Home server / NAS on Mini-ITX platform
UPD3: stumbled upon an article written on a similar subject. And although the appearance of two such articles with a difference of 24 hours is nothing more than an accident, but mine came out later, and therefore I feel the need to comment on this somehow. First, the words AbnormalHead have become more understandable to me. If I had read that article before, mine would not have seen the light in the form in which it appeared. Secondly, I would like to more clearly formulate the purpose of my article. When I was assembling my car, I was faced with the fact that finding a motherboard with two embedded network adapters for Mini-ITX is quite a big problem in principle (the situation has improved in that direction since then). Finding the same, but with more than four SATA ports is a problem now, I personally don’t know other than the one described in my article. Yes, you can put an additional controller, but then you have to give up something else. The same with mini-ITX packages: the usual full, but they are not suitable for NAS. There are cases for NAS, but a non-standard power supply with a small and high-speed fan will annoy, if not you, then your loved ones. Find the most flexible solution that will not compromise and build even a NAS, even a virtualization server, even a router - not so easy. At some point I thought it was impossible. However, it was found, and it is to them that I want to share in this article. Yes, it is not about the smart home, but with COM ports, GPIO and Watchdog on the board, you can build it, and through the LVDS you can screw the LCD screen from the old laptop, or you can control the machine remotely via vPro / iAMT. Yes, it is not about the NAS, because there is not a word about performance and software for this purpose, but this NAS will make an excellent NAS (and if you take the processor and memory corresponding to the task, the price will be much lower than the one that came out me). Yes, it is not about home virtualization, because my experience in installing SCVMM is not described here (especially since it is not finished yet). An article about a platform on which all of the above can be organized without any problems, even if only together, at least separately. And while you will not have a monster roaring at the whole apartment and occupying half a room, but a small, quiet, cold case that can be connected to any monitor / TV nearby, or not at all. I hope this experience will be useful to someone.
I assembled my first home server in 2008: the Celeron E1400 on the ASUS mATX platform and all this in the beautiful Antec NSK 1380 package. The case is really good except for two things: 1. Non-standard power supply format (and as a result, only low-profile cooling can be installed on processor) 2. A small number of seats under the drives and their poor cooling (so I never put more than one disk there - and so it was tight and hot).
With the role of the router, this machine coped perfectly. But the organization of the file storage on it has already created inconvenience: the place always ends -> you have to change the disk to a new larger one (well, you don’t have to clean it really!) -> for this you need to transfer the system to the new disk -> if you transfer it, then whether to update it at the same time, and then packages with new time zones for the current one have to be looked for almost by dogs (ardent greetings to Fedore) -> ... And so every time.
')
I wanted to build a new server that would allow to organize a RAID, or at least just install several disks to solve the problem with the place radically and permanently. And also to raise several virtual machines for production needs. And also ...
But the main argument is, of course, the desire to feel the new glands! Therefore, I decided on the requirements and wentto the store to google.
Requirements:
The form factor Mini-ITX was not a mandatory criterion, but logically flowed from the second paragraph. Therefore, I decided for myself that I would try to squeeze the maximum out of it and only as a last resort I would start looking towards mATX.
The first thing I did was looking for a hull. Those under the Mini-ITX is now a great many, but most are designed for low-cost nettop.
Suitable options for a home server / NAS can be counted on fingers:
and a couple of others.
And most of them are not easy or impossible to buy in Russia. In the end, I chose Chenbro SR30169. Its main advantages are: convenient installation of four 3.5 "disks (with HotSwap support), thoughtful cooling using 120mm fans, a standard power supply unit (in the absolute majority of other cases, Flex ATX or non-standard form factors are used), ease of installation.
