Intel SS4200-E Lives Again

[swechsler]

Hmm, I don't have anything that small...what I may try is building the install on an SSD on a different computer, and then installing that SSD into the SS-4200.

OpenMediaVault can be found here.

 

[Samir]

That is the way a lot of people have installed to it since it's headless anyways. But the problem is that if it doesn't boot you don't know what's wrong.

Amazing that OMV has such minimal hardware requirements. It's perfect for the ss4200-e!

 

[swechsler]

That is the way a lot of people have installed to it since it's headless anyways. But the problem is that if it doesn't boot you don't know what's wrong.

It's technically headless but it's easy enough to hook up a cheap video card, as we've discussed earlier in this thread.

 

[Samir]

It's technically headless but it's easy enough to hook up a cheap video card, as we've discussed earlier in this thread.

I aware of that, but it's also a risk as the cooling doesn't function the way it should and the case has to stay open in an odd way. I'd personally install on some other media and move it over.

 

[swechsler]

I aware of that, but it's also a risk as the cooling doesn't function the way it should and the case has to stay open in an odd way. I'd personally install on some other media and move it over.

Using a flex PCI-e riser, you can place drives 3&4 in the correct position over the CPU, which gives enough ventilation during the installation.

 

[swechsler]

One other thing I just remembered (I'm noting it here so I don't forget it) is that modern Linuxes don't support booting from IDE (PATA). I had originally purchased an IDE to SATA converter to hook up a SATA SSD to the DOM connector, but that doesn't work, even though the BIOS sees the drive properly. Instead, use an external USB 2.0 to SATA adapter, then boot from that. Since you're not going to be hosting files on this drive, the slower USB 2.0 speed isn't an issue.

 

[swechsler]

Good news. I got OpenMediaVault running on my SS4200. System is as follows:

2GB of RAM
CPU upgrade to Core 2 duo.
OS installed on external SSD connected to USB port
4 internal + 12 external 2TB drives (connected via eSATA ports).
The speed's not fantastic but I think it's better than stock. It's certainly usable for media and backup storage.
result:

root@omv-ss4200:/zfs_data# zpool status zfs_data
  pool: zfs_data
state: ONLINE
config:

        NAME                                            STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
        zfs_data                                        ONLINE       0     0     0
          raidz2-0                                      ONLINE       0     0     0
            ata-Hitachi_HUA722020ALA330_JK11A4B8KMA5HW  ONLINE       0     0     0
            ata-Hitachi_HUA722020ALA330_JK11A4B8KTY00W  ONLINE       0     0     0
            ata-Hitachi_HUA722020ALA330_JK11A4B8KM9TDW  ONLINE       0     0     0
            ata-Hitachi_HUA722020ALA330_JK11A4B8KRTM0W  ONLINE       0     0     0
            ata-HGST_HUS724020ALA640_PN2131P6GK6AWP     ONLINE       0     0     0
            ata-HGST_HUS724020ALA640_PN2131P6GJU3TP     ONLINE       0     0     0
            ata-HGST_HUS724020ALA640_PN2131P6GK4A1P     ONLINE       0     0     0
            ata-HGST_HUS724020ALA640_PN2131P6GJGTWP     ONLINE       0     0     0
            ata-HGST_HUS724020ALA640_PN2131P6GG125V     ONLINE       0     0     0
            ata-HGST_HUS724020ALA640_PN2131P6GK7PTP     ONLINE       0     0     0
            ata-HGST_HUS724020ALA640_PN2131P6GKE44P     ONLINE       0     0     0
            ata-HGST_HUS724020ALA640_PN2131P6GK4STP     ONLINE       0     0     0
            ata-HGST_HUS724020ALA640_PN2131P6GKD01P     ONLINE       0     0     0
            ata-HGST_HUS724020ALA640_PN2131P6GJVT9P     ONLINE       0     0     0
            ata-HGST_HUS724020ALA640_PN2131P6GKG1TP     ONLINE       0     0     0
            ata-HGST_HUS724020ALA640_PN2131P6GJY3HP     ONLINE       0     0     0

errors: No known data errors
root@omv-ss4200:/zfs_data# dd if=/dev/zero of=/zfs_data/test4.img bs=100M count=20 oflag=dsync
20+0 records in
20+0 records out
2097152000 bytes (2.1 GB, 2.0 GiB) copied, 22.3055 s, 94.0 MB/s
root@omv-ss4200:/zfs_data# df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            967M     0  967M   0% /dev
tmpfs           199M  6.0M  193M   3% /run
/dev/sdb1       108G  2.8G  100G   3% /
tmpfs           994M     0  994M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
tmpfs           994M     0  994M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs           994M     0  994M   0% /tmp
zfs_data         25T  5.6G   25T   1% /zfs_data

 

[cannondale]

Howdie folks. I also recently resurrected my dust-collecting Scaleo SS4200-E. Was still rocking the ancient Windows Home Server installation. I wiped everything and installed OpenMediaVault on a 16GB USB stick (one of those teeny tiny ones that barely sticks out). I also obtained a PCI-E x1 to x16 adapter so I could use a proper video card during the installation process, which made everything much easier. Note: One must install and enable the flashmemory plugin to reduce writes to the USB stick.

