1
Rebuilding new old NAS box
Posted by
pete_c
,
15 May 2020
·
0 views
This is a NAS box which I built remotely a few years back.
It was configured with Ubuntu Linux and served as a combo automation server, video NAS, media NAS box.
Made some repairs on it and ordered new drives for it.
Hardware:
1 - Case - Silverston DS380
Repairs done:
- Backplane SAS / SATA two ports burned up and one exploding cap - replaced
- FANs not functioning - cleaned and lubricated with lithium grease (not sure if this will work)
- plastic and metal cover of case tabs all broken. Used liquid nail to fix the plastic cover to the case
- two button holders in plastic case broken - glued with liquid nail.
2 - Motherboard - Intel Xeon S1200KP - Haswell i3 / 16Gb of RAM - running fine
3 - Raid Controller - Avago Technologies (LSI) SAS2008 - ordered 2 pairs of thin cables (8 drives) - Firmware IT version - updated.
To update firmware download most current firmware here for an SAS 9210-8i
www.broadcom.com/products/storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9210-8i
Download current bios and IT firmware.
1 - Make a DOS boot stick using Rufus
2 - copy over sas2flash to usb stick
3 - mptsas2.rom file to usb stick
4 - copy 2108it.bin file to usb stick
5 - check firmware and bios version typing
sas2flash -list
6 - clear flash typing
sas2flash -o -e 6
7 - update firmware and rom
sas2flash -o -f 2108.bin -b mptsas2.rom
8 - type
sas2flash to check your firmware and bios.
DO NOT STOP or shut off computer during the flash as you will brick you device.
4 - Hard drives - Seagate Constellation ES (4) - SAS drives - zero MB reads - damaged during shipping - 4 Seagate SATA enterprise drives - still working fine. - replacing 4 SAS drives with EMC SAS drives. Ordered one 32Gb SSD drive for boot drive for new OS.
OS - NAS - BSD
Xigmanas - Been using this OS for another NAS box which is similiarly configured. Installed the embedded version on the 32Gb SSD drive which is plugged in to the motherboard - running fine now after ~ 1 Day 18 hours.
Hostname ics-raid-00.ics
Version 12.1.0.4 - Ingva (revision 7542)
Compiled Friday April 17 14:26:51 CDT 2020
Platform OS FreeBSD 12.1-RELEASE-p3 #0 r360028M: Fri Apr 17 01:52:46 CEST 2020
Platform x64-embedded on Intel® Core™ i3-3245 CPU @ 3.40GHz
System Time Friday May 15 07:25:06 CDT 2020
System Uptime 1 Day 18 Hours 36 Minutes 14 Seconds
System Config Change Thursday May 14 10:00:17 CDT 2020
CPU Frequency 3400Mhz
The Silverstone case is approximately the same price as my current 8 drive case except that it is larger.
Note that the EMC drives are "differently" configured for EMC. They need to be reformatted from 520 to 512 to be able to use them. These are literally given away on Ebay as to most folks they are bricks unless you are running EMC storage.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo apt-get install sg3-utils
sudo sg_format —format —size=512 —fmtpinfo=0 -six /dev/sda
I still have yet to update the firmware on the LSi Raid controller. Only way I can do these testing on 2 new motherboards is to utilize EFI command line prompt.
9 - installing new back plane today. Ordered up thin LSi-SAS cables today. Ordered another pair of EMC drives today. First 4 of 8 drives will be configured as ZFS - Mirrored drives. I have not used ZFS yet. Other NAS box is using GPT / Raid mirrored configuration.
Note: this is more a learning experience than a need to use experience for me.
It was configured with Ubuntu Linux and served as a combo automation server, video NAS, media NAS box.
Made some repairs on it and ordered new drives for it.
