[Tfug] $2K fileserver

[Robert Hunter]

Recently there was some discussion about building a personal file
server.  Since I had to put one together just this week, I thought I
would share the experience.  The goal:  build a terabyte+ file
server for about $2K.  $Required/desired features:  gigE network,
hardware RAID, lots of memory, and what the hell, hot-swap drives.

The components:

3Ware 9550SX-4LP controller: $300
5 x Western Digital SATA2 WD5000KS hdd: $900
Antec SLK3800B tower + 400W PSU: $85
3Ware RDC- 400-SAT drive cage: $200
Intel E1000 gigE server NIC: $100
Tyan 2466N dual socket-A mobo + 2 x AMD Athlon MP 2400+: $600
2 x Corsair 512 GiB ECC memory: $150

Total *amortized cost: ~ $1,985

*The mobo+cpus+memory where actually recycled items, so I estimated
the amortized cost for these components at about $400.

Bring on the pictures!

First the individual components:

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rhunter/minifileserver/target0.html
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rhunter/minifileserver/target1.html
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rhunter/minifileserver/target2.html
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rhunter/minifileserver/target3.html

Notice how you can get a nice spacious case that can easily fit all
your components, with plenty of airflow, and power supply included,
for less than a hundred bucks.

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rhunter/minifileserver/target4.html
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rhunter/minifileserver/target5.html

The extra space was very much needed to accomodate the
drive cage.  The clearance between the mobo and the cage is about
1/8”.  The cage fits four drives into the space of three 5 1/4”
bays.  The fifth drive is in reserve as a spare.

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rhunter/minifileserver/target6.html
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rhunter/minifileserver/target7.html

The mostly completely assembled system:

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rhunter/minifileserver/target8.html

Installing the hard disks:

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rhunter/minifileserver/target9.html
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rhunter/minifileserver/target10.html

Das Blinkenlights -- OK, they don't actually blink in the photo :-)

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rhunter/minifileserver/target11.html

The final product:

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rhunter/minifileserver/target12.html

Some terminal output ( /dev/sda1 is the local RAID)

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rhunter/minifileserver/target13.html

Conclusion: for about $2K and one day of your time, you can put
together a 2 TiB fileserver ( in my RAID5 configuration, 1.5 TiB of
effective space ) with quality components.  I've been hearing about
the falling cost of network storage devices, but I think you get
"more bang for your buck" when you DYI.


-- 
Rob