25 replies to this topic

[kcormier]

First off, I'll admit it, I'm a lurker

I have been reading this message board and listening to the podcasts for a couple years now.

Thanks to the numerous posts and personalities here, I've been a happy WHSv1 builder/user and thought I would stay that way until I got the "itch" to move forward (for better or for worse) to WHS2011 and "separate out" my SageTV server from my WHS.

So, having done more of what lurkers do, I read, investigated and migrated to a new WHS2011 build based on the tremendous wealth of information on this site:

• Fractal Design Arc Midi case; amazing amount of room to work with and great design
• OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W power supply; great value and modular
• GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 motherboard
• Intel Core i3-2120 CPU
• G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB memory
• OS: ICY DOCK MB982SPR-2S enclosure; 500GB RAID1 of 2008R2/WHS2011VM
• Storage: HighPoint RocketRAID 2720SGL controller; 500GB RAID1 (critical data), 4TB RAID5 (media)
• Backup: WHS2011 Server Backup and critical RAID1 data to Amazon S3 (via Cloudberry)
• Miscellaneous: Scythe KM02-BK 5.25" Bay Fan Controller, Thermaltake N0023SN Max 4 3.5" SATA HDD Rack

The overall build went fairly straightfoward and no surprises (had previously built mt WHSv1 server and a test/play VM server).

My only real difficulty came in the media data migration. Like most of you, I had thought to just network copy the files over my GIGE network but kept running into intermittent failures/slowness when using Robocopy/Teracopy/whatever that caused me to doubt the reliability.

I just wanted the migration over with so I opted to pull the drives (from WHSv1) and manually recover the data using the HDD rack above.
Using Robocopy, I copied that data from the drives directly into the RAID5 array - quick, easy and everything transferred without a single glitch.

The new WHS2011 has been up and running (approx. 6 weeks) - no issues at all except the common "computer monitoring error" that I can live with until Microsoft puts out a fix.

With this done, the road was paved for updating/consolidating the various systems I have:

• The "old" WHSv1 was torn down and a dedicated W7Pro 64-bit dual-tuner SageTV server was rebuilt from scratch
• My play/test VM server was rebuilt from Linux to W7Pro 64-bit / Virtual Box

With the above two rebuilds and my existing W7 destop/laptop, everything is now backing up the new WHS2011.

I've had enough of system rebuilding for the time being - hopefully W8/Server8 won't make me do this all over again sometime soon.

Thanks to all those posters out there that helped make this happen.

Kevin Cormier

P.S. I tried to create an album on the site to post some pictures but all I ever get is a permissions error - will have to chase thise down sometime in the near future - I've had enough typing for now.

[ikon]

The picture upload process is kinda odd. One thing I noticed is that the browse for a file feature doesn't seem to pick up the file name correctly all the time so it fails cause it ends up not looking for the correct file name.

[pcdoc]

Glad it all worked out. If you want to post pictures, suggest something like imageshack and just copy the links in using the insert picture above. That is how I do it and I have permission. Good luck with you new build and thanks for the feedback.

[jmwills]

Would love to see some photos of that case loaded to the gills...

[Lurker]

That looks like an amazing build and it looks like you really did your research on the parts. I have been thinking about rebuilding my server to, as it is currenly running off of Intels onboard RAID. I was thinking of moving to a hardware assisted raid with the Highpoint card you are using. I would probably go with an SSD this time around instead of the Icy Dock which is what I'm currently using.

[jmwills]

The Icy Dock adapter is really slick for redundacy and I would consider using it again for dual SSD's. I've had my eye on the Fractal case for quite some time so I can utilize the other port on my 2720 RAID card and create a second array and the 8 drive bay would make that happen.

[Joe_Miner]

Nice write-up and well thought out design.
Congratulations on your new build! Hope you get around to posting some pics soon (I've been using photobucket to upload my photos and then link them into the Forum).

[kcormier]

Thanks for comments everyone - some pictures will be forthcoming - uploading some now.

Of course, as luck would have it, when I reviewed the pictures I did have there wasn't any "loaded to the gills" shots - I must have stopped clicking at some point when I just wanted everything done with.

So I needed to "pull" the server this morning to get some more shots...

[kcormier]

The finished build is pictured below and the more details can be found here.

[jmwills]

Nice job....that sucker is huge! I also like the repurposing of the TV stand and mounting board for all the network gear. It serves the purpose.

[ikon]

Thanks for sharing the pix. That case certainly can hold a lot of drives.

[pcdoc]

Thanks for the pics, nice system. If you can let see some inside shots.

[ikon]

Thanks for the pics, nice system. If you can let see some inside shots.

pcdoc, if you click on his embedded link, there are 32 shots on photobucket: here.

[kcormier]

Thanks for the pics, nice system. If you can let see some inside shots.

Thanks pcdoc - what other "inside shots" are you thinking of - or did you miss the link at the top to the other pics ?

[pcdoc]

Thanks pcdoc - what other "inside shots" are you thinking of - or did you miss the link at the top to the other pics ?

Awesome. Great build and very impressive. You need a different color front drive tray.. Seriously, great build and thanks for sharing it.

[kcormier]

Hehe - I was wondering if there was going to be any comments on the silver HDD rack

I originally had one of these but the latching mechanism literally snapped off on the first use.

I was so ticked off that I took it back and the silver Thermaltake was the only one I could source locally.
I was in the midst of the data migration from v1 so I bit the bullet and went with it.

Am sure it is only a matter of time before I correct this grievous color mismatch.

Thanks again for all the comments.

Edited by kcormier, 25 March 2012 - 07:21 PM.

[pcdoc]

Hehe - I was wondering if there was going to be any comments on the silver HDD rack

I originally had one of these but the latching mechanism literally snapped off on the first use.

I was so ticked off that I took it back and the silver Thermaltake was the only one I could source locally.
I was in the midst of the data migration from v1 so I bit the bullet and went with it.

Am sure it is only a matter of time before I correct this grevious color mismatch.

Thanks again for all the comments.

Could not resist. I have a couple of these and they are pretty awesome. Nice setup though.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817998020

[ikon]

Am sure it is only a matter of time before I correct this grievous color mismatch.

Didn't even notice......

OK, I DID notice, but, I am soo a function-over-form guy I figured it's what you had on hand so you went with it and I, for one, salute you, sir, for your daring-do

[kcormier]

Thanks for the suggestion - that is exactly the model I was going to order when I was building the server.

From past expereince, ordering the same unit from newegg.ca, that $8 in shipping charges usually means shipment from US depot and therefore a week or so delivery time.
That was the plan but I developed an overwhelming need to finish the migration one weekend and had to go with what could be sourced locally.

Now that the rush is over I can take my time to sort this out...

[kcormier]

The WHS fashion police and I can rest easy now...