Hardware:
1 - Case - Silverston DS380
- Supports 12 total drives with 8 hot-swappable 3.5” or 2.5” SAS/SATA and 4 fixed 2.5” drives
- Unbelievable storage space and versatility for small form factor
- Premium brushed aluminum front door
- Supports graphics card up to 11” with supporter design from TJ08-E
- Lockable power button design and adjustable LED from GD07
- Includes three 120mm fans with filtered intake vents
Repairs done:
- Backplane SAS / SATA two ports burned up and one exploding cap - replaced
- FANs not functioning - cleaned and lubricated with lithium grease (not sure if this will work)
- plastic and metal cover of case tabs all broken. Used liquid nail to fix the plastic cover to the case
- two button holders in plastic case broken - glued with liquid nail.
2 - Motherboard - Intel Xeon S1200KP - Haswell i3 / 16Gb of RAM - running fine
3 - Raid Controller - Avago Technologies (LSI) SAS2008 - ordered 2 pairs of thin cables (8 drives) - Firmware IT version - updated.
To update firmware download most current firmware here for an SAS 9210-8i
www.broadcom.com/products/storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9210-8i
Download current bios and IT firmware.
1 - Make a DOS boot stick using Rufus
2 - copy over sas2flash to usb stick
3 - mptsas2.rom file to usb stick
4 - copy 2108it.bin file to usb stick
5 - check firmware and bios version typing
sas2flash -list
6 - clear flash typing
sas2flash -o -e 6
7 - update firmware and rom
sas2flash -o -f 2108.bin -b mptsas2.rom
8 - type
sas2flash to check your firmware and bios.
DO NOT STOP or shut off computer during the flash as you will brick you device.
4 - Hard drives - Seagate Constellation ES (4) - SAS drives - zero MB reads - damaged during shipping - 4 Seagate SATA enterprise drives - still working fine. - replacing 4 SAS drives with EMC SAS drives. Ordered one 32Gb SSD drive for boot drive for new OS.
OS - NAS - BSD
Xigmanas - Been using this OS for another NAS box which is similiarly configured. Installed the embedded version on the 32Gb SSD drive which is plugged in to the motherboard - running fine now after ~ 1 Day 18 hours.
Hostname ics-raid-00.ics
Version 12.1.0.4 - Ingva (revision 7542)
Compiled Friday April 17 14:26:51 CDT 2020
Platform OS FreeBSD 12.1-RELEASE-p3 #0 r360028M: Fri Apr 17 01:52:46 CEST 2020
Platform x64-embedded on Intel® Core™ i3-3245 CPU @ 3.40GHz
System Time Friday May 15 07:25:06 CDT 2020
System Uptime 1 Day 18 Hours 36 Minutes 14 Seconds
System Config Change Thursday May 14 10:00:17 CDT 2020
CPU Frequency 3400Mhz
The Silverstone case is approximately the same price as my current 8 drive case except that it is larger.
Note that the EMC drives are "differently" configured for EMC. They need to be reformatted from 520 to 512 to be able to use them. These are literally given away on Ebay as to most folks they are bricks unless you are running EMC storage.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo apt-get install sg3-utils
sudo sg_format —format —size=512 —fmtpinfo=0 -six /dev/sda
I still have yet to update the firmware on the LSi Raid controller. Only way I can do these testing on 2 new motherboards is to utilize EFI command line prompt.
9 - installing new back plane today. Ordered up thin LSi-SAS cables today. Ordered another pair of EMC drives today. First 4 of 8 drives will be configured as ZFS - Mirrored drives. I have not used ZFS yet. Other NAS box is using GPT / Raid mirrored configuration.
Note: this is more a learning experience than a need to use experience for me.
Wow, that's a hardcore NAS. Why the change from Linux to BSD? What backup software are you using?
I'm currently in the process of changing out my Netgear RN102 because it's just so VERY slow. I'm using NextCloud, which I like quite well, and haven't found any real problems with it except for phone backup, which I am not highly invested in.
I have just ordered a used Optiplex 790 SFF with the intention of putting in a single 3.5" (due to lack of 3.5 drive bays) drive from my RN102 and using a second drive for exterior backups on Linux. I don't expect I'll get the performance you do, but should serve my needs.