1st NAS build about to start

Hi All

I have got all the components for my first OMV build up together and I am about to start actually building

The bits I have to hand are

Flash drives

Several of them mostly Sandisks from 4G to 64G USB 2 and USB 3 on with OVM install image ready to go

SSDs

1 60G OCZ vertex plus SATAII 1 120G Drevo X1 SATAIII

HDD

1 Seagate 1TB desktop 3.5" SATA III 7500 (this is just for testing I will be using WD Reds in the finished NAS)

Mobo

Asrock 970 Pro 3 R2.0

Processor

AMD Phenom II x4 955

Memory

Corsair Vengance Black 2x 4GB ( underclock to 1333MHz)

PSU

500W Evo Labs (just for testing will probably use Thermaltake modular in the finished NAS)

Case

Nexus Prominent 9 (good case for this job worth checking out EBay 223036253919)

Drive Cage

this ( EBay 332630521766) 4 bay drive cage still on it's way from China

Grahpics Card

256 MB Sapphire Radeon X550

Now A few queries Members might be able to help with

O.S. location

I am undecided whether to put the O.S. on a flash drive and use the flash memory plugin or to put it on one of the SSDs via SATA port. Both have advantages and disadvantages any comments welcome

IDE AHCI, Raid

I will initially be using the mobo disk controller which mode should I use IDE AHCI or Even hardware Raid

Graphics

The Motherboard does not have built in graphics but I have a Sapphire Radeon X550 PCIe Card. Bearing in mind that apart from a few minutes for install and initial setup it is not going to be used this is overkill. Could I remove it after installation and run truly headless or would the O.S. still be looking for it and mess up ? Another solution would be to buy an ATI Rage PCI one or something similar they are easily available on EBay and cheap if supported ? this would also free up one of the PCIe slots for future expansion

UEFI or BIOS install

The bios on this board can be switched between UEFI and Legacy Bios which would be better

Comments and advice welcome

Best Regards Mark

Thanks for the info

Well made points. I have fallen foul of hardware raid in the past when a replacement SSD didn't support it even though all the drives were running as single drives it caused me all sorts of problems but that's another story

All the drives are from reputable sources, the SSDs do support SMART and have been checked and are in good health The flash drives however whilst also known named brands from reputable suppliers (mostly Sandisk ones) range from almost new to very elderly and as you said can fail suddenly without warning.

So I'm going the SSD route, this will also give me some room, if, ( more like when !) the O.S. expands with plugins and the like. also the Drevo one is only a few weeks old has had little use and is still under warranty if it does fail.

(new name on the block but I rate them quite highly and they are getting good reviews)

I have also run into the "Bios stupidity" you mention but I have run Asrock boards headless before and they seem to be quite forgiving even if you have to do a few bios tweaks I can but try it

The Mobo chipset is AMD 970 NB and 950 SB does OMV support ACHI on these or should I use IDE mode ?

If for some reason it doesn't all work I have lost litlle and can always re purpose it into a Windows Machine with loads of storage or get an ATX server mobo they are getting cheaper these days, still fairly expensive, but not an ARM (pun intended) and a leg like they used to be

Any recommendations on reasonably priced server motherboards appreciated

Best Regards Mark

Thanks thanks for the info fellas

AHCI it is and thinking about it I will need to if I want to use hot plug very handy on a NAS and the mobo supports it all my Windows machines use similar boards and they are all AHCI

Just a little update

The build has now started and most of the components are now in the box but I am stalled for a day or so due to a simple mechanical problem.

I expected the case to be big and it is, It's absolutely ENORMOUS ! It's full ATX mobo but it looks tiny in there. I think the case could Take an EATX board and indeed has the drillings and standoffs for one.
Although it is not specifically advertised as such. so I have plenty of room for future upgrades.

As a result of this and the PSU being on the bottom as many are these days The PSU cables are not quite long enough to reach, in particular the 4 Pin CPU power one. I could have extended the wires by soldering some extensions in the middle, but for the sake of a few pounds and a day or so for delivery I bought some extensions.

Apart from this minor snag the build so far has been a breeze thanks to the extra "elbow room" no cursing about getting SATA cables into inaccessible sockets yet, no 18" long screwdrivers and no surgical forceps to fish a cable through

Pictures to come when it looks a bit more respectable

Best Regards

Hi All

IT LIVES !

The install of OMV was so easy it was scary.

No problems at all, I wish Windows Installs were that quick and easy.

Everything seems to be recognised straight away including the network adaptor It's a Realtec RTL8111E which I was told might be a problem but everything seems O.K. at the moment.

No storage as yet but that will come tomorrow when I install my new drive cage which has just arrived Olmaster 4 in 3 hotswap under £70 on EBay and it looks like a nice job, identical to the Thermaltake ones but a fraction of the price.

A Seagate 1TB desktop drive just for testing then start buying WD Reds like it's going out of fashion.

Tidy the cables and take some pics then I'm away, posh new NAS.

A couple of questions (I am still a noob)

How do I go about setting a fixed I.P. address so that DHCP can't change it on me ?

Is It possible to arrange staggered drive spinup or is that a motherboard/BIOS thing ?

It's got a pretty beefy PSU (500W) so it can probably spinup all the drives at once (4 initially eventually 8 ) so I can probably manage without it but it would be handy

Once again thanks for all the information and help fellas

Best Regards Mark

ryecoaaron

Thanks for the info on static IPs I did this successfully after an initial hitch (my first OMV boo-boo)

Following your advice I entered the required NAS IP, same subnet but outside the range of my DHCP, which starts at 65

next subnet mask and my gateway IP

Then came my mistake I put in a DNS address in advanced, but instead of pointing it at my Gateway/Router which like many home systems is my Primary DNS, I used the IP of the NAS itself.

I thought all was well as I could log into the NAS by IP address as usual but soon noticed some strange things, It could not resolve Domain Names even it's own

It took me some time until the penny dropped and I felt a bit of a fool when I realised my mistake. (Noob-ness showing)

corrected it to the routers IP and everything is fine

No matter what I connect and disconnect from the network now DHCP can't reassign my NAS IP so I can always find it

It's starting to become a very useful bit of gear now

To All

The next stage is acquiring storage drives and then I've the Knotty problem of filesystem and storage configuration, A contentious one this but any advice in this regard would be welcome from both the RAID and NO-RAID camps

Best Regards Mark