Build a Raspberry Pi CM4 4-Bay NAS with Wiretrustee Carrier Board • Hacker News Board

Re: Build a Raspberry Pi CM4 4-Bay NAS with Wiretrustee Carrier Board

#51

Post by rsync » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 5:19 PM UTC

geerlingguy wrote: post #19

There are a few people currently working on NAS boards based on the CM4. A few different approaches in terms of chipsets used and performance targets. I'm trying to track them in this GitHub issue [1] but a couple people have remained more or less anonymous as they don't want to attract attention too early. The single PCIe lane is the biggest limitation if you're looking for raw speed (350 MB/sec is kind of the upper…

"There are a few people currently working on NAS boards based on the CM4."

I continue to appreciate the time and attention you are paying to these new boards on your blog and in your comments here at HN - thank you.

I am having trouble sourcing maxed out CM4 parts - that is, 8 GB ram and 32 GB onboard storage[1]. They are either sold out until August or October or something silly like that or they are only available in 200+ quantity.

Do you have any suggestions as to where I could source those ?

[1] CM4008032, I think ...

Re: Build a Raspberry Pi CM4 4-Bay NAS with Wiretrustee Carrier Board

#52

Post by rsync » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 5:22 PM UTC

youngtaff wrote: post #31

geerlingguy wrote: post #19

There are a few people currently working on NAS boards based on the CM4. A few different approaches in terms of chipsets used and performance targets. I'm trying to track them in this GitHub issue [1] but a couple people have remained more or less anonymous as they don't want to attract attention too early. The single PCIe lane is the biggest limitation if you're looking for raw speed (350 MB/sec is kind of the upper…

Have you come across anyone producing a PoE board for the CM4 - just looking for a network port, USB and perhaps SD card (similar to a Ubquiti Cloud Key)? (the Gumstix camera board is overkill for my needs)

"Have you come across anyone producing a PoE board for the CM4 ..."

Wait, I thought the official CM4 breakout/dev board (the one with the PCIe slot on it) had PoE, right ?

Re: Build a Raspberry Pi CM4 4-Bay NAS with Wiretrustee Carrier Board

#53

Post by rsync » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 5:26 PM UTC

gorgoiler wrote: post #18

Nice, but the Gen10 HP ProLiant Microserver is my NAS platform of choice. It supports ECC and has 4 cable-free swappable bays plus space for an SSD system drive in the top. The bolts-as-caddy system is also a great idea.

My memory is hazy now but there was something weird/screwy about the previous gen Microserver ... like, you couldn't use all four SATA drives at the same time as booting from the onboard ? Or something ?

How is the gen10 ? Can I use all four SATA drives for my raid array but still have a SSD/m.2 boot drive ?

Re: Build a Raspberry Pi CM4 4-Bay NAS with Wiretrustee Carrier Board

#54

Post by 1MachineElf » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 5:37 PM UTC

I would still defer to something with ECC RAM and ZFS for keeping my data, but I could see myself using something like this for unimportant data and/or serving important data as a read-only mirror. Either way, I love that an RPi system will soon come in a sweet form-factor optimized for NAS use.

Re: Build a Raspberry Pi CM4 4-Bay NAS with Wiretrustee Carrier Board

#55

Post by MrGilbert » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 5:42 PM UTC

Naac wrote: post #48

Here's what I want, but haven't been able to find: I already have a beefy server at home ( it's actually a refurbished enterprise workstation, with 24 cores, but read on ). However it lacks drives. What I ideally want is a a dumb drive bay I could buy, and then connect ( somehow ) to my existing server, so I could use its CPU and RAM. I don't want this drive bay to have its own CPU, I just want it to hold data and tr…

Not sure what your workstation offers, but I bought myself an Icy Dock Black Vortex (MB074SP-B) [1]. It's just a case (internal 5,25", but that airflow! :D) which fits 4x3,5" drives with a 120mm fan in front. Slapped some noise damping feets under it. I then bought two low-profile eSATApd to internal SATA slotpanels [2] and 4 corresponding cables [3]. Works great so far!

And yes, you need eSATA, because the distance between cage and machine might be enough to introduce read/write errors. That's what I had, because I used normal SATA cables before.

