PSU questions

[lobadobadingdong]

long story short, the company I work for has 3 iomega nas boxes w4x160GB drives in a raid 5 array in each nas bx. we use these for backup/restore purposes. veritas is configured to write 1GB files accross the 3 nas boxes (start backup of one server 1GB goes to nas1's folder, then 1GB to nas2's folder in the drive pool, then 1GB to nas3's folder in the drive pool, etc.) we do this to keep the data fairly even accross the 3 nas boxes so one doesn't get overloaded. this ran along for over a year like a champ with no failures until around dec. last year. now we keep getting communication errors when it switches from nas box to nas box and is causing our backups to fail. a new 1.2GB nas box is ~$4500 each, and we don't have it in the budget to purchase any this year. my thoughts are to recommend that next year we just build our own nas box similar to the one in my wish list below. (we have plenty of 2003 enterprise server liscenses) hardware costs for a 4.4TB nas box (in reality just a gigantic file server) with dual opteron 242's would only cost us around $7000 (-1 server OS liscense) and would let us put all our data accross 1 raid5 array.

my question is would the powersupply in my wish list handle the load?

edit:
neweggs wish list view doesn't work, here's the run down.

Antec 550W Power Supply, 24-Pin, Model "TRUE550 EPS12V" - Retail

MSI "K8T Master2-FAR" VIA K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for Dual/Single AMD Socket 940 CPU -RETAIL

2x AMD Opteron Model 242, 1MB L2 Cache 64-bit Processor - OEM

12x Seagate 7200.8 400GB 7200RPM SATA NCQ Hard Drive, Model ST3400832AS, OEM

4x Transcend 184 Pin 512MB PC-3200 ECC Registered Memory Module - Retail

2x Kingwin Black Serial ATA Mobile Racks Serial ATA Aluminum mobile rack, Model KF-81-BK, Retail

2x Enlight Beige SATA Hot Swap Module, Model "EN-8721-A02" -RETAIL

Adaptec Serial ATA RAID Controller Card, Model "21610SA" - Retail

Sky Hawk/Eagle Tech Black 5U Rackmount Server Chassis, Model "IPC5101-BK" -RETAIL

2x Thermaltake Venus 12 CPU Cooler For AMD Opteron and Athlon 64, Model "A1744" - RETAIL

a floppy drive and dvd-rom drive

 

[Pariah]

Doesn't sound like you guys put much effort into trying to fix the current setup. Doesn't sound like there is anything wrong with the boxes you have now, so why get rid of them? Looks more like a software/configuration problem, not hardware related. If you can't fix them, that should be a perfect example of why you shouldn't build another one on your own, and instead go to Dell or someone else who will not only provide the hardware but competent service for more than a year. You're not saving your company any money if every year you have to throw out your hardware because it breaks and no one can fix it.

Also, you built an application/dB server above, not a NAS box. Unless your goal was to build the most overpowered NAS box around.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

The goal is to maximize storage and minimizing costs, thanks for thread the crapping though. (I'm not going into the long version, so you'd know why you are thread crapping)

4 nas boxes = $20000-$24000 vs 1 huge file server (veritas will also be running on this unit, hence the dual proc/gigabit design) = $7000, not that hard to figure out.

I just want to know if that psu would be able to handle the load.

Eventually we will move to a SAN (likely an EMC Clariion design), but that is a huge initial cost that we simply can not afford, and yes we are still working with both vendors to fix our current backup problems. we only partially lose 1-3 jobs randomly(differentials during the week) out of 15 jobs a night.

 

[Zepper]

The hard drives alone will need 24A of +12V at startup. If you can rig a startup delay for some of the drives, then you'll be fine with that PSU. SCSI drives have startup delay jumpers and most SCSI adapters have methods of controling drive motor startup. That is just a couple of reasons why SCSI is still better for large and/or mission critical storage solutions. See if there is a SATA RAID controller that allows for startup delays or it could be a function of the hot swap cages.

.bh.

 

[ribbon13]

I'd get this PSU for such a system

Note that the MSI board instantly voids the warranty of one of the CPU's

Opteron 244's would add less than $100 to the cost. Best deal out. I'd get em even if it is jusst a fileserver. Make it more useful later.

I'd personally reccomend Tyan over MSI.

I'd also stick with corsair ram if this is mission critical.



I'd reccomend getting the S2895UA2NRF and S2895A2NRF from AxentMicro. The 'U' version has dual U320 SCSI onboard.

Best deal on opterons is the 244

I wouldn't reccomend anything other than a PC Power & Cooling Turbo-cool 510 AG. K8WE has the same form factor and power connectors as the K8W. QVL here

4x 512mb $94 Corsair CM72SD512RLP-3200

For a chassis, I'd suggest a ($130) Enlight EN-8950B00.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Thanks guys, exactly what I was wanting to know.