Mobo to OpenSolaris file server, ZFS raidz2 on SATA drives.

Hi,

I would like to build my own OpenSolaris file server with 6+ SATA/II
drives using ZFS raidz2 filesystem. It's for my data files and backup
and media files (our photos and audio and video).

What would be a good motherboard for this (supported by Solaris) and
should I go for Intel or AMD CPU? It has to have gigabit network and
like 4GB RAM and maybe onboard graphics.

I would like to use the mobo onboard SATA controller together with
addon of 2 SATA controllers. Which addon SATA controller is supported
by OpenSolaris? So that the 6+ drives can be split between the 3 SATA
controllers. I'm thinking to use the motherboard PATA with a small
drive or maybe USB flash drive for the Solaris OS (maybe with ZFS
mirror) and the 6+ SATA 750GB or 1TB drives for our files.

And what do you think about my configuration? Any suggestion to
improve the configuration?

Thanks
Bent

test

On Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:53:32 +0200, dummy wrote:

> What would be a good motherboard for this (supported by Solaris) and
> should I go for Intel or AMD CPU? It has to have gigabit network and
> like 4GB RAM and maybe onboard graphics.

http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hcl/data/os/

On Aug 2, 5:53 pm, du...@dummy.com wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I would like to build my own OpenSolaris file server with 6+ SATA/II
> drives using ZFS raidz2 filesystem. It's for my data files and backup
> and media files (our photos and audio and video).
>
> What would be a good motherboard for this (supported by Solaris) and
> should I go for Intel or AMD CPU? It has to have gigabit network and
> like 4GB RAM and maybe onboard graphics.
>
> I would like to use the mobo onboard SATA controller together with
> addon of 2 SATA controllers. Which addon SATA controller is supported
> by OpenSolaris? So that the 6+ drives can be split between the 3 SATA
> controllers. I'm thinking to use the motherboard PATA with a small
> drive or maybe USB flash drive for the Solaris OS (maybe with ZFS
> mirror) and the 6+ SATA 750GB or 1TB drives for our files.
>
> And what do you think about my configuration? Any suggestion to
> improve the configuration?
>
> Thanks
> Bent

Where you find that ZFS support Raid-II? Even Solaris 10 does not
support Raid-II controllers (not 100 % sure, but for 95 %).

Regards,
http://andriusblo.blogspot.com

On Aug 2, 5:53 pm, du...@dummy.com wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I would like to build my own OpenSolaris file server with 6+ SATA/II
> drives using ZFS raidz2 filesystem. It's for my data files and backup
> and media files (our photos and audio and video).
>
> What would be a good motherboard for this (supported by Solaris) and
> should I go for Intel or AMD CPU? It has to have gigabit network and
> like 4GB RAM and maybe onboard graphics.
>
> I would like to use the mobo onboard SATA controller together with
> addon of 2 SATA controllers. Which addon SATA controller is supported
> by OpenSolaris? So that the 6+ drives can be split between the 3 SATA
> controllers. I'm thinking to use the motherboard PATA with a small
> drive or maybe USB flash drive for the Solaris OS (maybe with ZFS
> mirror) and the 6+ SATA 750GB or 1TB drives for our files.
>
> And what do you think about my configuration? Any suggestion to
> improve the configuration?
>
> Thanks
> Bent

USB no problem. Can do even on SD cards. Just mind Raidz-II
controller. Solaris 10 discontinued its support. No idea what Open
Solaris does.

Regards,
http://andriusblo.blogspot.com

On Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:01:42 -0700, Andrius wrote:

> Where you find that ZFS support Raid-II? Even Solaris 10 does not
> support Raid-II controllers (not 100 % sure, but for 95 %).

raidz2, not Raid-II.

zpool(1M)

A raidz group can have either single- or double-
parity, meaning that the raidz group can sustain
one or two failures respectively without losing
any data. The raidz1 vdev type specifies a
single-parity raidz group and the raidz2 vdev type
specifies a double-parity raidz group. The raidz
vdev type is an alias for raidz1.

dummy-at-dummy.com wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I would like to build my own OpenSolaris file server with 6+ SATA/II
> drives using ZFS raidz2 filesystem. It's for my data files and backup
> and media files (our photos and audio and video).
>
> What would be a good motherboard for this (supported by Solaris) and
> should I go for Intel or AMD CPU? It has to have gigabit network and
> like 4GB RAM and maybe onboard graphics.
>
This is almost an FAQ on the OpenSolaris zfs-discuss list. Check
through the archives on opensolaris.org for suggestions.

