Backup Server: OS + Hardware Recommendations

[MrKickkiller]

Hi

 

I need to build a small server for a small bussines.

This would be the hardware i'll be using :http://pcpartpicker.com/p/NQW423

Suggestions? Plz leave them.

The data should be as safe as possible. If any drive fails, I need to be able to rebuild it (fairly quickly).

Suggestions for raid level? 1 - 5 or 10 / 01 ?

 

My question is what OS I should be using:

- FreeNas

- Windows Server 2012 (Free since i'm a university student)

- Linux (If so, what distro?)

If you know of a better solution, plz tell me.

 

GOAL: The main goal of this machine is to take hourly backups of several machines in the network.

Not a real necessity : Would also like to be able to WOL (Wake-On-Lan) and run some other types of servers : Eg Game-Server , Cloudstorage, what ever. 

If a network printer could be attached that would be a great bonus.

 

Thx for the help

[dadasmithywinkle]

Hi

 

I need to build a small server for a small bussines.

This would be the hardware i'll be using :http://pcpartpicker.com/p/NQW423

Suggestions? Plz leave them.

The data should be as safe as possible. If any drive fails, I need to be able to rebuild it (fairly quickly).

Suggestions for raid level? 1 - 5 or 10 / 01 ?

 

My question is what OS I should be using:

- FreeNas

- Windows Server 2012 (Free since i'm a university student)

- Linux (If so, what distro?)

If you know of a better solution, plz tell me.

 

GOAL: The main goal of this machine is to take hourly backups of several machines in the network.

Not a real necessity : Would also like to be able to WOL (Wake-On-Lan) and run some other types of servers : Eg Game-Server , Cloudstorage, what ever. 

If a network printer could be attached that would be a great bonus.

 

Thx for the help

Why not get a single 4TB Red? It'd be cheaper.

[MrKickkiller]

Why not get a single 4TB Red? It'd be cheaper.

Security: If that single 4tb fails. All data is lost. I was thinking about 2x2 and have the drives mirrored.

 

May look into 2x2 WITH dedicated raid card 

[dadasmithywinkle]

Security: If that single 4tb fails. All data is lost. I was thinking about 2x2 and have the drives mirrored.

 

May look into 2x2 WITH dedicated raid card 

Look into Raid 5. 

[MrKickkiller]

Look into Raid 5. 

Raid 5 onboard then? 

This search says Raid 5 is not advised :http://goo.gl/FoNMBg

And here I have an article from Tom'sHardware that advises against the use of Raid 5 :http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/251893-32-raid-raid

[unijab]

How much data will be saved? For how long? How old of backups from each machine?

[Altecice]

You cant use that 2012 student licence as you are breaching the T&C's of your Dreamspark usage (also they only last for two years). Id suggest RAID5 it means you will allow for a single drive failure and be able to rebuild it quickly as well as having the added bonus of higher reads speeds.

[MrKickkiller]

How much data will be saved? For how long? How old of backups from each machine?

 

Amount of data: About 200 gb a machine (Is now stored locally)

How long: Atleast 2 weeks (Need to get there, if something were to go wrong)

How old? Plz explain?

 

 

You cant use that 2012 student licence as you are breaching the T&C's of your Dreamspark usage (also they only last for two years). Id suggest RAID5 it means you will allow for a single drive failure and be able to rebuild it quickly as well as having the added bonus of higher reads speeds.

Tbh: The company is owned by my parents

+ nobody has to know

 

Only last for 2 year: Does that mean I can not use it any longer, or not update it further?

+ I am now a student, next year my niece is a student, within a couple of years my sister and 2 years after that my other niece. I have plenty of DreamSparks

 

Raid 5: Raid 5 onboard with 3 1tb drives?

or rather Raid 5 on a  40 dollar raid card with only 2 drives? 

Is the last one even possible? According to this it should be possible :http://goo.gl/RF0Pzb

[unijab]

Say you have 5 machines. Each needs 100GB of backup space. You take a back every week. 

After one week you have 500GB of data.

After another week, you have 1TB of backups. (2 per machine)

After another week, you have 1.5TB. (3 backups each machine.)

