anyone used XPEnology on a small single board computer?

[vibe666]

I was just wondering how feasible it would be to make an XPEnology NAS out of an RaspberryPi, BananaPi, ODROID, or LattePanda or something like that, or even a NUC with some external storage?

 

I have a StarTech 4 bay eSATA enclosure (with onboard RAID): http://www.zath.co.uk/startech-infosafe ... re-review/

 

it has occurred to me that instead of using it as an external backup source for my Synology DS2413+ I could turn it into an XPEnology NAS and potentially use it to experiment with Synology HA instead.

 

The StarTech box is eSATA, but I do have an eSATA to USB3 adapter that I could use with it, so all I really need is something to plug it into to become the NAS itself.

 

I do also already have an i3 NUC too, currently used as a media player running LibreELEC that I could use instead, but being a nerd with an interest in messing with new kit, I wanted to see if there was another way to do it.

[haydibe]

I do also already have an i3 NUC too, currently used as a media player running LibreELEC that I could use instead, but being a nerd with an interest in messing with new kit, I wanted to see if there was another way to do it.

 

Between all mentioned devices, the i3 NUC is the only x64 based system. XPE requires a x64 CPU.

 

Since using an eSATA enclosure as a drive pool is not a mainstream use case, i would suggest you give it a try and find out if the provided drivers cover your case.

[NickLD]

Great Idea!

 

The Raspi and other Pi and similar variants all use ARM processors and as such incompatible with EXP requiring X86/X64 processors.

 

But!

Not all SBCs are ARM based! As you mentioned, A Latte Panda(an Intel Atom based SBC) WOULD work, but I wouldn't recommend it. it is lacking in ports severely. (Plus some huge overheating problems iv seen)

 

 

If I were to try and do this, Id probably pick up one of the AMD/Intel Embedded processor motherboards from NewEgg (listing)

 

I personally like the options this one provides:

 

*Pretty cheap at ~$75

*DC barrel Plug that can run from 12 or 19 volts (Should allow you to use an old Laptop Powerbrick to run the thing)

*Uses DDR3 SODIMM memory for tiny form factor

*2 on-board SATAIII(6 Gb/s) ports

*Gigabit LAN

* Relativley powerful Dual-Core Celeron processor

*2 miniPCI ports

 

 

I think my favorite part is the 2 miniPCI ports. Why? because these exist which would allow you to add two extra SATAIII ports PER MiniPCI port!! (Also a half-length version is available if you wanted to add 2 SATA cards as one of the ports is full length and the other one is half length)

 

If you were to populate the two PCI connectors you could effectively use 6 Drives in the build

[sandisxxx]

Great Idea!

 

The Raspi and other Pi and similar variants all use ARM processors and as such incompatible with EXP requiring X86/X64 processors.

 

But!

Not all SBCs are ARM based! As you mentioned, A Latte Panda(an Intel Atom based SBC) WOULD work, but I wouldn't recommend it. it is lacking in ports severely. (Plus some huge overheating problems iv seen)

 

 

If I were to try and do this, Id probably pick up one of the AMD/Intel Embedded processor motherboards from NewEgg (listing)

 

I personally like the options this one provides:

 

*Pretty cheap at ~$75

*DC barrel Plug that can run from 12 or 19 volts (Should allow you to use an old Laptop Powerbrick to run the thing)

*Uses DDR3 SODIMM memory for tiny form factor

*2 on-board SATAIII(6 Gb/s) ports

*Gigabit LAN

* Relativley powerful Dual-Core Celeron processor

*2 miniPCI ports

 

 

I think my favorite part is the 2 miniPCI ports. Why? because these exist which would allow you to add two extra SATAIII ports PER MiniPCI port!! (Also a half-length version is available if you wanted to add 2 SATA cards as one of the ports is full length and the other one is half length)

 

If you were to populate the two PCI connectors you could effectively use 6 Drives in the build

 

What a great reply to the topic.

I totally did not know about th mPCIEx / SATA3 cards.

EDIT: How is it about the dirvers, for example, does Junos 1.01 loader support those cards?

Thanks for this!

[htpcdude]

In addition to the LattePanda, there is also the UDOO X86 (I think these are X64 CPUs even though the name is UDOO X86), the UP board, and soon to be released UP Squared. I don't have any of these so driver support is unknown. The LattePanda would also be my last choice as it doesn't have support for linux.

 

Also, Synology HA requires both units have identical DSM versions and be identical models/models specifically claimed by Synology to support Synology High Availability. Both units must have the same quantity of disks and SHR volumes are not supported.

[NickLD]

What a great reply to the topic.

I totally did not know about th mPCIEx / SATA3 cards.

EDIT: How is it about the dirvers, for example, does Junos 1.01 loader support those cards?

Thanks for this!

 

It's no problem

 

About the drivers:

 

I can't confirm for a fact they will work out of box myself as I stumbled across the SATA cards merely hours before I posted.

According to the Amazon reviews from customers using Linux with the cards, it has no issues and is Plug and Play.

this was one of the customer reviews:

"Simple device, has a fast controller. I use it in Linux for software raid / ZFS. No driver needed, the additional controller just showed up where it should, on reboot. Recent vintage Linux, Kernel v3.1. I assume the driver was built into the Linux kernel already so nothing to install."

 

JunOS according to Wikipedia is based on FreeBSD, which is similar to Linux, but not the same. I'm hoping the cards have drivers present in FreeBSD, and I feel it's somewhat likely, but again, not guaranteed.

 

I found them because I'v got an older(Atom) mini Dell laptop which can't/doesn't do much. Opening one up revealed the one I have in particular has 3 mPCI connectors

 

After I found this out, I came here because I plan to make it run XPE, but I noticed this post which is somewhat similar to what I plan to do. (a Laptop is an SBC after all )

[vibe666]

Also, Synology HA requires both units have identical DSM versions and be identical models/models specifically claimed by Synology to support Synology High Availability. Both units must have the same quantity of disks and SHR volumes are not supported.

good to know. i actually have a couple at work that i have inherited support for.

 

currently one (a DS1813+) is still on DSM 4.2, whilst the other (a DS1815+) is on DSM 6.0.2, they both have 4 identical 4TB WD Red's in them with a single volume, all set up pretty much identically except for the DSM version, and they have a weekly rsync job that mirrors one to the other, but i was thinking of updating them to the same DSM version to enable me to run HA, and replace the rsync job, but i didn't know they'd need to be identical hardware, so i might have to leave that.

[NickLD]

Just a quick update regarding the drivers:

 

after some researching, I figured out the chip used on the mPCI to SATA adapter is an ASM1061. After some quick Googling, I'v found that the drivers for this chip ARE in fact present on FreeBSD

[Salah]

just have not had time but going to try on http://www.jetwaycomputer.com/NF9A.html

[Salah]

That board is on my desk as we speak. Just have not had time to install Syno on it yet. LMK how it goes

[lance]

Yep it runs beautifully on my UDOO x86 advanced with 4GB of RAM.

 

I just ran it up with an old 160GB SATA drive. 

 

[lance]

I have a similar eSATA disk enclosure http://www.addonics.com/products/cpr5sa.php

 

 

I'm using an eSATA to USB 3.0  adapter to connect to my mac. http://www.addonics.com/products/adu31esp.php

 

 

But you can connect this to the UDOO and get xpenology to see as an external drive - then access it over the network.