Post Your Servers v3: Holy Motherload of Knowledge

[Cakebatyr]

[QUOTE=ghostofme;53039283]I'm turning an old desktop into a NAS and I'm looking for a PCI RAID controller that supports RAID 5.

This is all I can find: [url]https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816124028&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Hard+Drive+Controllers+%2F+RAID+Cards-_-N82E16816124028&gclid=Cj0KCQiA7dHSBRDEARIsAJhAHwjZp8p7gF86HGZXbpAgtZaFfss-cs1n5VopeblvHHaM-wX2QG5gD88aAgfWEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds[/url]

Is anyone else aware of one that can support 4-6 drives and RAID 5? All I'm seeing on Amazon are sata controllers that only support RAID 1 and 0 through the motherboard. If not I'll probably just buy this one.[/QUOTE]

LSI 9211-8i is what you want, readily found on ebay. Ideally you want one in "IT Mode" if you plan on installing FreeNAS on that old desktop.

You'll need a Mini-SAS to SATA cable like [url=https://www.ebay.ca/itm/172794590042]this[/url] to interface the 9211 with your HDDs.

From there on welcome to the [img]https://facepunch.com/fp/ratings/rainbow.png[/img][i]World of RAID[/i][img]https://facepunch.com/fp/ratings/rainbow.png[/img], you will want to start learning about FreeNAS.

[editline]9th January 2018[/editline]

Also a new toy arrived in the mail today.

[t]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/332322454674472960/400442480383885322/MVIMG_20180109_161512.jpg[/t]

[BatHands]

[QUOTE=Cakebatyr;53040099]LSI 9211-8i is what you want, readily found on ebay. Ideally you want one in "IT Mode" if you plan on installing FreeNAS on that old desktop.

You'll need a Mini-SAS to SATA cable like [url=https://www.ebay.ca/itm/172794590042]this[/url] to interface the 9211 with your HDDs.

From there on welcome to the [img]https://facepunch.com/fp/ratings/rainbow.png[/img][i]World of RAID[/i][img]https://facepunch.com/fp/ratings/rainbow.png[/img], you will want to start learning about FreeNAS.

[editline]9th January 2018[/editline]

Also a new toy arrived in the mail today.

[t]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/332322454674472960/400442480383885322/MVIMG_20180109_161512.jpg[/t][/QUOTE]

Oh I'm no stranger to RAID, I'm one of the two admins that manage our company storage. I've just never built a NAS at home out of a desktop. The hardware I deal with is made for this stuff already.

That cable is EXACTLY what I was looking for though. Thanks man!

[editline]10th January 2018[/editline]

[QUOTE=ghostofme;53040680]Oh I'm no stranger to RAID, I'm one of the two admins that manage our company storage. I've just never built a NAS at home out of a desktop. The hardware I deal with is made for this stuff already.

That cable is EXACTLY what I was looking for though. Thanks man![/QUOTE]

Does that support RAID 5? This all it says straight out of the guide: "Supports Integrated RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, and RAID 1E)"

[Megalan]

Hardware RAID is something I would not use at home tbh. Especially with entry-level cards. Software RAID is more than enough and you won't have a headache in case of hardware problems.

[MTMod]

[QUOTE=Megalan;53043462]Hardware RAID is something I would not use at home tbh. Especially with entry-level cards. Software RAID is more than enough and you won't have a headache in case of hardware problems.[/QUOTE]

That's why the LSI 9211-8i is such an awesome choice, it's cost effective, reliable, good quality, and is for software RAID.

[BatHands]

[QUOTE=Megalan;53043462]Hardware RAID is something I would not use at home tbh. Especially with entry-level cards. Software RAID is more than enough and you won't have a headache in case of hardware problems.[/QUOTE]

I'd have to disagree. I'd rather have a dedicated piece of hardware to run my RAID than software. If it goes bad I just replace it and import the config. I've been working with corporate hardware RAID for a while now and all we do is just replace it if the controllers go bad. There's no headache associated.

I'm okay with shelling out $75 every once in a while.

[Slendermang]

Hey guys, I just bought a Raspberry Pi to try to learn about UNIX based OS's. I've had some fun trying to setup a Squid server (didn't go so well) and a DNS Cache with dnsmasq thus far. Is there anything else I could do to get my feet wet with networking? I was thinking of making a NAS and FTP server next.

