Would this server fit my needs? (2950 ii)

[reniat]

So i'm a software engineer, and am no stranger to how servers "work" and working with them, but it's almost always been in the form of dealing with an already configured server that's running a service i'm writing/maintaining. I just putty into things sometimes, but I'd like to start getting closer to the hardware in my own learning at home. Someone nearby is selling a 2950 ii for ~$150 and that got me thinking maybe it's time to get some actual server hardware.

 

I currently have a consumer system (ryzen 1700x w/ 16gb ram running a headless ubuntu server) serving my home NAS samba server, and that's all it's really doing atm. What i'd like to do is start hosting some of my own utility sites, as well as hosting random discord/twitch bots etc on my own hardware instead of the easy way of using free tier AWS.

 

So my medium-long term goal for a server is to run to run a local NAS, maybe a dozen or so medium capacity discord bots, a VPN server to access said NAS remotely, and a few different web utility sites that would probably hardly ever get traffic (but the backend would still be active in the form of monitoring things most likely). Would a 2950 ii be complete overkill? Would a single r1700x i've currently got be enough for this already, even if the bots grow to a few thousand users? (though the users exist alongside the bot, that would still only be probably be pretty small requests/sec, mostly in the form of message notifications from discord for monitoring channel activity)

 

My second question is about security. I don't want my NAS to be insecure, but I would like to be able to VPN into it. Would I need another level of virtualization not available in a consumer ryzen chip to separate the NAS from the web/bot hosting in order to be secure? I would not be surprised if the 2950ii is absolute overkill for my performance needs, but the thing i'm most willing to upgrade for is security.

 

I'd appreciate any advice.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Please don't get the 2950, its old, loud, power hungry, and missing cpu features. You 1700x is many times faster, so just use that now.

 

What OS is the 1700x server running?

 

FOr security, Id probably put everything in their own vm and then limit the access of the vms, so one vm can't stop the whole system. THe 2950 won't make it any more secure, less if anything.

[Sir Asvald]

I wouldn't get the 2950, It's very old and power hungry server. Do you have a set budget? 

[reniat]

10 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What OS is the 1700x server running?

ubuntu server 18.04 lts

 

10 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

FOr security, Id probably put everything in their own vm and then limit the access of the vms, so one vm can't stop the whole system. THe 2950 won't make it any more secure, less if anything.

That's exactly what I needed to hear.

 

9 minutes ago, Abdul201588 said:

I wouldn't get the 2950, It's very old and power hungry server. Do you have a set budget? 

A few hundred (US). I've got other build projects that are technically a higher priority, I just saw someone selling some server hardware and thought I'd take a look.

[Sir Asvald]

9 minutes ago, reniat said:

A few hundred (US). I've got other build projects that are technically a higher priority, I just saw someone selling some server hardware and thought I'd take a look.

Still doesn't answer my questions.  I'd recommend a Dell R210 II. Small server not loud, max memory is only 32GB and only 1 CPU (i3 to Xeon) I've got one which is running as my email server.

[reniat]

9 minutes ago, Abdul201588 said:

I'd recommend a Dell R210 II.

this is probably just a case of me not knowing where to look, but I'm seeing those in the $600-$700 range. Is that pretty standard for entry level server hardware that isn't ancient?

9 minutes ago, Abdul201588 said:

Still doesn't answer my questions.

I don't have a set budget, but i'm not looking to spend a ton. If I had to set a price, it would be $500 for everything needed to get up and running (pretty much everything except HDDs, I have those). I'm not IMMEDIATELY in need of hardware, this is mostly me just getting an idea of what I could do and how much it would take/cost.

[Sir Asvald]

4 minutes ago, reniat said:

this is probably just a case of me not knowing where to look, but I'm seeing those in the $600-$700 range. Is that pretty standard for entry level server hardware that isn't ancient?

It's 7 years old but still more than capable. Uses DDR3 ECC which can be picky..

[Electronics Wizardy]

20 minutes ago, reniat said:

I don't have a set budget, but i'm not looking to spend a ton. If I had to set a price, it would be $500 for everything needed to get up and running (pretty much everything except HDDs, I have those). I'm not IMMEDIATELY in need of hardware, this is mostly me just getting an idea of what I could do and how much it would take/cost.

Why not just use your ryzen system? Its much faster already than any of these old servers listed, maybe add some ram and your good to go

 

[reniat]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

Why not just use your ryzen system? Its much faster already than any of these old servers listed, maybe add some ram and your good to go

 

My primary concern was security, but if entry level servers don't have any extra security protocol for VMs that consumer hardware doesn't have, then that is likely what i'm going to do. Can't beat the cost of hardware you already have

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, reniat said:

My primary concern was security, but if entry level servers don't have any extra security protocol for VMs that consumer hardware doesn't have, then that is likely what i'm going to do. Can't beat the cost of hardware you already have

Nothing extra to make it more secure in hardware. Those servers are just normal x86 systems, and since there older there probably less secure. Just use your ryzen. 

 

If you want it more secure, get a vps for this, or make a dmz that these external services use.

[reniat]

12 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

If you want it more secure, get a vps for this

I could do a VPS, but that's kinda the same setting up EC2, no?. The primary goal for getting the hardware is for my own learning and getting hands on with it. I'm already pretty familiar with setting up AWS type hosts for single applications

 

12 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

or make a dmz that these external services use.

In the spirit of learning more, I would definitely be on board with setting up my own firewall. Is there any major configuration I could take advantage of in my situation that's available on a dedicated firewall vs what comes with the cheap home routers? How much $$$ would I need to get an entry level firewall?

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, reniat said:

I could do a VPS, but that's kinda the same setting up EC2, no?. The primary goal for getting the hardware is for my own learning and getting hands on with it. I'm already pretty familiar with setting up AWS type hosts for single applications

yea ec2 is a vps, that way you dont have to worry as much about . security, but for this use id personally just host at home

 

2 minutes ago, reniat said:

In the spirit of learning more, I would definitely be on board with setting up my own firewall. Is there any major configuration I could take advantage of in my situation that's available on a dedicated firewall vs what comes with the cheap home routers? How much $$$ would I need to get an entry level firewall?

you dont have to do firewall stufff, but if you want to learn id get something like a edgerouter or build a pfsense box, then make a seprate dmz for hosting.