3U NAS Server Advice?

[dowxp]

I'm looking to construct a NAS server in late april or early may.

My main question is the raid: i've read that large raid5 arrays aren't a good idea. How should I setup my raid system? which raid algorithm?

the main problem is the lack of a SAS multilane backplane -- I cannot find a good case with a MI backplane. I can find the manufacturer's sites, but none of the "public" stores carry them. Anyone have any experience with this? Thanks!


supermicro 15 drive 3U case

3ware escalade 16 port sata raid card

supermicro p4sci board

 

[snoturtle]

This for home or work?
How much data?
How important is the data?

Whats wrong with raid 5?
haven't heard any issues with it

possibly try raid 50

 

[FreshPrince]

best solution I have found so far...

 

[dowxp]

This is for a colocation (work)
data -- depends, probably will start out with 250 RE's and send in disks every 6 months as needed.
important -- redundancy of raid 5 is minimum, its not super critical, but nice to have

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundant_array_of_independent_disks

As the number of disks in a RAID 5 group increases, the MTBF can become lower than that of a single disk. This happens when the likelihood of a second disk failing out of (N-1) dependent disks, within the time it takes to detect, replace and recreate a first failed disk, becomes larger than the likelihood of a single disk failing. RAID 6 is an alternative that provides dual parity protection thus enabling larger numbers of disks per RAID group.

 

[dowxp]

Originally posted by: FreshPrince
best solution I have found so far...

that is sweet. looking at it.

edit: dang, seems like the I/O is fibre? I've never dealt with fibre. not even sure where to start.

 

[FreshPrince]

Originally posted by: dowxp

Originally posted by: FreshPrince
best solution I have found so far...

that is sweet. looking at it.

edit: dang, seems like the I/O is fibre? I've never dealt with fibre. not even sure where to start.

no, it's SCSI and Fibre...

the drives are SATA and the controller is SCSI or Fibre

we use those seagate 500GB STA drives with these and get 8TB native. it's gives great performance too! no problems with SQL server

all drive bays, powersupplies, fans, and controllers are hot swap capable as well as

 

[snoturtle]

Why not multiple hot spares in raid 5?
or even raid 50

Better redundency in 50 but uses alot of drives

 

[dowxp]

Originally posted by: FreshPrince

Originally posted by: dowxp

Originally posted by: FreshPrince
best solution I have found so far...

that is sweet. looking at it.

edit: dang, seems like the I/O is fibre? I've never dealt with fibre. not even sure where to start.

no, it's SCSI and Fibre...

the drives are SATA and the controller is SCSI or Fibre

we use those seagate 500GB STA drives with these and get 8TB native. it's gives great performance too! no problems with SQL server

all drive bays, powersupplies, fans, and controllers are hot swap capable as well as

yes, but looks *extremely* expensive. I will probably end up getting my original configuration. the 16bay one is probably 4,5-5K without drives.

 

[dowxp]

Originally posted by: snoturtle
Why not multiple hot spares in raid 5?
or even raid 50

Better redundency in 50 but uses alot of drives

sounds like a plan.