Etc....

 

This is also assuming that each machine's backup stays static.

 

 

How old of backups to you plan to keep?

This among the other factors will determine how much storage you should plan and budget for. 

[MrKickkiller]

Say you have 5 machines. Each needs 100GB of backup space. You take a back every week. 

After one week you have 500GB of data.

After another week, you have 1TB of backups. (2 per machine)

After another week, you have 1.5TB. (3 backups each machine.)

Etc....

 

This is also assuming that each machine's backup stays static.

 

 

How old of backups to you plan to keep?

This among the other factors will determine how much storage you should plan and budget for. 

 

Don't backups nowadays work like git? 

You have an initial backup, and every backup after that it checks if something has changed: If so it makes a directory/file explaining the changes. If not: Nothing happens?

 

I have 3 machines, and I would like to backup atleast the database they work with and personal data. +- 15 - 35 gb

[Altecice]

Amount of data: About 200 gb a machine (Is now stored locally)

How long: Atleast 2 weeks (Need to get there, if something were to go wrong)

How old? Plz explain?

 

 

Tbh: The company is owned by my parents

+ nobody has to know

 

Only last for 2 year: Does that mean I can not use it any longer, or not update it further?

+ I am now a student, next year my niece is a student, within a couple of years my sister and 2 years after that my other niece. I have plenty of DreamSparks

 

Raid 5: Raid 5 onboard with 3 1tb drives?

or rather Raid 5 on a  40 dollar raid card with only 2 drives? 

Is the last one even possible? According to this it should be possible :http://goo.gl/RF0Pzb

 

After 2 years the key becomes deactivated and so does your server install. What makes you think your family are going to let them use their dreamsparks? Raid 5 requires 3 drives minimum, no matter what you do and onboard will be fine.

[MrKickkiller]

After 2 years the key becomes deactivated and so does your server install. What makes you think your family are going to let them use their dreamsparks? Raid 5 requires 3 drives minimum, no matter what you do and onboard will be fine.

 

About the family stuff: I do not see any of my relatives pursuing any career in the IT path

One is planning on psychology, the other doctor/ medicin and the other is a girl (Sorry but stereotypes )

[joakknut]

As for Linux distro suitable for a NAS/server I'd recommend OpenMediaVault. It has a nice WebUI, and a lot useful plugins with their own WebUI (official and trough omv-extra repo) including ownCloud, Plex Server, Deluge, Transmission, BTSync, CouchPotato, Subsonic, OpenVPN, VirtualBox, WOL etc.

 

As for how to configure your backup, I'm not sure what would be the best method. You can probably find something in their forums though.

[Blebekblebek]

FreeNas and OMV are NAS solution, it's ideal for backup but can only be access with another device with webui

 

I've been using FreeNas 0.6 and 0.7 for 5 years and never actually bother it eversince it was up, I set all client document location to NAS drive

 

that motherboard don't have hardware raid function, so you will end up using software raid, anyway doesn't really matter.

 

I'd say go with WHS first, and do proper test & trial base on your client usage

the most common problem when someone need this kind of thing is, they didn't use it properly (or at all, ex: client turning off the computer when backup process is still running)

[DacStugly]

1. Operating System: Ubuntu Server LTS (with/without DE) - Recomend changing OS drive to a SSD (just makes it faster)

 

Reason:

a. It's well document and ubuntu provides tonnes of tools to get most server setup up and running in matter of minutes (e.g. tasksel)

b. you can use ZFS on Linux to create your drive pool (on zraid1 + 3 x 1TB Drives = 2GB of usable space). This allows for 1hdd failure. Makes future upgrading a breeze. You can also add hdd on the fly to increase you pool size and comes with samba builtin.

 

2. Change the processor to an i5 or anything with more cores and increase you ram to 16GB. ( you can do this upgrade down the road )

 

Reason: This allows you to run KVM (Virtual Machines) e.g install Windows Server 2012 and makes the rig more flexible to future changes without needing to down the server

 

3. Get a PCIE Ethernet Card.

 

Reason: Your taking snapshots of several (assuming 4 here) on a hourly basis. Better the pcie-card fail the the onboard-lan