[Cakebatyr]

[QUOTE=ghostofme;53048033]I'd have to disagree. I'd rather have a dedicated piece of hardware to run my RAID than software. If it goes bad I just replace it and import the config. I've been working with corporate hardware RAID for a while now and all we do is just replace it if the controllers go bad. There's no headache associated.

I'm okay with shelling out $75 every once in a while.[/QUOTE]

My FreeNAS installation is running off the sata ports on a motherboard. FreeNAS itself loads itself into RAM from a USB stick. If FreeNAS goes bad I replace the $7 USB stick and import my config.

I'm ok with shelling out $7 once in a while.

[editline]12th January 2018[/editline]

[QUOTE=Lone Wolf807;53048463]Hey guys, I just bought a Raspberry Pi to try to learn about UNIX based OS's. I've had some fun trying to setup a Squid server (didn't go so well) and a DNS Cache with dnsmasq thus far. Is there anything else I could do to get my feet wet with networking? I was thinking of making a NAS and FTP server next.[/QUOTE]

[url=http://www.pivpn.io/]PiVPN[/url] for a start. [url=https://pi-hole.net/]Pi-Hole[/url] next.

If you want to try a NAS look into [url=https://www.samba.org/samba/what_is_samba.html]Samba[/url] so you can use the filesystem on the external HDD from a windows computer.

[Flapadar]

[QUOTE=ghostofme;53048033]I'd have to disagree. I'd rather have a dedicated piece of hardware to run my RAID than software. If it goes bad I just replace it and import the config. I've been working with corporate hardware RAID for a while now and all we do is just replace it if the controllers go bad. There's no headache associated.

I'm okay with shelling out $75 every once in a while.[/QUOTE]

What if you have supply issues for the controller? Isn't HBA with software raid safer - you could swap the dead hardware with literally anything that connects your drives?

I suppose maybe not with windows, but mdadm on Linux is stable, fast and well proven.

I've also heard of cases where hardware raid essentially shredded the array on the controllers death. Can't remember what brand, but that is something I'd prefer to avoid.

[MTMod]

[QUOTE=ghostofme;53048033]I'd have to disagree. I'd rather have a dedicated piece of hardware to run my RAID than software. If it goes bad I just replace it and import the config. I've been working with corporate hardware RAID for a while now and all we do is just replace it if the controllers go bad. There's no headache associated.

I'm okay with shelling out $75 every once in a while.[/QUOTE]

A corporate environment is not the same as a DIY NAS, though. I agree that hardware RAID is better for datacenters but software RAID is just easier for someone's home setup.

[Megalan]

[QUOTE=ghostofme;53048033]I'd have to disagree. I'd rather have a dedicated piece of hardware to run my RAID than software. If it goes bad I just replace it and import the config. I've been working with corporate hardware RAID for a while now and all we do is just replace it if the controllers go bad. There's no headache associated.

I'm okay with shelling out $75 every once in a while.[/QUOTE]

Literally the only good thing about using hardware raid in this price range is a bit more advanced disk health monitoring than just SMART. But it does nothing that couldn't be replicated in software.

[BatHands]

[QUOTE=Megalan;53050078]Literally the only good thing about using hardware raid in this price range is a bit more advanced disk health monitoring than just SMART. But it does nothing that couldn't be replicated in software.[/QUOTE]

I hadn't realized that FreeNAS was designed for software RAIDs. I set it up last night and got it running.

What are some cool things you guys do with FreeNAS? I'm just using it for backup/replication along with a Plex server right now.

[Fetret]

My old laptop has an eSATA port. Would it be silly to think I could use it as a NAS solution? If I am completely new to server building but having my own home network and media storage had been my dream for ages how possible would be having 2 or 3x 2TB disks in RAID? I am trying to find an hdd enclosure or something of the sort but can't seem to.

[Megalan]

[QUOTE=ghostofme;53052251]I hadn't realized that FreeNAS was designed for software RAIDs. I set it up last night and got it running.

What are some cool things you guys do with FreeNAS? I'm just using it for backup/replication along with a Plex server right now.[/QUOTE]

Personally I don't use FreeNAS. I am running ubuntu server with a few custom scripts for health monitoring. I use it for plex, backups (backups are stored locally + uploaded to google drive via rclone), vpn server, storage for stuff I don't want to store on my pc for various reasons, discord bot, a few VM's, etc.

