Windows Home Server 2011 question

[Kartajan]

Currently running a WHS 2011 box with the following characteristics:

I3, 4G Ram, 60G SATA OS Drive, 2x 2TB SATA storage drives, one is local backup, also keep an offsite 2TB drive backup <RAID seems counterproductive at this level>

Servicing a Netgear NTV550, 5 Desktops, 2 laptops, and an iPhone.

All desktops are GBE, wireless are all Wireless N.

Server is intended as both automated backup and file server for a lot of media (mostly movies, mixed DVD and BR)

am looking to try to expand capacity and possibly improve latency while going through movie library and possibly improve throughput (the worst latency offender is the NTV550, but I attribute some of that to the hardware of the NTV550- it is NOT GBE, but it is the best I can find until Ceton releases their "Q")

I expect hardware changes, but do not want to go crazy there. (NOT going for a RAID 10 server with 8 2T drives just to double current capacity, but am interested in at least bumping capacity by 2T !!)

Any helpful advice? The things that I have read would suggest that a faster OS drive would have minimal to no effect on server performance, but I could always be wrong....

2. What YOUR budget is. Flexible; under 2k
3. country :USA
4. brand preference. NO; Lean intel
5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are. ALL LISTED ABOVE
7. overclocking =NO.
8. What resolution will you be using? N/A- SERVER
9. WHEN do you plan to build it?1-2 WEEKS
X. Do you need to purchase any software? NO

 

[mfenn]

Does WHS 2011 let you get to the standard Windows resource monitor? (Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Resource Monitor) If so, pop that open while performing a task that seems sluggish and see which (if any) of the CPU, Memory, Disk, or Network monitors seem to indicate a bottleneck.

 

[ericloewe]

Running a similar setup (with more HDDs). I recommend you avoid RAID, especially 5.
Painfully slow at some tasks with Z68's pseudo-RAID and 4 2TB Caviar Greens. Not too bad if you're limited to Gigabit ethernet, though.

Don't bother with a new OS drive, unless you want redundancy (RAID 1 160ishGB drives are relatively cheap, give you peace of mind, and give you a place for the stuff that you feel is so important that it deserves RAID 1 (with backups, of course).

If you want to add capacity, just throw in a new 2TB drive (still best price/capacity ratio) and manage it manually. If you want something closer to WHS v.1's drive extender, you may want to check out DrivePool or DriveBender (both third-party an paid).

Other than that, I'm a bit confused as to what you want... I suppose the Netgear NTV550 is your router or switch. A cheap 8 port Gigabit switch could improve performance for your desktops, especially if lots of stuff is running at once - just connect the switch to the router, your server, and your desktops.

 

[Kartajan]

the NTV550 is a streamer for viewing content on the livingroom tv. I was hoping for a magic bullet for latency, but I am guessing that there is nothing reasonable to enhance that piece- at least until the "Q" is released (based on an assumption that it will be GBE vice 10/100)

 

[Binky]

My own WHS2011 shares are relatively fast, even on a poor cat5 cabling job. I'm not sure what you mean by latency but I have no experience with the NTV550. I would hook up a computer to that GBE port and test the network speed with something like jperf to make sure the connection isn't the problem.

 

[ericloewe]

the NTV550 is a streamer for viewing content on the livingroom tv. I was hoping for a magic bullet for latency, but I am guessing that there is nothing reasonable to enhance that piece- at least until the "Q" is released (based on an assumption that it will be GBE vice 10/100)

Ah, now I get it! Gigabit shouldn't be too much of a difference, since your whole network is Gigabit. You could try temporarily using a laptop with Gigabit ethernet as a streamer and see if it makes a difference. My setup tends to need a few seconds to list everything, even over gigabit ethernet (PC -> Access Point/improvised 5 port gigabit switch -> 8 port gigabit switch -> server), so it may be a WHS 2011 limitation (or maybe the storage array is a bit too slow for random reads).

 

[Kartajan]

I get some latency on all of my actual computers when listing contents of my server, either via Win7 or the movie library in 7MC. Said delay is a little shorter on my main PC, and longer on others, and longer still on the NTV. How rude of them to NOT put GBE capability in that box.

My hope was that there is some way to speed up the process from the server end without an exorbitant expense. Regardless, I will increase my storage capacity.

Thanks for the input.

 

[ericloewe]

The only thing that might help (and this is just a thought) would be to replace your 5400RPM drives with 7000RPM ones. It's probably rather costly and the improvement will probably be minor.

You could also try to add an Intel Gigabit ethernet card to the server. They're around 30&#8364; (should be around 30$, too). It's unlikely you'll get any improvements, but at least you have a spare Intel network card. Don't bother if the server's motherboard integrated LAN uses an Intel chip.

 

[mfenn]

I get some latency on all of my actual computers when listing contents of my server, either via Win7 or the movie library in 7MC. Said delay is a little shorter on my main PC, and longer on others, and longer still on the NTV. How rude of them to NOT put GBE capability in that box.

My hope was that there is some way to speed up the process from the server end without an exorbitant expense. Regardless, I will increase my storage capacity.

Thanks for the input.

How many files do you have in these directories? I could see there being an issue if you have directories with hundreds or thousands of files. If you see a latency when accessing directories with only a few 10s of files, I would suspect a software issue like NetBIOS lookups timing out or something similar.

 

[ericloewe]

How many files do you have in these directories? I could see there being an issue if you have directories with hundreds or thousands of files. If you see a latency when accessing directories with only a few 10s of files, I would suspect a software issue like NetBIOS lookups timing out or something similar.

WHS 2011 tends to need a few seconds over Gigabit ethernet to list directories. I'd say 10 seconds to list 30 directories with ~20 files each.

 

[mfenn]

WHS 2011 tends to need a few seconds over Gigabit ethernet to list directories. I'd say 10 seconds to list 30 directories with ~20 files each.

That is really messed up. A true Windows Server 2008 R2 box on even low-end hardware would be instant for that small number of files and directories.

 

[Binky]

A properly configured WHS v1 or WHS2011 box should list files and folders almost instantly. Both of my WHS servers on low-end hardware have zero noticeable lag.

WHS v1 = atom, 2GB ram, 5400 rpm drives using drive extender
WHS2011 = turion neo 1.5ghz, 8GB, 5400rpm drives using drivepool

 

[ericloewe]

A properly configured WHS v1 or WHS2011 box should list files and folders almost instantly. Both of my WHS servers on low-end hardware have zero noticeable lag.

WHS v1 = atom, 2GB ram, 5400 rpm drives using drive extender
WHS2011 = turion neo 1.5ghz, 8GB, 5400rpm drives using drivepool

Yeah, I tend to blame RAID 5 and low power drives...

What's your experience with drivepool (and/or DriveBender)?