Video about the internal device:
Criteria:
modern platform with support for Ivy Bridge processors, 2 embedded network cards, PCI-E connector (for installing WiFi), at least four SATA connectors (but ideally at least five - 4 in the raid + 1 under the system), miniPCI-E just a case, a sufficient number of USB ports (preferably 3.0), several video interfaces (I didn’t know which interface I would have to connect to, so at least I wanted HDMI and D-Sub)
The first two are quite specific. On the one hand, they support Xeon processors and ECC memory, on the other hand, the expansion options are quite limited: only four USB (and only 2.0), only four SATA, no embedded audio, one video output, only one expansion slot. Of course, for the organization server these moments are irrelevant, but for home use I want more flexibility. In addition, the board with the KP index does not support 22nm processors, and the KPR at the time of collecting the car (July-August 2012) was not on sale.
ZOTAC Z77ITX-AE was also not on sale, although the board is of course very interesting. WiFi module included, two gigabit network cards - beauty!
A few more boards were preparing for the exit at that moment, I did not know whether they came out or not, therefore I don’t write about them in detail here.
In the end, I stopped at the Jetway NF9E-Q77 board. It's amazing how much Jetway managed to fit in the Mini-ITX format board! Supports 3rd generation Intel processors (LGA1155), 6 SATA ports (2xSATA3 + 4xSATA2), 2xUSB3.0 + 4xUSB2.0 (+ a pair of ports of each type of connectors on the board), PCI-E + miniPCI-E, 2 Gigabit Intel network adapters , 3 video outputs (HDMI, DVI-D, D-Sub), not counting LVDS. There are also two ports RS232, RS422 / 485 with a connector on the board, GPIO, Watchdog, support for iAMT, vPro, etc.
Type of memory used DDR3 SODIMM.
I did not manage to find this board on sale in Russia, but fortunately it showed up at the German store minipc.de . Delivered by courier service. With deduction of VAT and with the cost of delivery came exactly $ 200. The price for such a fee in my opinion is more than reasonable. By the way, the payment is made according to the standards implying, inter alia, industrial use, which means increased survivability (according to information from the jetway website, the author of the article does not give guarantees =)).
For the last 10-15 years, I have been using only IBM / Hitachi products. Therefore, I chose the model with the maximum volume at an adequate price (at the time of assembly it was HITACHI Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723020BLA642, 2Tb) and I purchased two pieces with the idea of ​​buying two more when I decided on the software (I had doubts that it would happen quickly - so it happened). Since, in addition to the four HotSwap drives, only 2.5 ”drives can be installed regularly in the selected case, I decided to install a drive from a laptop there that I planned to replace with a SSD.
This winter, two HITACHI Deskstar 5K3000 HDS5C3020ALA632 disks were purchased.
I simply chose BP as the most low-power (and therefore cheap) from decent and quiet, which were in the presence of the nearest hypermarket.
Those became AeroCool VP-450 .
Of course, in such a compact case it would be better to take a power supply unit with removable cables, but they are much more expensive, and there are reviews that cable connectors in this case can start to conflict with processor cooling.
From the processor I needed more cores, less heat and a reasonable price. Although no, I still needed an integrated video chip. Chose an Intel Core i5 3550 .
Here I wanted to get silence, good cooling and at the same time not to lose my way with dimensions. Arctic Cooling Alpine 11 Plus came from a suitable store in the nearest stores.
Well, iron purchased, proceed to the assembly!
The author found even those times when marking the connectors / switches on the motherboard was considered a bad form, instructions were written for cowards and so the bears were not delivered to the country, and by turning the processor on the wrong side, you could quickly and very expensively get a funny keychain onyour mobile keychain . Not to mention the ritual of sprinkling each assembled machine with your own blood, for which the caring Chinese always left the edges of the crocus sharp in case the collector forgot to grab a special sacrificial knife or because of inexperience does not know about such a need. Unfortunately, modern manufacturers in the pursuit of profit do not care about tradition and care for a collector. For those who hoped to shed a bitter nostalgia over the article, further material will only disappoint.
The body is made of SGCC steel with a thickness of 0.8mm and gives the impression of solidity, no gaps and backlashes are observed, all edges are flared neatly. The side walls are fixed with knurled screws. Most of the back wall is occupied by the base for mounting the power supply. The remaining space is given under the ventilation grill and motherboard connector panel. There is a retractable eyelet that allows you to close the case on the granary lock (but only on the one hand, which in this case has little benefit) or put it on a leash. There is a Kensington lock slot.
