Custom Built NAS Server

[James]

Thought I would ask advice from my fellow Shark's on my new project.

I had a choice between upgrading my system, or building a project I've been wanting to complete for awhile with my tax refund.

I'm choosing the high-performance NAS server.

My goals with the project are:

1. Extremely small footprint.
2. Extremely powerful server.
3. Limited to no bottlenecks in data path.
4. PCIe based for communications and storage.

One of the things I've found disappointing about the current crop of NAS servers is many of them use USB for the ethernet port, or worse, for the RAID controller itself. Another complaint is that often times, the drives are not hotswappable, which means taking down the storage unit to add/remove drives.

As such, I've been noodling with the idea for a homegrown NAS server that has a similar footprint to a commercial one, but is much more powerful under the hood.


Component List:
$120 Supermicro CSE-M35T-1B 5 drive hotswap cage
$280 A-Value Industrial 5.25" motherboard EBM-945GM
$0 Areca 4 port SATA RAID Controller PCIe x8 (Already owned)
$35 PCIe x16 flexible port extender
$80 T5600 Merom 1.83GHz Dual Core Socket M CPU
$50 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 667 SO-DIMM 200-pin
$30 Sandisk Ultra III 2GB CF card
$60 PicoPSU 120w PSU w/ adapter
----------------------
$645 total before drives

Drives are an option of cost and availability, but more than likely I will go with 750GB drives. (currently around $150 each.)

The OS will run from a RAM drive, similar to many consumer level products (boot from flash into RAM), and will be a Slackware 12 base.

It has taken me awhile to track down a motherboard that suits my needs. Namely, one that is the same width as a 5.25" drive, but has the I/O ports on the "short" edge. (Most 5.25" Industrial boards have the I/O ports on the long edge.)

The enclosure will have to be custom fabricated, but I have time. Lead time on the motherboard is 4 weeks, so this won't be up and running anytime soon, but I thought I would show you guys at least the plan, and see if you find any glaring flaws in it.

Can anyone suggest a good place for custom machined aluminum in the Atlanta, GA area? Or barring that, a good set of tools for working on aluminum myself?