Years ago I had upgraded this unit to the E2220 CPU and 2GB RAM, and am now rocking 4 x 2TB drives set up in a RAID5 configuration under OMV (I decided against ZFS as the recommended amount of RAM is higher than 2GB).

All is working well, except for the power LED, which keeps blinking even when boot is complete. Boot log shows that the "leds_ss4200" module seems to have loaded correctly. Has anyone gotten the power LED to stabilize?

# dmesg | grep ss4200
[   10.371447] leds_ss4200: detected 'Intel SS4200-E'
[   10.371451] leds_ss4200: registering PCI driver
[   10.373179]  ? nas_led_blink_show+0x40/0x40 [leds_ss4200]
[   10.373250]  ? nasgpio_led_set_blink+0x80/0x80 [leds_ss4200]
[   10.373322]  nas_gpio_init+0xf7/0xfe5 [leds_ss4200]
[   10.373393]  ? ss4200_led_dmi_callback+0x1b/0x1b [leds_ss4200]
[   10.374730] Modules linked in: leds_ss4200(+) pcc_cpufreq(-) rng_core button sunrpc ip_tables x_tables autofs4 ext4 crc16 mbcache jbd2 btrfs blake2b_generic raid10 raid456 async_raid6_recov async_memcpy async_pq async_xor async_tx xor raid6_pq libcrc32c crc32c_generic raid1 raid0 multipath linear md_mod sd_mod t10_pi crc_t10dif crct10dif_generic crct10dif_common uas usb_storage hid_logitech_hidpp hid_logitech_dj hid_generic usbhid hid ahci libahci sata_sil24 uhci_hcd ehci_pci psmouse ehci_hcd usbcore libata i2c_i801 i2c_smbus lpc_ich scsi_mod e1000e usb_common ptp pps_core

 

[swechsler]

I redid mine using mdadm on an 8 drive array (4 internal, 4 external). Performance is better than with ZFS Raid:

root@omv-ss4200:/srv/dev-disk-by-label-data1# dd if=/dev/zero of=./test2.img bs=1G count=5 oflag=dsync
5+0 records in
5+0 records out
5368709120 bytes (5.4 GB, 5.0 GiB) copied, 44.5664 s, 120 MB/s

Regarding the LEDs, I have mine sitting in the basement and rarely look at it, so it doesn't bother me.

 

[cannondale]

I redid mine using mdadm on an 8 drive array (4 internal, 4 external). Performance is better than with ZFS Raid:

root@omv-ss4200:/srv/dev-disk-by-label-data1# dd if=/dev/zero of=./test2.img bs=1G count=5 oflag=dsync
5+0 records in
5+0 records out
5368709120 bytes (5.4 GB, 5.0 GiB) copied, 44.5664 s, 120 MB/s

Regarding the LEDs, I have mine sitting in the basement and rarely look at it, so it doesn't bother me.

Thanks! So I assume your power LED is also blinking all the time then, right?
How did you attach the 4 external drives? Two USB and two eSATA?

 

[swechsler]

Thanks! So I assume your power LED is also blinking all the time then, right?
How did you attach the 4 external drives? Two USB and two eSATA?

No, USB 2.0 is way too slow. I have a single 4 drive eSATA array, a G-SPEED eS (without the SATA card), hooked to one of the eSATA ports. The SS4200 eSATA ports support SATA hubs (which is rare for motherboard SATA ports, but I had seen it mentioned in a previous discussion on the SS-4200). I originally also had connected a second 8 drive array to the second port when I was running 16 drives with ZFS, but decided to move that array to a different server.

Yes to the power LED.

 

[Samir]

Howdie folks. I also recently resurrected my dust-collecting Scaleo SS4200-E. Was still rocking the ancient Windows Home Server installation. I wiped everything and installed OpenMediaVault on a 16GB USB stick (one of those teeny tiny ones that barely sticks out). I also obtained a PCI-E x1 to x16 adapter so I could use a proper video card during the installation process, which made everything much easier. Note: One must install and enable the flashmemory plugin to reduce writes to the USB stick.

