Virtualization Build for Print Server and File Server

[ZiaMan24]

Hey Guys, so I'm looking into building a server for my small business - mainly to be a printer server and a file server. We are currently using G Suite Google Drive to sync files between 3 laptops that hold our design files for printing. We are currently on the 50GB plan and will have to upgrade soon. Pricing isn't too bad, but having to sync files between multiple laptops means there is some lag between updated files. Also it can be a nightmare for our network when our designer adds a new collection of files to the database. I think I would still keep the cloud service, but only have it sync with our main file server.

 

As for needing the print server - we are currently using a zebra thermal printer plugged into usb on one of our laptops. It is running something called connecteasy which is some kind of print server service that requires this particular laptop to be on all the time so everyone can access the zebra printer when using shippingeasy website. This makes the laptop immobile and not very convenient. We have a couple other printers already connected to the network directly, so it's really just for printing shipping labels.

 

I know how to build regular/gaming PCs, but have never really dealt with any enterprise hardware. I was thinking to go with the cheaper route anyways since it will be for simple tasks anyways. I have put together a build on pcpartpicker and want to see if the LTT community has any advice for me. I didn't add tons of storage since we are not really using that much space to begin with.

 

I also don't know much about creating virtual servers, so any help will be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HpGWXv)

 

Type|Item|Price

:----|:----|:----

**CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/RkJtt6/amd-ryzen-3-2200g-35ghz-quad-core-processor-yd2200c5fbbox) | $96.49 @ SuperBiiz

**Motherboard** | [\*ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/RD97YJ/asrock-b450m-hdv-r40-micro-atx-am4-motherboard-b450m-hdv-r40) | $63.98 @ Newegg

**Memory** | [ADATA XPG Z1 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/6JRzK8/adata-xpg-z1-16gb-2-x-8gb-ddr4-3000-memory-ax4u300038g16-drz) | $62.99 @ Amazon

**Storage** | [Kingston A400 240 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/xMqhP6/kingston-a400-240-gb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-sa400m8240g) | $31.99 @ Amazon

**Power Supply** | [EVGA 600 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/4FH48d/evga-600w-80-certified-atx-power-supply-100-w1-0600-k1) | $44.99 @ Best Buy

| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |

| **Total** | **$300.44**

| \*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria |

| Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2019-12-30 21:24 EST-0500 |

[jake9000]

That's an alright whitebox server, but there are a few items that I will list out for your consideration: 

- "enterprise grade" SSDs cost more, but they have a bank of capacitors that allows the drive to continue their current write in the event of a power failure. Consumer SSDs have a higher risk of corrupting the currently written sector in this scenario. Look for "power-loss protection" as a line item in the spec sheet. 

- You do not have any kind of redundancy, so drive failure will halt operations

- Make sure you plan for backups. At this size cloud solutions like backblaze B2 are a cost effective option. I know there is some shenanigan that lets you back up to your gdrive but I have never tried it. 

- You should plan on putting your hypervisor's OS on different physical media than the datastore that houses your VM(s).  At the high end this is two mirrored drives. At the low end it's a single flash drive. The hypervisor drive doesn't write a lot so demands here are much lower than for your main datastore. 

[NelizMastr]

I'd go for a lower wattage higher quality PSU, like a BeQuiet Pure Power 11 300-400W unit. More than plenty.

You waste power when using a low efficiency PSU.

 

Other than that, it should be more than adequate. Add a harddisk or SSD array for the actual VMs and files though, don't ever put VMs on the system drive.

[SrSuri]

As a SMB, you must find something cheap, easy and reliable to work with, maybe build a PC for your own have a small cost upfront, but the problem came later cause you need to think about the OS that you are going to use, the support and maintance of this device, I'll consider to check of Dell, Lenovo or HP Tower microservers, those cost a little more upfront, but it came with support and  data recovery plans, for a Print Server and NAS, maybe a Linux base System will be best for your needs.