Brick Hardware

We have selected the final version for the initial storage bricks. Our initial model consists of a custom 1U rack mountable case with 4x 250GB UDMA/133 (total 1.00TB) disks. The machines are loaded with 512MB of memory and single Via Nemiah 1GHz processors on a mini-iTX motherboard so that some level of local computational work can be done on the data. The boards come with single 100bT interfaces, but we are have added an Intel 1000bT card to increase the network bandwidth. They will be on a UPS for improved hardware reliability. Our source for these units (by special arrangement) is Capricorn Technologies, who are suppliers to The Internet Archive.

  (1) VIA EPIA MII10000 (1xRJ-45 100bT; 2UDMA/133; 1xDDR266)
  (1) 512M PC2100 unbuf, nopar (Crucial CT6464Z265 or similar quality)
  (4) Hitachi 250GB UDMA/ATA-133 Hard Drives
  (1) Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop Adapter (1000baseTX NIC)
  (1) right angle PCI riser
  (1) custom 1U rackmount case
  (1) FSP-200-50P power supply
  Linux 2.6.x (Gentoo 2004.1 distro) 

After several rounds of working with removable disks, we've decided to go with fixed disks for this version. The removable sleeves seemed to add too many parts between the motherboard and the disk so that diagnosing a "failed disk" meant testing the controller, cable, backplane, housing, sleeve, and disk. Fewer parts should make for fewer failures and easier diagnosis.

We have also elected to move to a lower wattage system: roughly 80W/TB down from about 200W/TB. The lower power consumption should help reduce heat-death of components as well as reducing the power needs per TB and allowing closer packing of machines (1U) due to the expense and scarcity of machine room space. With electricity costs rising there is also a TCO benefit of reduced fixed costs.

We have elected to go with a source that supplies a custom 1U rackmountable case. The case is specially designed to improve the airflow around the disks to reduce heat problems. It also is custom fit for the VIA motherboards, giving a shorter depth for a smaller "footprint". The custom case also allows us to use a cheaper right angle 1U riser card in place of a more expensive ribbon cable riser.

We can build them for under $2000/TB (quantity 30) and will rack mount them with UPS, and 1000bT networking. Due to large startup overhead costs for networking infrastructure, we will start the first year with just 30 bricks, but subsequent years should allow for the purchase of 45 or more bricks per year, hopefully at improved storage densities.

UPS Hardware

For UPS, we are going with the Tripplite Smart1000rm1u: a 1U rackmountable 1KVA UPS with six outlets. Each of these should support 4 to 5 bricks, and they have the advantage that they are easy to scale as our storage expands.

See Also

• Archival Storage Network
• Archival Software