Apple xServe RAID

One thing is consistent when working in the advertising world… the need for storage, then for even more storage. Once you’ve got the storage situation under control, double it… then maybe you’ll be good for a few more months.

Alright, so I’m exaggerating a little. The thing is no matter how much storage I put in place I always seem to need more. It’s a sick disease. The project files we work on seem to be getting exponentially larger over a short amount of time. I remember when an InDesign package for a larger presentation might top off around 20-30MBs. Then I remember when it soon eclipsed 100MBs. Now I see InDesign package files anywhere from 500MBs to over 5GBs. Then there’s the verbal requirement to “backup everything” which means 10TB of additional storage really means around 25TBs including backup space.

Apple xServe RAIDs and Promise VTrak in rack

I have five very pretty looking Apple xServe RAIDs in the server room. They first debuted in February of 2003 and were discontinued by Apple in February of 2008. Many of the drives in these xServe RAIDs were original 250GB or 500GB drives which have been spinning between 3-5 years. Can you say “end of life”? I had to decide what path I was going to take to meet our ever-growing storage needs. I could ditch the outdated xServe RAIDs and go with all new Promise Technology RAIDs or I could look at refurbishing the xServe RAIDs and breath new life into them.

The xServe RAID uses PATA drives and not the newer SATA drives. PATA drives are much harder to come by in the larger sizes and unfortunately much more expensive on a per GB level. Originally these raid units were around $12,000 for 7TBs (14x 500GB). Eventually the 750GB drives were available and for around the same price point this gave you 10.5TB (14x 750GB).

xServe RAID drive module

A new Promise VTrak E-Class 16x SATA raid is $14,999 MSRP and provides 16TBs of raw data. The Apple xServe RAID is 2Gbps fibre while the Promise is 4Gbps. The xServe RAID can support hardware RAID 0,1,5 and JBOD while the Promise can support RAID 0,1,5,6 and more. xServe RAID is limited to PATA while the Promise is SATA or SAS. Clearly, the Promise VTrak system offers quite a bit more than the xServe RAID which is probably why Apple decided to stop competing in this market.

So once again I turned to eBay where I’ve had much success in the past for work related purchases. I found a vendor selling brand new Seagate 750GB PATA drives for around $150/each. Over the course of this past year I purchase a total of 75 drives from this vendor at a total cost of $11, 250. This gave me enough drives to fully refurbish all five xServe RAIDs with five drives set aside as spares. That’s a total cost of $2100 per RAID giving me 10.5TB of raw storage per RAID.

Upgrading the drives is dead simple for anyone with average computer hardware experience. Here’s the basics:

  1. Remove any currently configured arrays from the RAID controller via the GUI tool
  2. Pull out the seven drives associated with the above now defunct array
  3. Pop the end cap off of the each tray with your fingers
  4. Unscrew the four screws under the tray holding the drive in place
  5. Remove the IDE cable and the power cable
  6. Insert the new 750GB drive, reconnect cables, tighten the screws and replace the end cap
  7. Make sure the firmware on the xServe RAID is at 1.5.1 or the RAID will not recognize any drive over 500GB
  8. Insert all the drives back into the RAID and make sure the blue light shows up on each
  9. Setup a new array to your specifications
  10. Make sure to enable background initialization if you plan to use the array immediately

Compaq DPS-450CB-1 power supply

I also bought a spare xServe RAID chassis which contains two power supplies, two controllers and a mid-plan logic board. In addition to the spare chassis I also have two more spare controllers and two more spare power supplies, all purchased from eBay over the past year. Some Compaq systems use the exact same power supply but have a different latching mechanism on them. If you are replacing a dead xServe RAID power supply or wish to have a spare, you can buy the Compaq DPS-450CB-1 and just swap out the latching mechanism. These power supplies run around $30 on eBay vs the Apple ones for over $100.

Each newly refurbished xServe RAID is configured into two RAID5 arrays each with 6 drives and a hot spare. This yields 3.41TB of active storage per RAID controller for a total of 6.82TB of available RAID5 storage per RAID.

I purchased a new Promise VTrak E-Class 16x SATA raid which has become our main production storage RAID. Four of the Apple xServe RAIDs are dedicated to our backup system which is running Atempo Time Navigator and the fifth houses low traffic shares. With the four xServe RAIDs connected to the backup server I now have 27.28TBs of available storage!

The bottom-line is simply that I needed lots more storage but didn’t have the budget to purchase all new RAID units. The 4Gbps fibre channel speed increase that the Promise offers over the xServe RAID would never be utilized in the backup environment where the storage was most needed. The biggest downside to going this direction is that the xServe RAIDs are no longer covered under warranty where-as a new Promise RAID would have full coverage. As long as eBay is around, I’m not concerned in the least bit not having my equipment under warranty.

Refurbishing older equipment gives you these benefits:

  • Higher ROI
  • Lower TCO
  • Keeps the boss and finance folks happy
  • Mad eBay skills
  • It’s green and helps keep equipment out of landfills

Cheap Apple xServe RAIDs can still be found on eBay as many companies abandon old equipment. Do some digging and see how much it would cost to refurbish one of these RAIDs and give it a new life!