Hello All,
I am updating my old system, well actually replacing it with something faster and better.
I know what kind of power this new setup will draw and how loud it will be, but I am not too worried. This is going into a rack in my basement and Only 12 drives will be active. The other drives are going to be for backup purposes only
The server is used for Pictures, Videos, Itunes Music, backups of all the PC's in the house, streaming DVD collection, backup of computers I work on and whatever else I decide to throw at it
Old System:
Intel SS4200-E
4 x 1tb Seagate 7200rpm sata II drives
WHS V1
2gb Ram
E4500 CPU
Esata TR4M with 3 x 2tb WD Black drives
(Duplication setup and using almost 4tb without Dup)
New system:
HP Proliant DL320s (14 drive SAS/Sata hot swap server, Dual gigabit Lan)
Xeon X3070 Dual core (Board cannot accept quad core processors, just found out the hardway)
6gb ECC DDR2
P800 SAS controller 512mb ram and dual batts
Highpoint 2640X4)
WHS 2011
2 x 80gb Intel G2 SSD (OS Drive, Raid 1)
6 x 1tb Hitachi Sata II drives
3 x 1tb seagate Sata II drives
(3 x raid 0, 3 x Raid 0, 3 x Raid 0)
This is the initial setup, but I am currently trying to run tests to see which raid version I like better or just drive bender by itself
Here are some upgrades I have planned in the next few weeks:
HP P812 Raid Controller, 1gb cache
MSA60 12 drive raid array (Going to be for backup only, turned on as needed)
4 x 1tb WD Blue (pulled from another PC in the house)
4 x 500gb WD Blue (drives that use to be in the SS4200-E)
3 x 2tb WD Blacks (backup for the SS4200-e)(if I use drive bender I can just include these into the pool, still havent decided yet.
Some insight to what I have done so far.
When I got the server it had no drives installed, just the P800 raid controller, 6gb ram and nothing else.
I installed an 80gb SSD on the P800
Loaded up WHS 2011 via USB DVD and attempted installation, well that didnt go well. The installation would stop at the windows logo and sit there forever. So I decided to try Win2k8, and I got the same result. No matter what OS I tried to load it was always getting stuck at some point.
I took all the memory out and only left 1gb stick installed and guess what, it would actually start to install correctly. WHS didnt due to min 2gb requirement, but 2k3 and 2k8 were loading ok. This is where I started to get frustrated. When putting any combination of ram back into the server it would not load anything with 2gb or more was installed. I was pulling my hair.
I found the HP DL320s recovery DVD online (for free from HP website). I put 1gb of ram in the server, loaded the DVD and attempted install, guess what it stopped again, but this time it seemed that the USB DVD was dropping offline and stopping the install. I used HP's USB boot drive program and loaded the recovery to usb and it started the process of installation. Well at least it started. I had preconfigured the Raid array per the online resources, but come to find out you are suppose to leave the drives installed and not setup. The DVD performs all functions for you. It configures the array, drives, etc.
Once I got the recovery to actually process I got all of the windows updates installed and than proceeded to the HP updates. This was fun, the server, P800 and backplane all had original BIOS/ROM/Firmware loaded, which was causing problems trying to load new OS's. Once I got the server updated (which took a good few hours) I was able to reinstall the 6gb of ram and it didnt cause any problems. Minus Win 2k3 only accesses 3.5gb I was still in good spirits.
With the server updated I proceeded to test Win 2k8 to see if it would load. USB install of course and it took, I just jumped right over to WHS 2011 installation, USB of course.
I had forgotten about the 160gb drive limit for WHS 2011, so I had to modify the USB drive with a config file to accept the 80gb SSD. This time I ran into another issue the driver for the P800 did not want to load correctly, so once again I had to modify the USB drive with a drivers folder for the P800. This time the installation went through without any issues.
I started to do some tests and found the P800 limits the Sata connection to 1.5gbs, unlike the SAS at 3gb. So I have a spare 2640x4 raid card that I installed and connected the 80gb SSD and reinstalled WHS 2011. The test with this were much better.
Since the server is in testing phase now i am trying a bunch of different combinations to see what I like and see what kind of transfer speeds I will be getting.
Testing Configs:
DL320s, 6gb Ram, Xeon X3070
1.
80gb SSD (OS on 2640X4 raid card in bypass mode)
3 x 1tb Hitatchi = Raid 0
3 x 1tb Hitatchi = Raid 0
3 x 1tb Seagate = Raid 0
The 3ea Raid 0 arrays are getting between 300-400mb/s read/write each (I will post some pics once i get the testing done)
2.
80gb SSD (OS on 2640X4 raid card in bypass mode)
3 x 1tb Hitatchi = Raid 5
3 x 1tb Hitatchi = Raid 5
3 x 1tb Seagate = Raid 5
3.
80gb SSD (OS on 2640X4 raid card in bypass mode)
3 x 1tb Hitatchi = Raid 6
3 x 1tb Hitatchi = Raid 6
3 x 1tb Seagate = Raid 6
I am updating my old system, well actually replacing it with something faster and better.