Inside the case the space is divided into two parts: the back half is designed for the motherboard and power supply, while the front half is occupied almost entirely by the basket of hard drives and its cooling.
The cart supports iron RAID controllers and is designed for a 4 3.5 "/ 2.5" SATA / SAS hot-swappable disk. For convenience, such installation of disks is made from the front side of the case.
Each disk is fixed with screws in a tray, which is then inserted into the basket. When turned on, each tray glows blue. It may seem that they have LEDs, but the solution is much more elegant - the display is located on the rear wall of the basket, and is brought to the front panel using optical waveguides!
Additionally, from the sides, the basket can be hung under one 2.5 ”disk.
To limit access to the front panel of the case there is a flimsy plastic door with a lock. In my opinion, it could be metal, but I am ready to forgive this nuance to the manufacturer =)
The motherboard caused me genuine admiration! Unfortunately, the photos do not allow to convey the feeling of a quality product, which you feel when you hold this board in your hands. How did the manufacturer manage to fit so much in this crumb, while not forgetting to comply with all the standards for the location of components? In order not to repeat, I will not re-list all of its features, those who wish can refer to the first part of the article or to the specification on the Jetway website.
Despite the fact that in the cooling of the processor I had to abandon the favorite format 120mm and agree to a compromise 92, I still had doubts that a sufficiently sized cooler would rise without incident.
AC Alpine 11 Plus is installed on plastic strips, pre-fixed on the board. And although these strips stood right next to the surrounding components, the only thing I had to do in addition was to remove the plastic retainer from the PCI-E x16 slot and slightly bend the tail of the slot.
To install the power supply, you must remove the special basket in the upper part of the case. Then it is attached to the power supply unit, a small extension cord is plugged into the power connector, after which the complete assembly is installed back into the case. Thus, the manufacturer saves us from the power wire protruding from the top cover of the case.
The power supply in the presence of a whole bunch of connectors, half of which we do not need.
All that we can do is in the good Russian tradition to remove them on the mezzanine. For cabling from the bins was removed the lock on the double-sided tape.
At first I wanted to run the cables under the power supply.
But this option was in conflict with the cooling of the processor, so I had to replay and put them on top of the case. The disadvantages of this solution became apparent only later, when my old server from jealousy decided to self-destruct, and I tried to get by with a little blood by simply moving the hard drive and WiFi card to a new one (recall that the old server was first of all a router, including WiFi ). Installing the WiFi card was necessary in the PCI-E slot. But do not interfere with the power supply cables. Having omitted the details, I will only say that in the end I managed to do it, but the time and effort were taken disproportionately much.
Now you can install the motherboard. The cooling of the processor was included under the PSU with a substantial margin of several millimeters. At the time of installing the board, I had to remove the duct of the disk basket, but this is done elementary.
In the photo with the air duct installed back it can be seen that the processor radiator fins were located exactly across the direction of air movement from the basket. And for loyalty separated from the air duct memory modules. Unfortunately, this model of processor cooling does not allow to rotate it 90 degrees.
No other nuances were found during the assembly of the machine. In particular, when I later decided to add another memory bar, I could easily do this without any problems. Thus, the only critical moment in the assembly process is the height of the processor cooling and the wiring of the power supply cables.
At the moment there are four Hitachi 2TB disks in my basket, their temperature does not exceed 37 degrees (in idle 34). The temperature of the 2.5 ”system disk is usually 31-33 degrees. The processor is idle at 40 degrees.
The noise from the system mainly consists of the rustling of air. But for this I had to put the speed control on the basket fan. At regular speeds you can’t call it quiet (although the manufacturer claims in the advertising booklet the opposite). In the future, I plan to replace it with something more silent.
When I collected the server, I did not yet know what software to put on it and planned to raise a discussion of this issue, including with the article. Despite the fact that in the end (forgive me admirers of * nix), I settled on Windows Server 2012, for many this question remains open, comments on this topic are welcome.
PS The price of the system without hard drives turned out to be around 22 kilorubles.