[1]: https://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=166

[2]: https://www.delock.de/produkte/G_61725/merkmale.html?setLang...

[3]: https://www.delock.de/produkte/G_84402/merkmale.html?setLang...

Re: Build a Raspberry Pi CM4 4-Bay NAS with Wiretrustee Carrier Board

#56

Post by gorgoiler » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 6:09 PM UTC

rsync wrote: post #53

gorgoiler wrote: post #18

Nice, but the Gen10 HP ProLiant Microserver is my NAS platform of choice. It supports ECC and has 4 cable-free swappable bays plus space for an SSD system drive in the top. The bolts-as-caddy system is also a great idea.

My memory is hazy now but there was something weird/screwy about the previous gen Microserver ... like, you couldn't use all four SATA drives at the same time as booting from the onboard ? Or something ? How is the gen10 ? Can I use all four SATA drives for my raid array but still have a SSD/m.2 boot drive ?

I actually never took mine apart to put the SSD in the top slot, I only know it’s possible. (There is an additional mounting kit to support it on the Gen10.)

For me, three mirrored ZFS 4TB drives are all I needed for my local storage to be available and resilient. The fourth SATA slot is the SSD in a cradle.

My long term bet for safety is offline USB mirrors on-site, Borg off-site to rsync.net (thanks!) and tarsnap off-site for the smaller stuff.

Maybe one day I’ll be brave and use ZFS to mirror the content to rsync.net? I haven’t upgraded beyond ZoL 0.7 yet but if I did can I replicate an encrypted pool to you without giving you the keys?

Re: Build a Raspberry Pi CM4 4-Bay NAS with Wiretrustee Carrier Board

#57

Post by njharman » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 6:11 PM UTC

Naac wrote: post #48

Here's what I want, but haven't been able to find: I already have a beefy server at home ( it's actually a refurbished enterprise workstation, with 24 cores, but read on ). However it lacks drives. What I ideally want is a a dumb drive bay I could buy, and then connect ( somehow ) to my existing server, so I could use its CPU and RAM. I don't want this drive bay to have its own CPU, I just want it to hold data and tr…

Man, SCSI daisy chaining did this, what, 30yrs ago.

Re: Build a Raspberry Pi CM4 4-Bay NAS with Wiretrustee Carrier Board

#58

Post by njharman » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 6:15 PM UTC

znpy wrote: post #7

I wouldnt trust my data with this kind of devices. There's nothing wrong per se, but I have my doubts about how easy you can find replacement parts if something breaks in, say, a year or two. If you really depend on your data and want it to be safe, i'd recommend spending the extra money and either getting a proper nas (synology/qnap) or go the proper diy way (aka an x86 box and truenas/unraid). you really don't want…

If you absolutely need your data its not only on one device.

Re: Build a Raspberry Pi CM4 4-Bay NAS with Wiretrustee Carrier Board

#59

Post by entangledqubit » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 6:27 PM UTC

The 12V/5A power supply seems a little undersized for 4 x 3.5 HDD startup. I suspect that it's fine if the drives are started sequentially but the drives will probably want to pull more than 5A if they're all starting simultaneously. Possibly something to watch out for.

5A should be plenty for normal post-start operation.

Re: Build a Raspberry Pi CM4 4-Bay NAS with Wiretrustee Carrier Board

#60

Post by toast0 » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 6:32 PM UTC

dsr_ wrote: post #46

znpy wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most people have no better than 1Gb/s ethernet available in their house anyway This is partially true. Most people have no better than 1Gb/sec per single computer . That means that a single pc using the full 1Gb/sec would saturate the nas network I/O and degrade performances for all other clients. Which may or may not be okay... You just know to be aware of that.

I keep saying backup, and other people keep re-saying NAS. These are different. A NAS can serve as a backup. Not all backups are suitable as a NAS. Now, let me restate: Most people have no networks capable of significantly more than 1Gb/s between two hosts in their house. Complaining that a backup server is also attached at 1Gb/s is not going to cause people to discover that they have already purchased 10Gb/s switche…

LACP switches aren't too bad. I picked up a pair of 16-port switches with vlan and LACP (1-4 ports) via web interface for around $100 combined.

2.5G or 10G switching is still too expensive for me.