make a RAID 5 out of my current 1TB drive and maybe 3 or 4 more 1TB drives, I will need a RAID controller for 6 (as there are no controllers with 5 ports) drives. Are there any good manufacturer for controllers? What's important?

_{This fileserver thingy will devour some more money as I tought}

AFAIK your mobo has 4 SATA ports (from the intel south bridge) that can be combined into a RAID5 array. You can use the other 2 SATA ports (from the onboard third party sata controller) for your system and unraring disk

You could use 1.5TB disks. If you use 4 of them in RAID5 you'll get 4.5TB. Should be plenty. No need for an extra RAID controller

_{once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.}

2009-02-22 12:41:41

#13

Swope: Member; +55|6433|Germany

You may not karma the same person in a 24 hour period.

You get you karma tomorrow

Edit: From the specification for my mobo:

Supports RAID 0, 1, JBOD (2 ports with RAID function supported by GIGABYTE SATA2)

Source

Last edited by Swope (2009-02-22 12:56:50)

2009-02-22 13:00:30

#14

Finray: Hup! Dos, Tres, Cuatro; +2,629|6052|Catherine Black

Goddamn I want a server.

2009-02-22 14:59:28

#15

CrazeD: Member; +368|6936|Maine

max wrote:
XP is a terrible OS for networking. Go Vista

lol, what?

I got rid of Vista for the simple reason that the networking fucking fails.

XP = share, done. Period. No problems, no further settings.

Vista = share, change a few settings, works fine. I had two partitions I was sharing which both had my downloads. I decided to repartition and make my downloads all on one partition to make life easier. So I did that, and then shared the one partition, and all of a sudden nothing works. No sharing works whatsoever. I can't connect any of my PC's to Vista, whereas before I repartitioned it worked fine.

I really like Vista, but networking fucking phails on Vista.

2009-02-22 15:03:04

#16

GC_PaNzerFIN: Work and study @ Technical Uni; +528|6678|Finland

What I think is something else failed there.... I have been sharing my HDDs to my lappy for looong time without any probs on Vista.

edit: adn the fact it worked fine before you started making changes only solidifies that possibility.

Last edited by GC_PaNzerFIN (2009-02-22 15:03:57)

3930K | H100i | RIVF | 16GB DDR3 | GTX 480 | AX750 | 800D | 512GB SSD | 3TB HDD | Xonar DX | W8

2009-02-22 16:09:49

#17

CrazeD: Member; +368|6936|Maine

How can repartitioning possibly change networking sharing? It's not like it singled out that one drive/partition, no drive in my PC would share. None of the options changed, everything was setup correctly. After several days of Googleing and only finding questions but no answers, I said fuck it and went back to XP. Then I right clicked, hit share, done. No problems whatsoever since.

2009-02-22 16:14:14

#18

GC_PaNzerFIN: Work and study @ Technical Uni; +528|6678|Finland

CrazeD wrote:
How can repartitioning possibly change networking sharing? It's not like it singled out that one drive/partition, no drive in my PC would share. None of the options changed, everything was setup correctly. After several days of Googleing and only finding questions but no answers, I said fuck it and went back to XP. Then I right clicked, hit share, done. No problems whatsoever since.

The fact you got issue with Vista doesn't make it any worse and like you said it worked before jsut fine so its not the OS. If it was, my shares would be total failure. I personally have horrible experience with Windows ME and networks but I'm sure its just me.

3930K | H100i | RIVF | 16GB DDR3 | GTX 480 | AX750 | 800D | 512GB SSD | 3TB HDD | Xonar DX | W8

2009-02-22 16:16:17

#19

CrazeD: Member; +368|6936|Maine

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:
CrazeD wrote:
How can repartitioning possibly change networking sharing? It's not like it singled out that one drive/partition, no drive in my PC would share. None of the options changed, everything was setup correctly. After several days of Googleing and only finding questions but no answers, I said fuck it and went back to XP. Then I right clicked, hit share, done. No problems whatsoever since.
The fact you got issue with Vista doesn't make it any worse and like you said it worked before jsut fine so its not the OS. If it was, my shares would be total failure. I personally have horrible experience with Windows ME and networks but I'm sure its just me.

It is the OS. Google it, look at how many people have problems with sharing in Vista.

2009-02-22 16:18:36

#20

GC_PaNzerFIN: Work and study @ Technical Uni; +528|6678|Finland

CrazeD wrote:
GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:
CrazeD wrote:
How can repartitioning possibly change networking sharing? It's not like it singled out that one drive/partition, no drive in my PC would share. None of the options changed, everything was setup correctly. After several days of Googleing and only finding questions but no answers, I said fuck it and went back to XP. Then I right clicked, hit share, done. No problems whatsoever since.
The fact you got issue with Vista doesn't make it any worse and like you said it worked before jsut fine so its not the OS. If it was, my shares would be total failure. I personally have horrible experience with Windows ME and networks but I'm sure its just me.
It is the OS. Google it, look at how many people have problems with sharing in Vista.

then whats this? I'm sure XP is fail too as google came up with this

http://www.google.fi/search?q=file+shar … =firefox-a

3930K | H100i | RIVF | 16GB DDR3 | GTX 480 | AX750 | 800D | 512GB SSD | 3TB HDD | Xonar DX | W8

2009-02-22 17:23:59

#21

max: Vela Incident; +1,652|6831|NYC / Hamburg

File sharing in XP is terrible. Permissions are wonky at best. Large transfers are slow, unstable and bog the whole machine down. The network tends to just shit itself and die under heavy loads. Browsing shares is just a pain. PCs just vanish from the network. The only way to get the thing to run somewhat reliably is to use admin shares.

Vista improves on this slightly. Still it's hardly ideal and inherits a lot of these problems.

TBH a linux server has gotten really easy to set up, especially if you can afford to run a GUI. Samba doesn't need to be configured manually anymore, it now also has a GUI package. Hell, I talked my dad though doing a reinstall of ubuntu on his PC by himself.
When it comes to performance and reliability linux is just much better than windows

EDIT: linux does RAID5 in software. Performance isn't stellar but is good enough for home file serving duty

Last edited by max (2009-02-22 17:30:02)

_{once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.}

2009-02-22 20:46:56

#22

CrazeD: Member; +368|6936|Maine

The other PC's in my house access my PC and download shit all day, and I never see any performance loss whatsoever. I do agree that the whole domain thing is just gay, and you usually have to use the machine IP (\\1.2.3.4) instead of their name, but whatever, name a version of Windows where that actually works properly.

BF2S Forums Building a File Server

max wrote:

max wrote:

Jenspm wrote:

Swope wrote:

Jenspm wrote:

Swope wrote:

max wrote:

CrazeD wrote:

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:

CrazeD wrote:

CrazeD wrote:

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:

CrazeD wrote:

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