How to: Build a file server… Assembly…(Part 2)
Welcome to the second part of my how to build a file server series. In the first part (which can be found here) we looked at hardware and choices to be made, in this part we go over how to put it all together.
This is not going to be a general how to about installing motherboards in to cases, I will be focusing on installing the equipment that I decided on in part one.
Modifications & Hacks
Like all good hardware it never is exactly how you want it, so we have to start with the necessary mods.
The hard drives in my file server will be housed inside Icy Dock’s multi-bay Sata enclosures, MB453SPF and MB455SPF. Installing the drives on to the frames is very easy, all you need is a Philips screwdriver.
As you will see the rear of the enclosure has a rather large 80mm fan which pulls cool air over the installed hard drives - Great, but hang-on I see a problem. As the server will be sitting in my study with human inhabitants - dust is going to be created, which will be sucked in to my new file server and cause all sorts of problems in a short space of time.
Solution is quite simple filter the air going in to the server casing, thankfully the front grills on the Sharkoon case have nice foam inserts which will stop most of the dust. However the Icy Dock frames have huge cooling holes in the front panel which will make the perfect hoover for low flying dust.
My solution is to install filters in to the cooling holes at the front of the Icy Docks enclosures, the holes are on the front of the drive trays. The filters in my case will be cut pieces of vacuum cleaner air filters I had spare, you could also use cooker hood filters or even just plain old open cell foam - anything that will pass air through a mesh structure.
- dismantle the hard drive frames, total 4 Philips screws - detach the front panel from the metal arms.
- clip out the tin grill, you need to push in the grounding fingers at the bottom of the frame. If you have pushed the fingers in too much, just gently pull them back out.
- now cut your filter material to the same size and shape as the tin grill or use the front panel as a template.
- place the filter on the tin grill and carefully clip the grill back on the front panel. making sure that the ground fingers are located in the cut-outs at the bottom of the panel.
- re-assemble the tray by placing the metal arms back on the front panel.
Tip: I found taking the frames apart easier with a hard drive installed. You can click on the pictures for larger versions.
In the next page we will go over the mods needed to get the Sharkoon case ready to install our hardware.
The Sharkoon Economy 9 case is at the extreme budget end in terms of PC cases - for me the biggest factor compared to more expensive cases, is the material used in the fabrication. The metal is thin and you just know it will make the PC very noisy - in effect the case will amplify the fan and drive noise (remember this case is going to house 8 drives!!).
A mod I do, even to the more expensive cases - is to clad all the large panels with rubber. This does two things for the case. Firstly, it reduces the noise coming from the computer - it does this by absorbing sound and damping any vibrations that are transferred to the case from the hard drives. Secondly, I use the rubber to cover up ventilation holes.
Most cases tend to have ventilation holes on the front, bottom, back and side panels. This just does not work for me. I like my thermal management to consist of a defined airflow. My aim is to get air sucked in from the front of the case and exhausted out of the rear. To achieve this all the ventilation holes around the case - except the front and back have to be covered up. This kind thermal design will only work if you have enough airflow to move the heat generated through the case and out the back.
In this situation, the two Icy Docks will be pulling the air in to the case, and the Enermax 120mm PSU fan will be blowing it out. The flow rate will be more than adequate to cool the drives and CPU, remember this file server will spend most of its time moving around files not playing the latest directX 10 games.
So with screwdriver in hand start taking the case apart. Once all the panels are removed start affixing the rubber sheeting. I used 1.5mm thick Neoprene adhesive backed sheets, if you have the budget I would suggest using 3mm thick or if you don’t have the budget, any type of rubber will do fine - adhesive backed makes it so much easier to apply.
I also removed the top panel which required pulling the front panel away from the case, then removing more screws before pulling it up - you need to be careful if the metal has not been de-burred or rolled, the edges can be dangerous consider wearing some gloves.
The motherboard tray looked like it needed some reinforcement, so I applied some neoprene to most of it.
So anywhere which looks like it can vibrate or make noise - stick some rubber sheeting to it!!!
Case is now ready to accept the remaining hardware…..
Finally the power supply and motherboard was installed. I then installed the Raid card as well as the graphics card.
The Icy Dock enclosures caused some problems. The 5.25″ bays are just too small for the enclosures to fit, and as the MB455SPF traverses over 3 5.25″ bays - the bays had to be clear of any obstructions. On the Sharkoon case, the bays have small tabs which create the 5.25″ bays heights, I call them landing tabs. They are formed by the metal being folded in, so with a strong set of pliers I need to fold them back out.
So after some pulling and pushing I managed to get both enclosures into the case. As you can see from the photos it was a very tight fit. I had to mess about with which bays to install the enclosures, so that the rear fans would clear the motherboard.
The downside of trying to get all this in to a small case is that it becomes impossible to make the installation look neat. However, for all the mess - it does fit and it does work!!
The finished product I think looks amazing and probably the most stylish file server you will ever see!!! (it drips coolness when all the drive access lights start to flash!!)
Conclusion
After building this machine, I noted some issues with this case and its use in this application. Not very major issues and thankfully things which can be fixed easily.
Power led, this blue shining baby is the brightest thing you will ever see - at night it lights up the whole room. So I suggest you either add a resistor into the cable that supplies the LED (470R Should do it), or remove it and replace with a dimmer Red LED.
Power switch and reset button, these two buttons are very poorly placed especially for a headless server (A machine with no keyboard or monitor attached) - accidental press of the power switch or reset is not something you want. So you need to place machine somewhere the switches will not be accidentally pushed.
The badly placed reset switch can be accidentally hit while plugging in a USB cable!
I went so far as to just remove the connection for both switches from the motherboard. To make sure the server turns on, I set the BIOS to always switch on when power is applied, removing the need for a power switch.
This build has given me the perfect solution for my storage needs and flexibility to adapt to changes,. In its final configuration - all you have is two connections on the back, network and power. simple!!
In the final part of this series I will look at software options, especially backup and drive partitioning.
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