Hello, I managed to get my hands on a second hand Proliant HPE server that I want to turn into a media server for myself (possibly family too).

I also have a bunch of drivers lying around in all different sizes. I want a good balance of security, backup and flexibility for the future. So hear my plan out:

  • Running Ubuntu server LTS on SAS 600gb disks (now it’s in raid5 array with 3 identical disks but I probably want to change that and take out some disks from it for my data)
  • hardware raid 0 on the various single disks (with HPE smart array)
  • mergerfs and snapraid for a “raid” and backup (I read some information about it and I think for my use is the best option)
  • Headscale VPN (basically Foss tailscale implementation) for remote connection and mesh network
  • Docker with all apps

I’m no expert on servers or RAIDs or HPE. What do you think? I’m mostly worried about the hardware raid 0 + Snapraid, is it doable?

  • Eggymatrix@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    21·
    3 days ago

    I used to have a boss that said that there are two types of IT admins, those that used hardware raid once and will never again, and those that haven’t lost any data to it yet.

    • HeyJoe@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      3 days ago

      Thankfully, we never lost data, but we have had the controller die a few times through the years on a few servers before. Thankfully we had great support and the part was same day delivered to us to replace and the 2nd time was a Dell server which we also get the part same day and a tech to come replace it for us.

      We avoided buying servers with this going forward. At this point, we really only have VM’s and only a handful of physical servers anymore, so it’s not even a concern.

      • TechyTochy@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
        4·
        3 days ago

        I read online that the controller failure is a thing and not that uncommon. I really don’t want to rely on HP hardware tbh.

  • TechyTochy@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    Thanks for the support, in the end I opened the server removed the raid smart array controller and connected the drives directly to main board. Checked within the BIOS and I see them perfectly.

    If you are looking for a HPE P440ar Smart array controller to buy hit me up :)

    • TechyTochy@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      HBA is not real pass-through of drives, it creates a raid 0 for each one, striping them. If the controller fails, you can’t read anything.

      • frongt@lemmy.zipEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        No, it does not. An HBA (or a raid controller flashed to IT mode I think) presents the disks directly to the system. I’ve done this several times.

        • TechyTochy@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
          1·
          2 days ago

          This is what I read on hp forums, for safety I removed the controller entirely. The less HP stuff I use the better.

  • Zwuzelmaus@feddit.orgEnglish
    5·
    3 days ago

    With all these different disk sizes, maybe “Unraid” is for you? I don’t really know it, just guessing.

    • TechyTochy@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      Mmm I personally rather avoid closed source software if I can. Afaik unraid is a whole os system that does all the work, so I also rather have different tools that do well their job than 1-in-all system. Decentralisation is always king. Plus I’m okay with not having a real time redundancy but just an easy snapshot system with Snapraid.