[QUOTE=Fetret;53052650]My old laptop has an eSATA port. Would it be silly to think I could use it as a NAS solution? If I am completely new to server building but having my own home network and media storage had been my dream for ages how possible would be having 2 or 3x 2TB disks in RAID? I am trying to find an hdd enclosure or something of the sort but can't seem to.[/QUOTE]

If your laptop is not ancient then this could work. Check if it has gigabit ethernet connection or it might be hard to use it for media streaming.

[URL]https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=esata+external+enclosure+4+bay[/URL]

Just make sure it directly passes drives to computer. Some enclosures create their own hardware raid and you can't disable that.

[frankpetrov]

Looking to replace my old tower running pfsense with something smaller and more power efficient. anyone have any ideas? I need 2 WLAN ports that support port bonding and at least 2 LAN ports. Anyone have any good ideas or would i be better just building something with a mini ITX?

[Merv]

What's the total cost for this whole setup? I have yet to take my CCNA and having a lab for it would be pretty useful if extremely loud.

[katt]

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/108611/2bb75981-845a-496a-bba0-1a778a2905d1/IMG_20180215_170631.jpg

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/108611/043ee81c-123d-49d9-8d29-c17698cde6cc/2018-03-16_11-30-56.png

It's a mess but it's my mess.

[MTMod]

If you were to buy all of this exact gear from eBay, Craigslist, etc. it would be around $750. I got lucky and pulled it all from the recycle pile at work after we did a massive LAN upgrade. You can find a functionally equivalent set of gear for much cheaper though.

[HeyBanditoz]

It doesn't get any better than this.

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/110534/1d030237-da97-4f54-a5b3-28964f91d226/IMG_20180316_151700 - Copy.jpg

[helifreak]

Oh christ someone actually bought that fucking keyboard.

[Saxon]

Its pretty scary that this R510 I got for free is a lot newer than some of the junk they still run at my work.

Hopefully I can get a hold of Xserves when they go to the recycling pile soon so I can grow my new rack of junk servers

[Cakebatyr]

I wish I had an R510. I've outgrown my 4x1TB NAS. I might as well build an entirely new NAS at the same time and that means I need MORE drive bays.

[Thunderysteak]

I just have a crappy core2duo optiplex serving as network print server slave with samba for some backups and Zabbix running on it to check my and friend's servers and Xen VMs.

http://i.heykidwannayiff.com/Warframe.x64_2018-03-17_10-40-03.png

Also I I just had a lot of DDR2 RAM sticks on hand and gave it so much RAM that it will never ever need

[Saxon]

I don't know if you can slap any pcie nic in an R510 and have it work, I was thinking of getting a pack of these to create a 10gbe link to my server from my desktop

https://www.amazon.com/Mellanox-Connectx-2-PCI-Epress-Interface-MNPA19-XTR/dp/B016OYD0D4/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1521299067&sr=8-5&keywords=10gbe+nic

[Cakebatyr]

For what its worth, a Cisco 2851 (the highest end of the 2800 series first gen ISRs, same generation as the 1841) with IOS 15 ADVENTERPRISE (the greatest feature set and the most recent IOS available for the first generation ISRs) can be found for $25 CAD and very reasonable shipping (at least according to ebay's calculator). You can also find 2960's from the same seller for the same price and 3560's for slightly more. If you just plan on labbing with it these devices are absolutely fine. I would personally skip out on a non-G, non-E, non-X 3560 or 3750 because they have a super loud 40mm fan, the 2960s have a much quieter blower fan but also have a reduced feature set.

[Morkcheese]

that'll work fine in a r510

[MetricMoose]

I added a Mikrotik CSS326-24G-2S+RM (https://mikrotik.com/product/CSS326-24G-2SplusRM) to my network so I can take advantage of the SFP+ on my overkill router (Mikrotik CCR1009-8G-1S-1S+), plus have something a little more rack friendly when I do look at buying a rack. It's completely silent and uses less than 20W max. It's doing a good job so far, I'm not the biggest fan of Mikrotik SwitchOS but it does the job and there's not a lot to go wrong. I also recently upped my internet speeds to about 160/160.

[t]https://i.imgur.com/gL19ou4.jpg[/t]

[GaryJS]

I have those exact cards. Previously one was in my R710 and the other in my desktop. No problems what so ever. You should be good to go.

Now I have both of them going to my Cisco 3650e via 10Gb MM fiber.