UPD: I want to draw attention to the fact that I need something more than just a NAS. The same machine should be both a test environment and a development environment. Naturally it would be better to separate these roles on different machines, but my apartment is not so big. That is why iron is selected, redundant for conventional NAS, and that is why Synology-type devices are not suitable.
UPD2: a very big request to those whoput a minus in merges karma for this article: write in the comments (or if you hesitate, in a personal) about the reasons. At the moment, this is beyond my comprehension.
I assembled my first home server in 2008: the Celeron E1400 on the ASUS mATX platform and all this in the beautiful Antec NSK 1380 package. The case is really good except for two things: 1. Non-standard power supply format (and as a result, only low-profile cooling can be installed on processor) 2. A small number of seats under the drives and their poor cooling (so I never put more than one disk there - and so it was tight and hot).
With the role of the router, this machine coped perfectly. But the organization of the file storage on it has already created inconvenience: the place always ends -> you have to change the disk to a new larger one (well, you don’t have to clean it really!) -> for this you need to transfer the system to the new disk -> if you transfer it, then whether to update it at the same time, and then packages with new time zones for the current one have to be looked for almost by dogs (ardent greetings to Fedore) -> ... And so every time.
')
I wanted to build a new server that would allow to organize a RAID, or at least just install several disks to solve the problem with the place radically and permanently. And also to raise several virtual machines for production needs. And also ...
But the main argument is, of course, the desire to feel the new glands! Therefore, I decided on the requirements and went
Requirements:
- noiselessness
- compactness
- possibility of convenient installation / replacement of disks and a sufficient number of seats (from 4)
- versatility (more connectors / interfaces, all sorts and different, you never know what you want to tie)
The form factor Mini-ITX was not a mandatory criterion, but logically flowed from the second paragraph. Therefore, I decided for myself that I would try to squeeze the maximum out of it and only as a last resort I would start looking towards mATX.
Disclaimer
The acquaintance of the author with a photograph at the time of the events described in the article was limited to several shots from his wife’s camera. Therefore, before the reader, with the words “well, who removes them like that!” Will reach for the weapon on the “-” button, I hasten to inform you - I have embarked on the path of correction! Also, taking this opportunity, I express my deep gratitude to my wife for processing the photos. Yes, yes, they are still processed!
Iron selection
1. Housing
The first thing I did was looking for a hull. Those under the Mini-ITX is now a great many, but most are designed for low-cost nettop.
Suitable options for a home server / NAS can be counted on fingers:
 | Fractal Design Array R2 |  | CFI-A7879 |
 | Chenbro ES34069 |  | Chenbro SR30169 |
and a couple of others.
And most of them are not easy or impossible to buy in Russia. In the end, I chose Chenbro SR30169. Its main advantages are: convenient installation of four 3.5 "disks (with HotSwap support), thoughtful cooling using 120mm fans, a standard power supply unit (in the absolute majority of other cases, Flex ATX or non-standard form factors are used), ease of installation.
Video about the internal device:
2. Motherboard
Criteria:
modern platform with support for Ivy Bridge processors, 2 embedded network cards, PCI-E connector (for installing WiFi), at least four SATA connectors (but ideally at least five - 4 in the raid + 1 under the system), miniPCI-E just a case, a sufficient number of USB ports (preferably 3.0), several video interfaces (I didn’t know which interface I would have to connect to, so at least I wanted HDMI and D-Sub)
 | Intel® Server Board S1200KP |  | Intel® Server Board S1200KPR |
 | ZOTAC Z77ITX-AE |  | Jetway NF9E-Q77 |
The first two are quite specific. On the one hand, they support Xeon processors and ECC memory, on the other hand, the expansion options are quite limited: only four USB (and only 2.0), only four SATA, no embedded audio, one video output, only one expansion slot. Of course, for the organization server these moments are irrelevant, but for home use I want more flexibility. In addition, the board with the KP index does not support 22nm processors, and the KPR at the time of collecting the car (July-August 2012) was not on sale.
ZOTAC Z77ITX-AE was also not on sale, although the board is of course very interesting. WiFi module included, two gigabit network cards - beauty!
