PROJECT LOG The 30 and 45 hard drive server idea

[~(o)-(0)~]

wow, that's tight

Love the idea, can't wait to see it all finished up.

 

[Mehovoric]

I looked into this idea too for the place I used to work at. For me the problem wasn't the hardware, it was figuring out how to link up multiple computers together. I'm not all the great with linux and Backblaze built proprietary software for their servers. Any ideas on how or what software you'd use to link boxes together?

 

[Automata]

It depends what they need it to do and what the budget is. If this is a business, I would suggest going the "enterprise" method of a fiber SAN. Proper hardware is a good idea and custom built is a bad idea.

If this is for you, the normal methods of Samba would work fine for sharing. Either a hardware RAID controller or software RAID for the drives, depending on what you want.

 

[Dougshell]

I dont mean to go off on a tangent, but i just thought of something. You guys talk about getting these great read and write speeds on your servers. But what are you writing to, because wouldnt you need teh same setup pc side to handle the throughput. Thideras you were saying if you could get 10Gbit you would go fiber, are you just talking synthetic, because even if you had 100x2tb in your server, if your copying from your server to your desktop woudlnt teh hdds in the desktop be the bottleneck (if they are not the same setup as the server)

 

[Automata]

Correct, the transfer will be limited by the slowest part of the transfer. Be it the source, transmission of the data or the target. If I'm copying over a gigabit network, I'll be limited by the gigabit network or the hard drives on my desktop.

While this seems poorly thought out, it doesn't include the entire picture. The array that the server uses (which is capable of 300+ MB/sec itself) isn't just for my benchmarks, backups or copying files. It is a share for all the media in my home, which means multiple computers may be accessing the array at the same time. I don't want it to be able to transfer just faster than a gigabit network, because when I start listening to music or watching media from another station (or a backup runs, etc), it is going to absolutely kill performance or cause undesirable effects (stuttering). In addition to it hosting media files and being a central location for backup, it holds the virtual machines that are on that server. This means I not only have the network load, but I now have any of the multiple virtual machines that are running (at the moment, I have 5 operating systems running on that RAID array with many more in the future), in addition to the backups that all my computers run and a script that copies those backups to another array. In addition to that, I want future proofing.

It adds up pretty quickly. Unfortunately, when 10gig network becomes affordable, this server will not perform to the levels that I want it. That is quite a way out, though. I'd love for that server to have a 10gig connection and plug directly into a 24 port gigabit switch with 10gig uplinks. This would greatly increase the network performance of the server, while not costing an insane amount. This is probably the next upgrade.

 

[imposter]

Awesome! exactly what i have been looking for. *reading*

 

[Automata]

I swear that I've posted my idea in here.

Instead of using a convoluted setup, I'm going to use three "U" plastic bars with grooves cut into them. I'll try to create one for demonstration purposes. It should make this server far easier to construct and work with.

 

[severnia]

backplane mounting

old thread i know, but haveing been looking at this sort of thing myself, what if you get a piece of sheet metal, the size of the front area and mount all your backplanes to it via standoffs and screws, then set it down in the hole, you could either bend up some tabs to mount to the front/back/sides, or possibly bend the corners down enough to pop-rivet it to keep it from sliding around. it would add the thickness of your sheet metal plus a small screw head, but with the right combo, this would be 1/8" to 3/16" more to the height.

 

[Automata]

No problem on bumping. This project is (hopefully) not dead. There has just been very little activity because I'm using that server case for something else at the moment. I also don't need that many drives.

I'm having a hard time picturing what you are trying to explain.

 

[unijabnx2000]

Wow.
That link to backblaze got me excited. I want one now!!
Where do you find the backplanes at?

 

[severnia]

well since you have no clearance to fasten to the bottom of the case, make a false floor out of another sheet of metal the same size as your drive areae and then fasten it either to the walls of the case or to the bottom via something slim like a pop rivet.that way you can use standard spacers between the 'new' case bottom and the backplane cards with a female/female riser and screws on either side through the false bottom and backplane, without sticking through the bottom of the case.

[V]screw head__________________
[ backplane card-------------------]
| |
| | nylon stand-off
| |
[ sheet metal 'false floor'-------------------------------------------------]
[/\] screw head
--------------------------------------------- real case bottom------------

(hope this comes out right)

 

[Culbrelai]

Holy shark a petabyte is a lot of space... with 3tb drives... 0.o

what would you ever need that much space for... someones trying to compete with Mega...

 

[Automata]

well since you have no clearance to fasten to the bottom of the case, make a false floor out of another sheet of metal the same size as your drive areae and then fasten it either to the walls of the case or to the bottom via something slim like a pop rivet.that way you can use standard spacers between the 'new' case bottom and the backplane cards with a female/female riser and screws on either side through the false bottom and backplane, without sticking through the bottom of the case.

[V]screw head__________________
[ backplane card-------------------]
| |
| | nylon stand-off
| |
[ sheet metal 'false floor'-------------------------------------------------]
[/\] screw head
--------------------------------------------- real case bottom------------

(hope this comes out right)

I get the idea, but how would the false floor attach? You'd either want to bolt it to something or put material between it and the case (very do-able) to prevent vibration. Bolting it to the side and putting foam/rubber under it seems like it would work pretty good. Either way, this gives me another option to think about.

Holy shark a petabyte is a lot of space... with 3tb drives... 0.o

what would you ever need that much space for... someones trying to compete with Mega...

Unless you have enough storage to backup every drive in the world, you don't have enough.

Where do you find the backplanes at?

Unfortunately, that is the difficult part. Backblaze purchased (purchases?) them from a company on an as-needed basis. I could do the same thing, but it would cost me >$50 per backplane, which makes this the most expensive part of the project.

 

[severnia]

I get the idea, but how would the false floor attach? You'd either want to bolt it to something or put material between it and the case (very do-able) to prevent vibration. Bolting it to the side and putting foam/rubber under it seems like it would work pretty good. Either way, this gives me another option to think about.

well if you sheet metal is larger than you need you could bend up some tabs on the sides and bolt to the front and fan divider bracketing, and possibly the case sides. as far as vibration goes, maybe something like this? either make a grid of them if they are thicker that the screw heads, of not, stick them TOO the screw heads. should take care of that.

Unless you have enough storage to backup every drive in the world, you don't have enough.

+1
gotta love when someone asks why you would ever need X much {technology}.

 

[unijabnx2000]

Id do a small scale build if I could get those backplanes and slowly expand it over the years