You will get a lot of people telling you to "Just go NAS" or something similar... don't discount them. The storage market guys know what they are doing and you will likely bump into problems. I know this because I've tried. But if you're really interested in going this route, I have some details which might be useful"
1. Are you sure you want a Raid6? Raid 6 will be slow. Sure, it won't be glacial, and it will be an excellent storage server or backup server... but don't expect to run 20 virtual machines off of this bad boy. Consider raid 50 or 60 to increase your throughput. What are you testing? 2. Don't overestimate your power supply. I built a 10 drive system with "Enterprise Drives" (aka, power usage was not a concern for these puppies) and the 700 watt power supply that came with the case was insufficient for the machine. I was getting drive failures randomly. Upgrading to a 1000 watt PS fixed all those problems. What will you need for 24 drives? I don't know. I'm sure there are power supply vendors that would love to help you find out. If you want the best, I would recommend PC Power and Cooling. 3. Hardware Raid cards are not cheap... at least not the good ones. Sure, you can get a $600 RocketRaid, but I would go with an LSI or Adaptec, such as this guy: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816103174 ----- So, let's compare this to a storage vendor's part... Let's say you buy your case, a motherboard with all the necessary equipment, a decent power supply, the adaptec raid card, and fill it up with 1TB SAS drives. By my very rough estimate, you just spent... $400 - 24 bay case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219038 $500 - 1200 watt power supply - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703012 $1400 - 24 port SAS Raid card - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816103174 $175 - Server Motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182254 $210 - CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117226 $65 - 4 gigs of memory (check compatibility!) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139040 $3900 - 24 x 1TB SAS hard drives - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148633 which is a whopping $6650 plus S/H. On the bright side, you have 24 TB of pre-raid storage... if it all works well together. (Remember, there is no guarantee it will.) Personally, I would look into a ReadyNAS, Synology, or QNAP. You will likely get much less of a headache using a product that is designed from the ground up for what you want to do with it. Yes, there is a premium, but sometimes you get what you pay for. Good luck! --Matt Ross Ephrata School District ----- Original Message ----- From: Mark Smith [mailto:[email protected]] To: NT System Admin Issues [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 08:05:19 -0700 Subject: 24 port SAS RAID 6 Card? > Hello Everyone, > > I'm thinking of building a storage server for a test environment. > So performance and availability don't have to be the best. > I'm considering this case > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219038&cm_re=24_bay_case-_-11-219-038-_-Product > Trying to keep the costs down and looking for your recommendations on > a storage controller. > Looks like I need a 24 port SAS controller for this case. > I want RAID 6 and 6 Gb/s would be nice. > I'm assuming a RAID card with an additional expansion card would be the best > value? > > Thanks in advance, > Mark > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ > ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > --- > To manage subscriptions click here: > http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ > or send an email to [email protected] > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