Years ago I had upgraded this unit to the E2220 CPU and 2GB RAM, and am now rocking 4 x 2TB drives set up in a RAID5 configuration under OMV (I decided against ZFS as the recommended amount of RAM is higher than 2GB).

Nice. What version of omv did you install and what type of throughput do you get?

 

[Samir]

I have a single 4 drive eSATA array, a G-SPEED eS (without the SATA card), hooked to one of the eSATA ports. The SS4200 eSATA ports support SATA hubs (which is rare for motherboard SATA ports, but I had seen it mentioned in a previous discussion on the SS-4200). I originally also had connected a second 8 drive array to the second port when I was running 16 drives with ZFS, but decided to move that array to a different server.

Wow! I think you've pushed the ss4200-e as far as it can possibly go in terms of drives. Great to have a confirmation of the port multiplier working and being reliable. I actually have an 8 bay sandigital esata enclosure I bought with the intention of using with the ss4200-e, but it has found usefulness elsewhere for now.

I need to get back to this project and try the 4x 4TB drives now that I have almost all the parts to restore at least one of my 'in parts' ss4200-e units. Because as we in this thread know...the ss4200-e lives again quiet well even in modern times.

 

[cannondale]

Nice. What version of omv did you install and what type of throughput do you get?

I haven't measured the throughput yet (there's hardly any data on my array yet ), but the OMV version I installed is the latest stable version 5.6.13. I have no prior experience with OMV, but have been using Ubuntu Server on another box of mine for many years. And as both OMV and Ubuntu are based on Debian, it all feels very familiar. Additionally, really like the web interface for those who don't want to poke around Linux.

 

[Samir]

I haven't measured the throughput yet (there's hardly any data on my array yet ), but the OMV version I installed is the latest stable version 5.6.13. I have no prior experience with OMV, but have been using Ubuntu Server on another box of mine for many years. And as both OMV and Ubuntu are based on Debian, it all feels very familiar. Additionally, really like the web interface for those who don't want to poke around Linux.

Nice. I was wondering how hard the modern versions of omv would tax this old unit. I'd try some tests using LAN_Speedtest as that's what I used to benchmark the original factory emc os. NASTester is also pretty good: http://www.808.dk/?nastester

 

[swechsler]

Wow! I think you've pushed the ss4200-e as far as it can possibly go in terms of drives. Great to have a confirmation of the port multiplier working and being reliable. I actually have an 8 bay sandigital esata enclosure I bought with the intention of using with the ss4200-e, but it has found usefulness elsewhere for now.

Actually if you read back a few messages, you'll see I actually had 16 drives connected at one point, but I too found another use for my 8 drive array (not a Sandigital, although I do have one of those as well). I think the max is 20 (16 external, 4 internal) without resorting to USB.

 

[Samir]

Actually if you read back a few messages, you'll see I actually had 16 drives connected at one point, but I too found another use for my 8 drive array (not a Sandigital, although I do have one of those as well). I think the max is 20 (16 external, 4 internal) without resorting to USB.

Yep, I don't know how I missed that earlier because you had a whopping 32TB running from an ss4200-e, which I think is a world record. And what's even more wild is that with the potential for 20 drives in a mixture of internal and external sata, and with current drive capacities of 18TB, that means the max this hardware can scale to is actually 360TB, or 1/3 of a petabyte. Pretty amazing for hardware that was never tested to scale beyond 4x 1TB drives.

 

[cannondale]

So it was fun reactivating my upgraded & fully loaded SS4200-E (see above) and playing around with OpenMediaVault, but I want to find a new home for it (well, really my wife wants me to). If anyone is interested, please PM me. Thanks.

 

[Samir]

So it was fun reactivating my upgraded & fully loaded SS4200-E (see above) and playing around with OpenMediaVault, but I want to find a new home for it (well, really my wife wants me to). If anyone is interested, please PM me. Thanks.

yhpm!

 

[eric90066]

Thanks op for starting this thread!

I have a ss4200-e that was gathering dust until I decided to use it as a secondary backup.
As noted here, only OMV has the specs that can run on the server.

The problem, as has been noted here as well, is that sometimes the system will boot, but get stuck at a blinking cursor.

I have no idea how to fix this. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. This is particularly frustrating if going headless and coming out of stand by.

Has anyone found a solution before I throw this thing out? BTW, my system did not come installed with a DOM. Also, I am booting from a 14g usb thumb drive.
Thanks!