Hi guys,

What I wish to build is a WHS Storgae / Fileserver for Media Streaming & Backup of 6 other machines. My idea with the DIY WHS is to support:

- Store and stream all my media, in particular HD content - possible TV depending on Vail
- Backup client pcs (3 desktop PCs, 3 laptops)
- Remote access etc...


I have a new Lian Li 343B case, although I thought about a Norco RPC4020 they are too hard to come by in Denmark.

So here I go ... so to open up the questions for the 'experts' advice:

Motherboard - No idea - I guess I need plenty of PCI slots ???

Processor - No idea - need advice ???

Drive Bays - I have been looking at 6 x IB-555SSK (http://www.raidsonic.de/de/data/data_pd ... _553_e.pdf) that can be SAS or SATA - therefore I need to be able to handle 30 drives in the end, although in the beginning I will just run 2 units with 10 drives.

PSU - No idea but I can see that each drive bay IB-555SSK needs 2 or 3 molex - so I would need to be able to run 18 molex connectors somehow ...

Controller card - now I am lost in the SAS / SATA maze - I guess it is easier to support these drive through SAS? I can't find any good advice on how to support all of these drives from the outset or piecemeal over time as I add new IB-555SSK's also should I consider some RAID functionality for redundancy? This stuff probably confuses me the most as I am more used to a motherbaord with SATA or the old IDE controllers.

RAM - I guess 4GB is enough for a WHS?

VIDEO - I guess this is not really needed or is low prioirty - is this still the case for streaming?

I have built quite a few PC over my time so I am not technically incompetent, but this will be my first Server so I am looking for help and direction

TIA for any advice

thanks

Alistair

You can't go wrong with a Supermicro MB and a low power Xeon or Core i3 or i5 processor. The Supermicro server mobos are designed for servers and have plenty of PCIe slots for expansion cards.

I don't know for sure about those drive bay boxes, but they look exactly like the xClio drive boxes. I just used one of the xClio 4 bay boxes in my new PC and it so far appears to work great.

You should go with a good modular psu like a Corsair 750 or 850 watt, or any other good modular PSU that has plenty of power connections.

Supermicro SASLP if you go SAS or SAT2 if you go SATA. 8 ports per card. Great cards at a great price.

Correct

If you go with a Supermicro MB, get one with onboard video. Same if you go with any other mfg's mobo; get one with onboard video. That way you don't have to buy a stand alone video card. The onboard vide is more than enough for the limited monitor use for a WHS machine.

Not really much different than building any other PC except that the selection of components should be more geared toward server usage rathen than performance PC usage.

I considered this case it just got too pricey too fast.
But since you already have it, shouldn't be an issue.
I would love to see how this turns out.

_________________
Current DIY server DL380 G6 2xquad core 2.8ghz 32GB rdimm ram 512mb 2xHP 410 raid with 2x sas expanders (2 X norco RPC-4220) 48 slots stacked with room to grow.
30TB (Movie/File/Music)Win 2012 essentials 64bit Storage spaces
Ex490 E6400 4gb ram

I had actually considered this case also, but did not have enough room under my desk to accommodate it, & opted for the Norco 4220 instead

_________________
Lilbisqit

You can buy the Norco from http://www.xcase.co.uk/X-Case-RM-420-Hotswap-4u-p/case-rm420.htm. Costs 382 Euros. I sent them a message to label it as a test cabinett £20 and did not pay any taxes here in Norway.

_________________
EX470 V3, 2 GB, 3800+ X2 EE SFF (@ 2Ghz), 4 1,5TB Seagate
Win 7/64 Ultimate, 6GB, i7 920 @ 4000, 16 TB
Win 7, Lenovo X40
Win 7/64 Xtreamer Ultra HTPC
Norco 4220, Q6600 16 TB
D-Link 655, Level One 8 port gigaswitch, Cat 7A cables

Thanks for your help ...

To make things go a little faster and cheaper I have a Intel Q6600 system with 8GB DDR2 (which is my main machine) that I will probably replace with a Core i7 920 and a new MB.

If I were to get a Asus P5Q Deluxe / P5Q Premium or P5Q-e which has 3 / 4 PCIe x16 slots secondhand I could support three Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCIe x4 eventually and have 8 SATA's running from the mainboard which would allow the 30 bays - I would then be able to reuse my 8GB DDR2 Ram and Q6600 as the server and buy a cheap PCI graphics card for the server. I would still need a PSU and to start buying Drive Bays but this setup would be expandable as it support all the items that I could eventually have on the server.

Do this sound realistic, overkill, underkill?

So my setup would be:

Case: Lian Li P343-B (own)

Motherboard - Asus P5Q Deluxe / P5Q Premium or P5Q-E

Processor - Intel Q6600 2.6ghz (own)

Drive Bays - 6 x IB-555SSK (http://www.raidsonic.de/de/data/data_pd ... _553_e.pdf)

PSU - Corsair 850W

Controller cards - 3 x Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

RAM - 8GB DDR2 PC6400 (own)

VIDEO - Cheap PCI Video Card (own)

TIA

That will make a fine system.
You won't be able to use all that ram right now but when vail comes it will be very nice to have.

_________________
Current DIY server DL380 G6 2xquad core 2.8ghz 32GB rdimm ram 512mb 2xHP 410 raid with 2x sas expanders (2 X norco RPC-4220) 48 slots stacked with room to grow.
30TB (Movie/File/Music)Win 2012 essentials 64bit Storage spaces
Ex490 E6400 4gb ram