I know what kind of power this new setup will draw and how loud it will be, but I am not too worried. This is going into a rack in my basement and Only 12 drives will be active. The other drives are going to be for backup purposes only
The server is used for Pictures, Videos, Itunes Music, backups of all the PC's in the house, streaming DVD collection, backup of computers I work on and whatever else I decide to throw at it
Old System:
Intel SS4200-E
4 x 1tb Seagate 7200rpm sata II drives
WHS V1
2gb Ram
E4500 CPU
Esata TR4M with 3 x 2tb WD Black drives
(Duplication setup and using almost 4tb without Dup)
New system:
HP Proliant DL320s (14 drive SAS/Sata hot swap server, Dual gigabit Lan)
Xeon X3070 Dual core (Board cannot accept quad core processors, just found out the hardway)
6gb ECC DDR2
P800 SAS controller 512mb ram and dual batts
Highpoint 2640X4)
WHS 2011
2 x 80gb Intel G2 SSD (OS Drive, Raid 1)
6 x 1tb Hitachi Sata II drives
3 x 1tb seagate Sata II drives
(3 x raid 0, 3 x Raid 0, 3 x Raid 0)
This is the initial setup, but I am currently trying to run tests to see which raid version I like better or just drive bender by itself
Here are some upgrades I have planned in the next few weeks:
HP P812 Raid Controller, 1gb cache
MSA60 12 drive raid array (Going to be for backup only, turned on as needed)
4 x 1tb WD Blue (pulled from another PC in the house)
4 x 500gb WD Blue (drives that use to be in the SS4200-E)
3 x 2tb WD Blacks (backup for the SS4200-e)(if I use drive bender I can just include these into the pool, still havent decided yet.
Some insight to what I have done so far.
When I got the server it had no drives installed, just the P800 raid controller, 6gb ram and nothing else.
I installed an 80gb SSD on the P800
Loaded up WHS 2011 via USB DVD and attempted installation, well that didnt go well. The installation would stop at the windows logo and sit there forever. So I decided to try Win2k8, and I got the same result. No matter what OS I tried to load it was always getting stuck at some point.
I took all the memory out and only left 1gb stick installed and guess what, it would actually start to install correctly. WHS didnt due to min 2gb requirement, but 2k3 and 2k8 were loading ok. This is where I started to get frustrated. When putting any combination of ram back into the server it would not load anything with 2gb or more was installed. I was pulling my hair.
I found the HP DL320s recovery DVD online (for free from HP website). I put 1gb of ram in the server, loaded the DVD and attempted install, guess what it stopped again, but this time it seemed that the USB DVD was dropping offline and stopping the install. I used HP's USB boot drive program and loaded the recovery to usb and it started the process of installation. Well at least it started. I had preconfigured the Raid array per the online resources, but come to find out you are suppose to leave the drives installed and not setup. The DVD performs all functions for you. It configures the array, drives, etc.
Once I got the recovery to actually process I got all of the windows updates installed and than proceeded to the HP updates. This was fun, the server, P800 and backplane all had original BIOS/ROM/Firmware loaded, which was causing problems trying to load new OS's. Once I got the server updated (which took a good few hours) I was able to reinstall the 6gb of ram and it didnt cause any problems. Minus Win 2k3 only accesses 3.5gb I was still in good spirits.
With the server updated I proceeded to test Win 2k8 to see if it would load. USB install of course and it took, I just jumped right over to WHS 2011 installation, USB of course.
I had forgotten about the 160gb drive limit for WHS 2011, so I had to modify the USB drive with a config file to accept the 80gb SSD. This time I ran into another issue the driver for the P800 did not want to load correctly, so once again I had to modify the USB drive with a drivers folder for the P800. This time the installation went through without any issues.
I started to do some tests and found the P800 limits the Sata connection to 1.5gbs, unlike the SAS at 3gb. So I have a spare 2640x4 raid card that I installed and connected the 80gb SSD and reinstalled WHS 2011. The test with this were much better.
Since the server is in testing phase now i am trying a bunch of different combinations to see what I like and see what kind of transfer speeds I will be getting.
Testing Configs:
DL320s, 6gb Ram, Xeon X3070
1.
80gb SSD (OS on 2640X4 raid card in bypass mode)
3 x 1tb Hitatchi = Raid 0
3 x 1tb Hitatchi = Raid 0
3 x 1tb Seagate = Raid 0
The 3ea Raid 0 arrays are getting between 300-400mb/s read/write each (I will post some pics once i get the testing done)
2.
80gb SSD (OS on 2640X4 raid card in bypass mode)
3 x 1tb Hitatchi = Raid 5
3 x 1tb Hitatchi = Raid 5
3 x 1tb Seagate = Raid 5
3.
80gb SSD (OS on 2640X4 raid card in bypass mode)
3 x 1tb Hitatchi = Raid 6
3 x 1tb Hitatchi = Raid 6
3 x 1tb Seagate = Raid 6