--
Ian Collins.

On Aug 2, 6:53*pm, du...@dummy.com wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I would like to build my own OpenSolaris file server with 6+ SATA/II
> drives using ZFS raidz2 filesystem. It's for my data files and backup
> and media files (our photos and audio and video).
>
> What would be a good motherboard for this (supported by Solaris) and
> should I go for Intel or AMD CPU? It has to have gigabit network and
> like 4GB RAM and maybe onboard graphics.
>
> I would like to use the mobo onboard SATA controller together with
> addon of 2 SATA controllers. Which addon SATA controller is supported
> by OpenSolaris? So that the 6+ drives can be split between the 3 SATA
> controllers. I'm thinking to use the motherboard PATA with a small
> drive or maybe USB flash drive for the Solaris OS (maybe with ZFS
> mirror) and the 6+ SATA 750GB or 1TB drives for our files.
>
> And what do you think about my configuration? Any suggestion to
> improve the configuration?
>
> Thanks
> Bent

If you want a lot of 3 Gbit SATA ports, the ASUS L1N64-SLI WS is an
option ( http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hcl/data...ails/2998.html
)
12 SATA ports, dual Athlon 64 FX cpu's, dual Gbit LAN and up to 8 GB
of ram.
Since you're interested in multiple SATA controllers I guess this can
count as 2 controllers with 6 ports each. 1 controller for each of the
two southbridges.
There's also the WS/B version of the motherboard which supports dual
Opteron 2000 series cpus, so dual quad-cores are possible (http://
asus.com/products.aspx?
l1=3&l2=82&l3=612&l4=0&model=1984&modelmenu=1).

I'm considering the WS/B for a home file-, media- and multiple virtual
machine server.

Thomas

tberg72-at-gmail.com wrote:

>On Aug 2, 6:53*pm, du...@dummy.com wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I would like to build my own OpenSolaris file server with 6+ SATA/II
>> drives using ZFS raidz2 filesystem. It's for my data files and backup
>> and media files (our photos and audio and video).
>>
>> What would be a good motherboard for this (supported by Solaris) and
>> should I go for Intel or AMD CPU? It has to have gigabit network and
>> like 4GB RAM and maybe onboard graphics.
>>
>> I would like to use the mobo onboard SATA controller together with
>> addon of 2 SATA controllers. Which addon SATA controller is supported
>> by OpenSolaris? So that the 6+ drives can be split between the 3 SATA
>> controllers. I'm thinking to use the motherboard PATA with a small
>> drive or maybe USB flash drive for the Solaris OS (maybe with ZFS
>> mirror) and the 6+ SATA 750GB or 1TB drives for our files.
>>
>> And what do you think about my configuration? Any suggestion to
>> improve the configuration?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Bent
>
>If you want a lot of 3 Gbit SATA ports, the ASUS L1N64-SLI WS is an
>option ( http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hcl/data...ails/2998.html
>)
>12 SATA ports, dual Athlon 64 FX cpu's, dual Gbit LAN and up to 8 GB
>of ram.
>Since you're interested in multiple SATA controllers I guess this can
>count as 2 controllers with 6 ports each. 1 controller for each of the
>two southbridges.
>There's also the WS/B version of the motherboard which supports dual
>Opteron 2000 series cpus, so dual quad-cores are possible (http://
>asus.com/products.aspx?
>l1=3&l2=82&l3=612&l4=0&model=1984&modelmenu=1).
>
>I'm considering the WS/B for a home file-, media- and multiple virtual
>machine server.
>
>Thomas

Is the WS/B also supported by OpenSolaris? The reason for multible
controllers was in case of hardware fail, but I can begin with a WS/B
and then later extend with more SATA controllers, to fit my current
bank account :-)