A few more boards were preparing for the exit at that moment, I did not know whether they came out or not, therefore I don’t write about them in detail here.
A few days ago, a track user article about server memory failures was released. I strongly recommend that you familiarize yourself with it before using the configuration I have proposed for critical tasks.
In the end, I stopped at the Jetway NF9E-Q77 board. It's amazing how much Jetway managed to fit in the Mini-ITX format board! Supports 3rd generation Intel processors (LGA1155), 6 SATA ports (2xSATA3 + 4xSATA2), 2xUSB3.0 + 4xUSB2.0 (+ a pair of ports of each type of connectors on the board), PCI-E + miniPCI-E, 2 Gigabit Intel network adapters , 3 video outputs (HDMI, DVI-D, D-Sub), not counting LVDS. There are also two ports RS232, RS422 / 485 with a connector on the board, GPIO, Watchdog, support for iAMT, vPro, etc.
Type of memory used DDR3 SODIMM.
I did not manage to find this board on sale in Russia, but fortunately it showed up at the German store minipc.de . Delivered by courier service. With deduction of VAT and with the cost of delivery came exactly $ 200. The price for such a fee in my opinion is more than reasonable. By the way, the payment is made according to the standards implying, inter alia, industrial use, which means increased survivability (according to information from the jetway website, the author of the article does not give guarantees =)).
3. Hard drives
For the last 10-15 years, I have been using only IBM / Hitachi products. Therefore, I chose the model with the maximum volume at an adequate price (at the time of assembly it was HITACHI Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723020BLA642, 2Tb) and I purchased two pieces with the idea of ​​buying two more when I decided on the software (I had doubts that it would happen quickly - so it happened). Since, in addition to the four HotSwap drives, only 2.5 ”drives can be installed regularly in the selected case, I decided to install a drive from a laptop there that I planned to replace with a SSD.
This winter, two HITACHI Deskstar 5K3000 HDS5C3020ALA632 disks were purchased.
4. Power supply
I simply chose BP as the most low-power (and therefore cheap) from decent and quiet, which were in the presence of the nearest hypermarket.
Those became AeroCool VP-450 .
Of course, in such a compact case it would be better to take a power supply unit with removable cables, but they are much more expensive, and there are reviews that cable connectors in this case can start to conflict with processor cooling.
5. Processor
From the processor I needed more cores, less heat and a reasonable price. Although no, I still needed an integrated video chip. Chose an Intel Core i5 3550 .
6. CPU cooling
Here I wanted to get silence, good cooling and at the same time not to lose my way with dimensions. Arctic Cooling Alpine 11 Plus came from a suitable store in the nearest stores.
Well, iron purchased, proceed to the assembly!
Assembly
The author found even those times when marking the connectors / switches on the motherboard was considered a bad form, instructions were written for cowards and so the bears were not delivered to the country, and by turning the processor on the wrong side, you could quickly and very expensively get a funny keychain on
The body is made of SGCC steel with a thickness of 0.8mm and gives the impression of solidity, no gaps and backlashes are observed, all edges are flared neatly. The side walls are fixed with knurled screws. Most of the back wall is occupied by the base for mounting the power supply. The remaining space is given under the ventilation grill and motherboard connector panel. There is a retractable eyelet that allows you to close the case on the granary lock (but only on the one hand, which in this case has little benefit) or put it on a leash. There is a Kensington lock slot.
Inside the case the space is divided into two parts: the back half is designed for the motherboard and power supply, while the front half is occupied almost entirely by the basket of hard drives and its cooling.
The cart supports iron RAID controllers and is designed for a 4 3.5 "/ 2.5" SATA / SAS hot-swappable disk. For convenience, such installation of disks is made from the front side of the case.
Each disk is fixed with screws in a tray, which is then inserted into the basket. When turned on, each tray glows blue. It may seem that they have LEDs, but the solution is much more elegant - the display is located on the rear wall of the basket, and is brought to the front panel using optical waveguides!
Additionally, from the sides, the basket can be hung under one 2.5 ”disk.
