markm75 wrote:
> I'm working on building a new server to basically be the backup server
> for all of our 800GB or so of data.
>
> IE:  Symantec BackupExec will run on this server.. communicating with
> remote agents on 4 other servers.  Those 4 servers total 800gb of data
> in a full backup via gigabit ethernet.
>
> I'm still not sure I see the difference between a NAS, SAN, or a server
> with lots of harddrive capacity and dual gigabit ports?
>
> For instance.. here is what we are considering doing:
>
> Building the server piece by piece for a total of $3200, inclusive of
> drives and controller cards etc, using either of these 2U rackmount
> systems:
>
> http://www.rackmountpro.com/productpage.php?prodid=2918  (I can get a
> combination of all needed hardware with a 3 year warranty on the whole
> deal for around $3700 instead of $3200)
>
> http://www.acmemicro.com/estore/mer...=OTC-GOOGLEBASE
>
>
> The price is alittle more and the CPU type is not a Woodcrest, but
> there are 2 of them now.
>
> I've also seen these units without DVD/floppy drives, I'm assuming with
> one like that you would have to use a usb dvd rom drive to install the
> OS?
>
>
> Any thoughts on all this?

Well, if I were going about this and weren't going to use spare pieces
that I already had sitting around the house, I'd budget under $1000 for
the whole thing (*'way* under unless you want to mirror the backup
storage rather than use RAID-5) - excluding any costs for the backup and
system software (I'd probably use Linux and some form of open-source
backup, but since you apparently already have the Win2K3 server system
and seem to want BackupExec, that's fine too).

Any relatively current processor should be up to the task (Athlon64s are
under $100 these days, but even a middle-of-the-road Sempron might do
the job:  even if you opt to use software RAID-5 the main load should be
handling the Gigabit Ethernet I/O at link speed, which shouldn't be too
bad if you can use jumbo frames - though using double GigE ports adds to
that unless you use add-on NICs that include TCP/IP offload engines,
which aren't very expensive any more).

The lowest-end quality motherboard (probably microATX so you won't need
to mess around with video or sound cards) you can find with one (or two)
on-board Gigabit Ethernet ports (unless you go the TOE NIC route) that
has enough (4 should do it) SATA connectors to avoid the need for an
add-on card (IIRC Win2K3 Server includes software RAID support by
Veritas - more than adequate for a backup server) should do nicely for
backup-server operation (though a motherboard with just the
what-used-to-be-normal pair of ATA connectors would do in a pinch, since
three 400 GB backup disks plus a modest system disk would be enough, and
if you wanted to mirror instead of using RAID-5 you could make one of
the 4 drives 500 GB to leave room for the system - or make two of them
500 GB and mirror the system).  MB and processor together (including fan
& heatsink, which given a modest processor can also be modest) should
total $200 or less - a *lot* less if you find Outpost (Fry's), Newegg,
or ZipZoomFly offering a combination special (I do like the three-year
warranties on retail processors, though, and on MBs as well, so I'd hold
out for those if I were building this and use a well-recognized brand
like Asus or Gigabyte for the MB).

At $180 (on the WDC.com Web site, which means you could likely get a
somewhat better deal if you looked around - ah, yes, Newegg has them,
shipped, for $136) Western Digital's 400 GB Enterprise (5-year warranty,
1.2 million hour MTBF @ 100% duty cycle) RE2 drives should be more than
sufficient for backup-service tasks.  Even the Enterprise Seagate
Barracuda ES 400 GB drive (which appears to have replaced their NL
'Nearline' series and purports to be suitable for more general
enterprise use) only runs $176 shipped by Newegg, but I'd have to
consider that overkill for this application.  You could save a bit more
and get conventional desktop drives ($126 shipped for a 400 GB Seagate
or WD SATA drive from Newegg), which given that you're going to protect
them with RAID anyway should be more than adequate for use in a backup
server (if I went with desktop drives I'd probably opt for the Seagates
because of their 5-year vs. 3-year warranty - and because I have just a
smidge more confidence in their durability).  Bottom line is that you'll
find it difficult to spend much over $600 on the disks, and could get by
for under $500 using RAID-5.

RAM's kind of expensive at the moment, but you can still get 1 GB for
under $100 if you shop around (and it's not clear why you'd need even
half that much for a backup server:  it's not as if you wanted to cache
data as you would on a file server).

Other pieces don't add up to all that much.  If you'd rather not have to
take the server case apart to change a disk, you can find ATA
removable-drive bays (to place in a 5.25" drive bay and hold a 3.5"
drive), including trays, for as little as $7 (at geeks.com, of course;
they're plastic but have worked just fine for me, though I wouldn't
recommend them for constant day-in/day-out disk substitutions).  I
haven't searched much for SATA removable racks, but IIRC xpcgear has one
for $20.

With a RAID-5, system-on-the-backup-disks approach, you need only three
drives to reach 800 GB of net backup storage (one or two being 500 GB
drives to include room for the - possibly mirrored - system if you don't
want a small separate system drive that you'd have to remove the case to
get to), and can get an Ultra mid-tower case with three 5.25" external
bays free after rebate (with free shipping) for the next couple of weeks
at outpost.com.  Outpost also has a free-after-rebate (but you'll pay
under $10 for shipping) Ultra 500W power supply, with plenty of 12v
current to spin up over a half-dozen drives simultaneously and power the
motherboard without breaking a sweat:  Ultra, while relatively
well-known, is not a first-tier name in power supplies, but if you look
at Newegg's recent customer reviews of Antec units (which used to have a
great reputation) you begin to wonder how much difference this makes (I
got one of the Ultra cases and PSUs and am happy with both).  If you
were impressed by the redundant power supplies in Tiger Direct's server,
consider that you could instead build *two complete servers* (mirroring
each other rather than using redundant storage internally) for around
$1400 using these parts (you'd have to wait for another rebate cycle on
the case and PSU to get them for free, though).  If you don't like
dealing with rebates (or want to mirror your backed-up data and thus
need a case with four external 5.25" bays), just add $40 each for the
case and, if applicable, PSU.  Of course, you *can* spend close to $200
for a case plus power supply, just as you *can* spend close to $4K for
an 800 GB backup server...

That's about it, save for some SATA drive cables.  You said you wanted
to 'build' a server - here's your chance.

Good luck,

- bill

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