On Jan 24, 8:24 pm, Bill Todd <billt...@metrocast.net> wrote:
> markm75 wrote: 
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> 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).
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> 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.
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> 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- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -

Thanks for all the great info.. your details on the homebuilt system
are great.

Not far off from the preliminary plans I've made.

My price of $3200 was for a rackmount server.. as we dont have the
space for any more towers.. we are getting a 42U rackmount 4 post
cabinet within a week, I already have a 3U rackmount server jerry
rigged in the bottom of the existing 2 post unit.  We have 4 total
servers now (and 1 DC).. the 4 servers would go over ethernet...

Do I need a special kind of nic card to be able to use the jumbo frames
options.. as I dont see this on any of our existing NICs on any of the
servers.  I also have a 48 port gigabit managed switch, I bet it has
these options on it though.

Like I said our full load at full backup time is 800 or so , but my a
month's end before the next one after incrementals we are at 1.1TB.. so
for the backup server I was planning on purchasing Seagate 400GB drives
(I dont think they were enterprise class, I'm still unclear on the real
advantage there?  Though I agree.. I like Seagate better as far as
reliability).. I was going to put 5 of these in RAID5 giving 2 TB of
space  (goal for all of this being to last 3 years at least).  the
seagate I was going with:  SATAII 3  Gbps.

So I had priced the WoodCrest CPU  ($384).. the Ram 2x1gb PC2640 DDR2
667($329).. The 5 400 GB HDs and 2 mirrored 120gb OS drives ($950).
The motherboard Asus DSBV-D $339, finally the 3ware card 3ware
9590SE-8ML $484 and then the SATAII 2U server case at $689 (with mini
sas/ncq) ability.

Maybe the cpu/motherboard is overpriced but I want longevity..

And then ill use the exebyte magnum 224 lto3 (upgradable to lto4) for
offsite backup via u320 scsi...

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