Some updates to the Rockstor NAS since my last post.

The Rig

Updated (Nov 30, 2015)

Hardware:

  • CPU - AMD Athlon 5350 Kabini Quad-Core 2.05 GHz
  • Motherboard - ASRock AM1B-M AM1[^1]
  • RAM - HyperX Fury Series 2x 4GB
  • Case - Supermicro SuperChassis 846E1-R900B
  • Power Supply - Rosewill ARC-M650, 650W Modular Power Supply
  • Fan Controller - EverCool SCP-A 3 Channel Fan Controller
  • RAID Card - IBM ServeRaid M1015 flashed to IT mode
  • Storage Arrays:
  • 21TB RAID6
  • 4TB RAID5
  • Hard Disks -
  • 4x 3TB HGST Deskstar NAS
  • 5x 3TB WD Red
  • 3x 2TB Seagate LP

Software:

  • Rockstor - Linux & BTRFS powered NAS

Rockstor NAS 1


So I moved from my NAS from the CoolMaster Tower I was using temporarily to it's permanent home inside a SuperMicro 24-bay SuperChassis 846E1-R900B. Some modifications I have done include:

Switching out the backplane from the old SAS1 backplane with a SAS2-847EL1 which is another temp solution as it's technically not a compatible backplane with this case. It also only has 21 SAS2 ports and due to it being for another case there is a slightly larger gap in the middle row which puts off 1/2 of the backplane spacing. I obviously matched the alignment of the bottom 12 ports.

I also switched out the Power Supply which was 900W (1+1) Redundant Power Supplies with a single Rosewill ARC-M650 650W PSU. The 900W redundant PSU was extremely noisy and not very power efficient. With the NAS powered off and just plugged in they were drawing 70W and 250W when powered on, now with the 650W Rosewill it pulls 0W when it's off and +/- 120W when powered on.

Noise isn't a big issue for me as this rack is in my garage, but this thing was LOUD! Even after removing the redundant PSU the five 5,000 RPM fans move some air which creates a lot of noise. This only has a small low power 25W TDP CPU in it so the standard fan setup is very much overkill. I put in a fan regulator for the 3 backplane fans and tuned them to about 60% which probably cut the noise by 70% and still offers ample cooling for my current setup. I'm going to swap out the rear case fan with a quieter 80mm Noctua fan in the future.

Rockstor NAS 2

Current Issues:

  • [^1]Possible compatibility issues with the onboard Realtek LAN with the AM1B-M motherboard, speeds are erratic and not constant. Resolved with Kernel update