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New system build advice please


DaveD

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Currently using a desktop with Asrock Z78 mb, intel i5-4670, 16gb memory, 3 x sata drives 1 x SDD running Win 7 Pro PLUS HP Gen 8 Microserver with Intel E1265v2, 16gb memory, 4 x 2tb drives running Xpenology,

 

I have bought a SilverStone CS380 V2 Mid Tower case with 5 x 3.5 hot swap sas/sata bays, 3 x 3.5 bays, 2 x 5.25 bays and a Corsair RM850X  850watt power supply. I am looking to try and combine my windows 7 Pro desktop operating system ( maybe upgrade to Windows 11 or Windows server ) stuff on the 3 sata drives and run my xpenology server on the hot swap bays. Should I buy a Raid card, software raid, run virtual server or what would be the best configuration for performance and fault tolerance. Suggestions please and any recommendations on affordable MB, CPU peripherals most grateful.

The idea is to have the one unit run everything, is that practical or is that too much to ask ?

 

Edited by DaveD
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Your proposal is to take working systems and create a lot of complexity for the convenience of a single (large) case.

 

On 11/19/2021 at 9:05 AM, DaveD said:

I am looking to try and combine

The idea is to have the one unit run everything, is that practical or is that too much to ask ?

 

Not ideal, but it can be done.  You'll need to choose and run a hypervisor and pass through the appropriate disk devices to the respective VM's (Windows and DSM).

 

On 11/19/2021 at 9:05 AM, DaveD said:

Should I buy a Raid card, software raid, run virtual server or what would be the best configuration for performance and fault tolerance

 

DSM is inherently a software RAID.  Running a software RAID outside of DSM or buying a hardware RAID card for hardware RAID services is not productive.

 

Yes, as mentioned above you will need a virtualization platform to run everything on one system.  The easiest way to dedicate disk resources to specific VM's is the passthrough a controller in its entirety.  That means you need at least two controllers in the machine.  You may already have this but if you don't, research the many options for inexpensive controllers (there is a thread specifically about this).  Don't buy one with a SATA multiplexer as they do not work.

 

Performance and redundancy are products of the disk array type, characteristics of the disks in use and number, and CPU available for processing.  It has less to do with the underlying hardware than you think, at least for basic systems such as you describe (you can spend a lot of money on MUCH faster drives, SSD's etc and get different results).  Giving DSM a lot of memory is also a way to speed up performance, but that is a compromise for a multi-VM environment.

 

If I were you, already with a desktop PC, a standalone NAS, and a new case... Your desktop environment is old and slow but the current E1265v2 is adequate for NAS.  The new case is probably overkill (with hotswap etc) for just desktop, but generally is the best bet for an upgraded desktop environment.  You could then continue to use the E1265v2 or move your NAS to the Z78 for a slight performance increase (I doubt you would really notice much, however).

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@flyride I noticed you mentioned that its not productive to purchase a controller that has software raid (IT Mode) since Xpenology has this. Are they exactly the same?  Can you be more specific on why not too?  My understanding that with the "HBA w/ZFS IT Mode" that is being flashed on the LSI controllers, the firmware is being updated with new features from time to time.  Is it possible that these features will eventually not work with Xpenology since its not apart of the software?  Thanks in advance. 

 

Update:  I got my info from here: LSI HBA IT Mode ZFS

Edited by Dvalin21
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7 hours ago, Dvalin21 said:

 I noticed you mentioned that its not productive to purchase a controller that has software raid (IT Mode)

 

I didn't say this, but maybe I was not clear in my explanation.

 

It is not productive to create a hardware RAID array, then provide that to DSM as it will only be seen as a single disk.  Therefore, all of DSM's powers in managing arrays, recovering from errors, btrfs enhancements, etc are unavailable.

 

So if you buy a RAID controller and run it in RAID mode, the above will be realized.  If you buy a RAID controller and run it in IT mode, that means that each SATA channel will be individualized, DSM can see it and manage the drive directly for best effect.

 

However, the cost of the RAID controller is usually quite significant compared with the options available in the link I provided.

 

I can't speculate on LSI future features being compatible with DSM.  However, if it works now, you should expect it to continue to work.  I don't see how DSM could take advantage of LSI new features (not bugfixes etc) that haven't been developed yet.

 

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Sorry about that, I miss read your post. I saw a Dell H200 that was 58 dollars, but of course it's sold already. I'm actually picking up a Dell t320 that has a raid controller. I'll have to see if the controller works or if I need to switch it out. Anyway thanks for clearing things up for me.

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