Mini ITX Home Server build

[t_ski]

I think the Lian Li V351 series is the closest one that supports mATX:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/LianLi/PC-V351R/

I may be wrong though...

 

[d3fct]

looks real nice, like the case.

 

[Geofrancis]

my only question is why go for a single core processor in the first place when you can get a dual core for not much more? then you are free to undervolt it as much as you can.

 

[t_ski]

The idea was to get as cheap as possible to start with, and if I need more I can always upgrade the CPU. TBH, this doesn not need anything more then the Sempy.

 

[Geofrancis]

what software you running on it? with my server i had to use software to transcode files for my ipod and iphone so they could stream it so a dual core was a must but if none of your applications have to convert on the fly and you are not sharing tv tuners aswell you should be ok.


have you tried undervolting your cpu? and do you have the drives powering down when idle?

 

[t_ski]

I only finished it up and had it running for about a week when a stupid .NET framework error kept me from getting into the console anymore. At this point, the server is off, and I'm about ready to blow away the OS and reinstall. I think it was one of the add-ins that borked it.

So, right now the server isn't running any kind of software, but I had WHS with Avast Server, Lights Out, an advanced admin console and an enhanced web editor. That was about it.

 

[Geofrancis]

You should run a image backup program like norton ghost on your is drive. I do now after I nearly had to reinstall after a fudged windows update

 

[t_ski]

I had some good luck using the Windows Backup that came with 7 for my daughter's laptop, but I was able to same the image to the data stores on the homeserver. I just finished reinstalling the OS, which is working again and allowing me to connect through the console. I'll need to see if I can back it up as it is, now that it's done updating.

I was up until almost 4 am Spent too many days lately staying up half the night trying to get my computer stuff worked on...

 

[PopcornMachine]

I hate it when things get borked.

 

[t_ski]

Looks like something else got borked. This time it was one of the 1TB hard drives. I was fortunate enough that it was the C: drive, so I was able to pop in the new drive and reinstall the OS. The bad part was that I needed to get this up and running quickly, so I had to buy another drive while the bad one is being RMA'ed. It's going again, so when the new drive gets here I'll just keep it as a spare in case I have any other issues.

I took the opportunity to clean out the case and install one of these:

Scythe Big Shuriken SCBSK-1000 120mm CPU Cooler

I also unhooked the top case fan and plugged the front fan directly into the motherboard. With one less case fan and the new cooler, the thing is dame quite. The really funny part is how large the cooler is compared to the motherboard itself: the board is only about an inch shorter each way!

 

[de.das.dude]

/sub

 

[de.das.dude]

awesome pics BTW. how do you take them? do you have a home studio?

 

[t_ski]

Thanks

No studio. I just have a decent bridge camera (Panasonic FZ-40K), a tripod, a couple clamp-style worklights, and two sheets of white foamboard. The big difference is in the lighting, and having the camera's white balance, etc. set right for the shot. I learned quite a few things doings reviews here

 

[de.das.dude]

foamboard nice idea

 

[t_ski]

A couple quick pics to show the new cooler and the size of it compared to the mITX board:

 

[t_ski]

Got a new part for this this wee: AMD Phenom II x4 910e. 65W CPU is running cool and quiet

 

[ERazer]

hows the clearance on Scythe Big Shuriken? and hows the temp

might grab it

we got almost exact setup

 

[t_ski]

Not bad at all. I think I have roughly an inch of clearance. Temps were in the low 20's IIRC when I first got onto the server with the new CPU, but I need to go back and check now that things have settled down. I can't RDP into the server from work (I can just get to the web console and shares).

 

[ERazer]

cool lmk

are you still using whs v1? just curios

 

[t_ski]

Yep, still using v1. I have a friend that has 2011 and I'm interested to see what the differences are between the two. If I ever have to reinstall this I might as well go with 2011 as the driver supports was funly for v1: IIRC, you had some drivers that needed to be Vista for the install but others had to be XP for the OS, or vice-versa.

My server is currently sitting completely at idle, as no one is streaming, sharing or backing up ATM. The CPU is idling at 22C in a room that is about 19C. 65W CPU FTW

 

[t_ski]

A couple things I've done with the server, just in case others are interested in persuing something like this. Added my music library to the server and can stream music to any PC on the network through iTunes:

http://www.wegotserved.com/2010/06/02/play-music-directly-from-windows-home-server-in-itunes/

Added Home Server Smart, since I've had three bad drives out of this array so far

http://www.dojonorthsoftware.net/Freebies/HomeServerSMART.aspx

I'm now looking at a WHS app for my Android phone:

http://www.whsphone.com/

 

[happy]

If you look at this pic:

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/458/cablemod2.jpg

You can see that each SATA connector has a cap across the back. I took a pair of scissors, opened them up, and used one of the blades to pry off the cap. Each wire is just pushed down between some metal blades that cut through the wire's insulation and make contact with the wire itself. In the image above, drives one (at the top) and three were the original spacing on the cable. I put the extra connectors on the drives in the HDD cage so I had the right spacing, then pushed all the wires down into the connectors. When I was done, I put that caps back on the backside of the connectors.

Now, technically, I did another mod on this cable, but I didn't snap a "before" pic for you. Because of the way the wires ran through the connectors, the cable originally would start at the bottom drive and go up, then around to the PSU. I wanted the cable to go down, so I also flipped the connector around to the other side of the wire.

Really, if you have a SATA cable like this where the cap can come off the back, just take it off like I described. It would probably make a lot more sense once you saw how it fit together. Alas, I didn't take thise pics for you.

Also, note that the connector on the end of the cable has a slightly different cap so that it can wrap around the end of the cable and cover the bare ends of the wires.

Hey t_ski,

I remember seeing a tutorial on how to do that on youtube but can't seem to type the matching phrase to that wire mod. Is it possible that you can tell me what that wire mod is called? How did you do it? Is it hard?

Thanks

 

[t_ski]

I don't know what the exact name for it is, but I would call it making my own custom SATA power cable.

I was dinking around with WHS Phone last night and I think it's pretty cool. I can change folder permissions, power off or restart the server, check drive health (assumingly due to Home Server Smart already added in), etc.: all remotely. Currently it's only for WHS v1 though.

 

[Cybrnook]

T_Ski, I am not sure if it's been said before OR if you have %100 made your mind up. But I built a home server similar to yours a year or so ago (Micro ATX) and I ended up running a OS called "UnRaid". It's a little CentOS Linux build that booted off of a thumb drive, so all your HDD's are for data only. I swear by it as it has been completely stable and super easy to use. Might want to check it out if you are not %100 on the build yet.

I see above your into checking drive health and stats of the server and Hardware, unraid has an alternate menu you can load called UnMenu that gives you all that:

(I removed HDD serial numbers, not sure why - protective I guess)


BTW- the forums for unraid are amazingly active, and everyone is super friendly if you have questions. (Adding external packages like support for APC UPS's, or running a streaming media server on your thumb drive for PS3 or XBOX 360...)

http://lime-technology.com/


-Hans

 

[t_ski]

Thanks for the info. I am pretty set on how I have things set up, but I'm sure someone else here might find the information useful. There's also FreeNAS, which is popular, too.