To limit access to the front panel of the case there is a flimsy plastic door with a lock. In my opinion, it could be metal, but I am ready to forgive this nuance to the manufacturer =)
The motherboard caused me genuine admiration! Unfortunately, the photos do not allow to convey the feeling of a quality product, which you feel when you hold this board in your hands. How did the manufacturer manage to fit so much in this crumb, while not forgetting to comply with all the standards for the location of components? In order not to repeat, I will not re-list all of its features, those who wish can refer to the first part of the article or to the specification on the Jetway website.
Despite the fact that in the cooling of the processor I had to abandon the favorite format 120mm and agree to a compromise 92, I still had doubts that a sufficiently sized cooler would rise without incident.
AC Alpine 11 Plus is installed on plastic strips, pre-fixed on the board. And although these strips stood right next to the surrounding components, the only thing I had to do in addition was to remove the plastic retainer from the PCI-E x16 slot and slightly bend the tail of the slot.
To install the power supply, you must remove the special basket in the upper part of the case. Then it is attached to the power supply unit, a small extension cord is plugged into the power connector, after which the complete assembly is installed back into the case. Thus, the manufacturer saves us from the power wire protruding from the top cover of the case.
The power supply in the presence of a whole bunch of connectors, half of which we do not need.
All that we can do is in the good Russian tradition to remove them on the mezzanine. For cabling from the bins was removed the lock on the double-sided tape.
At first I wanted to run the cables under the power supply.
But this option was in conflict with the cooling of the processor, so I had to replay and put them on top of the case. The disadvantages of this solution became apparent only later, when my old server from jealousy decided to self-destruct, and I tried to get by with a little blood by simply moving the hard drive and WiFi card to a new one (recall that the old server was first of all a router, including WiFi ). Installing the WiFi card was necessary in the PCI-E slot. But do not interfere with the power supply cables. Having omitted the details, I will only say that in the end I managed to do it, but the time and effort were taken disproportionately much.
offtop
And the most annoying thing is that Wi-Fi flatly refused to live in the new system, steadily falling off a couple of minutes after the connection. In the end, I spat and bought an Asus RT-N66U router, which deserves a separate article. This is truly a wonderful creation of the company's engineers - a small island of quality in the sea of ​​buggy unreliable handicrafts.
Now you can install the motherboard. The cooling of the processor was included under the PSU with a substantial margin of several millimeters. At the time of installing the board, I had to remove the duct of the disk basket, but this is done elementary.
In the photo with the air duct installed back it can be seen that the processor radiator fins were located exactly across the direction of air movement from the basket. And for loyalty separated from the air duct memory modules. Unfortunately, this model of processor cooling does not allow to rotate it 90 degrees.
No other nuances were found during the assembly of the machine. In particular, when I later decided to add another memory bar, I could easily do this without any problems. Thus, the only critical moment in the assembly process is the height of the processor cooling and the wiring of the power supply cables.
Cooling efficiency and noise
At the moment there are four Hitachi 2TB disks in my basket, their temperature does not exceed 37 degrees (in idle 34). The temperature of the 2.5 ”system disk is usually 31-33 degrees. The processor is idle at 40 degrees.
The noise from the system mainly consists of the rustling of air. But for this I had to put the speed control on the basket fan. At regular speeds you can’t call it quiet (although the manufacturer claims in the advertising booklet the opposite). In the future, I plan to replace it with something more silent.
Conclusion
When I collected the server, I did not yet know what software to put on it and planned to raise a discussion of this issue, including with the article. Despite the fact that in the end (forgive me admirers of * nix), I settled on Windows Server 2012, for many this question remains open, comments on this topic are welcome.
PS The price of the system without hard drives turned out to be around 22 kilorubles.
UPD: I want to draw attention to the fact that I need something more than just a NAS. The same machine should be both a test environment and a development environment. Naturally it would be better to separate these roles on different machines, but my apartment is not so big. That is why iron is selected, redundant for conventional NAS, and that is why Synology-type devices are not suitable.
UPD2: a very big request to those who
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/171851/
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