Thanks for the links!
Bent

On Aug 26, 10:14*pm, Bent wrote:
> tber...@gmail.com wrote:
> >On Aug 2, 6:53*pm, du...@dummy.com wrote:
> >> Hi,
>
> >> I would like to build my own OpenSolaris file server with 6+ SATA/II
> >> drives using ZFS raidz2 filesystem. It's for my data files and backup
> >> and media files (our photos and audio and video).
>
> >> What would be a good motherboard for this (supported by Solaris) and
> >> should I go for Intel or AMD CPU? It has to have gigabit network and
> >> like 4GB RAM and maybe onboard graphics.
>
> >> I would like to use the mobo onboard SATA controller together with
> >> addon of 2 SATA controllers. Which addon SATA controller is supported
> >> by OpenSolaris? So that the 6+ drives can be split between the 3 SATA
> >> controllers. I'm thinking to use the motherboard PATA with a small
> >> drive or maybe USB flash drive for the Solaris OS (maybe with ZFS
> >> mirror) and the 6+ SATA 750GB or 1TB drives for our files.
>
> >> And what do you think about my configuration? Any suggestion to
> >> improve the configuration?
>
> >> Thanks
> >> Bent
>
> >If you want a lot of 3 Gbit SATA ports, the ASUS L1N64-SLI WS is an
> >option (http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hcl/data...ails/2998.html
> >)
> >12 SATA ports, dual Athlon 64 FX cpu's, dual Gbit LAN and up to 8 GB
> >of ram.
> >Since you're interested in multiple SATA controllers I guess this can
> >count as 2 controllers with 6 ports each. 1 controller for each of the
> >two southbridges.
> >There's also the WS/B version of the motherboard which supports dual
> >Opteron 2000 series cpus, so dual quad-cores are possible (http://
> >asus.com/products.aspx?
> >l1=3&l2=82&l3=612&l4=0&model=1984&modelmenu=1).
>
> >I'm considering the WS/B for a home file-, media- and multiple virtual
> >machine server.
>
> >Thomas
>
> Is the WS/B also supported by OpenSolaris? The reason for multible
> controllers was in case of hardware fail, but I can begin with a WS/B
> and then later extend with more SATA controllers, to fit my current
> bank account :-)
>
> Thanks for the links!
> Bent

I should have mentioned the support. As of yet there is no official
support for the WS/B as far as I can tell. Probably because it's newer
and not tested yet. The boards are virtually identical though.
Same chipset, southbridge, dual lan chips, audio chip, firewire chip,
connectors, board layout. etc.

The only real difference I can see is the cpu support and the demand
for registered memory in the WS/B due to the Opteron cpus.

Some people even claim that the WS bios can be flashed to give it
Opteron 2000 series support, basically converting it to a WS/B. I
havn't found any real evidence for that though.
The Opterons themselves are definitely supported as they are used in
several Sun servers.
Guess it's up to you if you want to take the chance now.

There are a few considerations you should do for these dual cpu boards
compared to single cpu ones.
- Dual cpu motherboards are more expensive
- Two cpu's are more expensive than one (duh! ;-) )
- It will require a larger power supply.
- It will most likely generate more heat, which means more cooling.

There's also the fact that the AMD cpus are lagging a bit behind the
Intel ones performance wise even though the 2300 series Opterons have
improved quite a bit on the 2200 ones. Price/performance ratios are
good though.

In case you're interested I've looked at possible cases for a system
with several hard drives that would have good hdd cooling. I came
across some Lian-Li cases that look good. The new V-series
http://www.lian-li.com.tw/v2/en/microsite1/new%20V.htm . The hard
drives and power supply is in a separate heat zone away from the
motherboard http://www.lian-li.com.tw/v2/en/prod...s_index=61&g=f
.. It looks like there should be a good airflow across all the drives.
The full towers have 8 internal hdd bays and 7 x 5.25" bays in case
you need room for a few more. The Mid-tower ones have room for 6 hard
drives and has 5 5.25" bays.

Thomas