[MTMod]

Finally got my ghetto-ass NAS a permanent home. There are supposed to be two fans at the front but the bearing on one is shot.

https://i.imgur.com/fCXRFxB.jpg

[Anderen2]

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/132540/6d9cd2a1-f135-4adf-a0c1-c284d27be9c7/Snapchat-1346265153.jpg

(excuse the old snapchat image, it was the only picture I found of my setup. My ""water-proof"" phone currently refuses to take pictures after it got a splash of water)

Home-made "Lack-rack" of servers living in my small home utility-room.
It consists of the following HW:
HP Proliant G7 (2x CPU, 96GB RAM, 2x10GbE + 2x1GbE)
HP Proliant G7 (2x CPU, 108GB RAM, 2x10GbE + 2x1GbE)
HP Proliant G7 (1x CPU, 73GB RAM, 2x10GbE + 2x1GbE)
HP Proliant G6 (2x CPU, 128GB RAM, 2x10GbE + 2x1GbE)
Cisco ASA 5505
Cisco Catalyst 3560G
Ubiquiti Edgerouter X
APC UPS (off-picture, powering network, NAS and M90)
Lenovo ThinkCentre M90 (off-picture)
Self-build "headless" desktop box w/GPU (off-picture)
QNAP 4-drive NAS (off-picture)

I also have an additional G6 which I plan to co-locate together with one of the servers in my lack-rack soon.

Networking
I run several VLANs and OSPF in my local home network, which is peered with a WRT3200ACM at my office, and using a Ubiquity AP in the livingroom.
All servers are hooked up with 2x 1Gbit links to the Cisco SW (Soon to be LACP), and they are to be cross connected with 10Gbit SPF links.
The ASA is used for management net access (eg. ILO etc), and for my AnyConnect VPN.
The EgdeRouter is used as the default gateway towards the internet.
Looking into setting up BGP over site-to-site VPN towards AWS and Azure, as well as the co-located servers afterwards.

Storage setup
Not very exiting, using local disks on all servers. If I remember correctly the disks on the VMWare lab hosts are running with RAID 0 (as I do not care about the data there).
NAS uses RAID 1.
May set up VMWare vSAN some time in the future, Ceph could also be interesting.

Hypervisor setup
Two of the Proliant servers run VMWare ESXi, one run XenServer and the last will run oVirt when I've moved it to co-location.
The ThinkCentre M90 box runs Proxmox.

I run VMWare to have a more identical lab environment as my workplace, while I use XenServer and oVirt mostly just to know how they work in difference to VMWare.
Proxmox is used for my personal servers as it's easy to manage.

The "headless" desktop box is the only "server" I have running without a hypervisor (and the only thing in my entire apartment running Windows), it's only used on-demand for Steam In-house streaming.
I'd like to toss KVM on it some time, and run Windows as a VM with PCI passthrough of the GPU (to hopefully avoid using this http://www.dx.com/p/16-mode-hdmi-edid-feeder-black-373949#.WsgG09a-nRY )

Future tasks here is to setup vCenter to cluster the two ESXi hosts, as well as setting up OSPF for VMWare NSX and maybe vSAN.
I may also kill the XenServer in favor of something else, as the XenCenter client does not work on Linux and OpenXenManager have quite a lot of room for improvement.

Operating systems
Personal VMs: Ubuntu Server
Lab env. : RHEL or CentOS

Software
Infra:
FreeNAS for providing NFS to lab-environment
Graylog for receiving and viewing server logs
Observium for fetching and graphing metrics
pfSense as gateway for installation networks in the lab-environment
PowerDNS for providing DNS
SaltStack for configuration management
Bacula for backup

Lab:
Openshift for container deployment and management
Elastic Stack (ELK)
Other random things that needs to be tested out

Personal:
Home Assistant for home-automation (highly recommended!)
Taskwarrior server for managing todo's (also recommended)
Fine-tuned/tweaked samba providing SMB for streaming ROMs towards my PS2

Future:
openxpki for PKI
Snapcast for multi-room audio
FreeIPA for authentication
Spacewalk and Landscape for RHEL/Centos and Ubuntu Server management
Virtual Big-IP F5 for loadbalancing
Monitoring:
Graphite+Statsd+Collectd+Grafana for collecting and visualizing metrics via OS agents
Zabbix/Alerta/something that is not Nagios for alerting
Smokeping

[Killuah]

2x3TB Intel Core i7-3770
2x 3 TB
32 GB
32 € per month

Good or not?