Buying A Server, What To Get?

[lazyfortress]

http://www.servermonkey.com/refurbished-hp-proliant-dl380-g5-8-port-configure-to-order.html

 

Would that be too big for my needs?  Would it be better getting the Dell 860?

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, lazyfortress said:

Would that be too big for my needs?  Would it be better getting the Dell 1950?

Id go 2u if you can. You can put more drives, pcie cards, and they normally run cooler and quieter.

 

Id probably suggest spending a bit more on this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-C2100-FS12-TY-2x-2-13GHz-QC-L5630-12GB-RAM-NO-HDD-SAS-6iR-/171816856699?hash=item2801152c7b:g:8nEAAOSw2xRYUbX4

 

Your getting a newer system with lga 1366 sockets, and newer features like vt-d.

[lazyfortress]

That's way too expensive.  I only have $100 to spend.  Should I just go with my configured Dell PowerEdge 860, or the PowerEdge 1950 on eBay?  They're both less than $100.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, lazyfortress said:

That's way too expensive.  I only have $100 to spend.  Should I just go with my configured Dell PowerEdge 860, or the PowerEdge 1950 on eBay?  They're both less than $100.

Id really try to get the extra 20 bucks, its a much better server. If you want to go cheaper, id go 2950.

[lazyfortress]

I'm configuring a 2950.  It's giving me an option for a DRAC5 Remote Access Card.  Do I need that?

Right now, I configured it with:  2x 3.0 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor with 4MB Cache -- 5160, 4GB Memory Upgrade Kit (2x2GB) PC2-5300F, SAS 6/iR RAID Controller Card (SAS/SATA) 0-1, 1x 146GB 15K RPM SAS 2.5" Dell Hard Drive, DRAC5 Remote Access Card, and a Dell PowerEdge 2950 Bezel.  All for $112.

 

Would that option be good?  Do I need two processors, or one?

[Electronics Wizardy]

On 12/18/2016 at 7:26 PM, lazyfortress said:

DRAC5 Remote Access Card.  Do I need that?

This lets you view the screen and turn it on and off remotly. For the 2950 you need xp with ie6 to use it. I wouldn't buy it for your use.

 

On 12/18/2016 at 7:26 PM, lazyfortress said:

 2x 3.0 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor with 4MB Cache -- 516

Get quad cores.

 

On 12/18/2016 at 7:26 PM, lazyfortress said:

 All for $112.

Samve price as the much newer and bett c2100, id get that.

 

On 12/18/2016 at 7:27 PM, lazyfortress said:

Would that option be good?  Do I need two processors, or one?

You don't need 2, you don't seem to need much cpu for what your doing.

[lazyfortress]

So without the DRAC5, I'll still be able to access the server's files remotely?  Is one hard drive enough?

 

I just want to be able to access a few things remotely on my server.  Can I control the server remotely and access it's operating system remotely without DRAC5?

[Electronics Wizardy]

On 12/18/2016 at 7:36 PM, lazyfortress said:

So without the DRAC5, I'll still be able to access the server's files remotely?  Is one hard drive enough?

You can still control it and access files with the drac. All it lets you do is turn it on when powered off.

 

How much data do you want to store?

 

On 12/18/2016 at 7:36 PM, lazyfortress said:

Can I control the server remotely and access it's operating system remotely without DRAC5?

Yep. Drac only lets you do things outside of the os, like the bios.

[lazyfortress]

I dunno, maybe a few gigabytes of files.  Just to be sure, I don't need DRAC5 to access the server remotely?  I can access bios on the server by hooking up a monitor to it?

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, lazyfortress said:

I dunno, maybe a few gigabytes of files.  Just to be sure, I don't need DRAC5 to access the server remotely?  I can access bios on the server by hooking up a monitor to it?

No drac is needed, a monitor will do the same thing. A drac is nice when you don't have physical access to the server.

 

 

[lazyfortress]

Alright.  So everything I have included in the 2950 is good?  I put back the DRAC5.  So will I be able to use everything on the server with CentOS?  Am I all set to order it?

 

I'm a bit confused.  So in order to access the server from a different computer, I need to have DRAC5?  For what I'm doing, do I need DRAC5?

[Electronics Wizardy]

On 12/18/2016 at 7:49 PM, lazyfortress said:

Alright.  So everything I have included in the 2950 is good?  I put back the DRAC5.  So will I be able to use everything on the server with CentOS?  Am I all set to order it?

Specs again?

 

Looks good. Centos will work fine(id run 7 the newest version) Id install centos your self.

 

On 12/18/2016 at 7:50 PM, lazyfortress said:

I'm a bit confused.  So in order to access the server from a different computer, I need to have DRAC5?  For what I'm doing, do I need DRAC5?

You can remote in and do whatever you want in a os, and hardware won't affect your

 

The drac give you 2 main things as its its own little computer with a web interface.

 

- Lets you turn the system on remotly from a shutdown.

 

-Lets you view the screen as if you were infront of a monitor keyboard an mouse plugged into the server. 

 

You don't need it.

[lazyfortress]

1x 3.0 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor with 4MB Cache -- 5160  

4GB Memory Upgrade Kit (2x2GB) PC2-5300F

SAS 6/iR RAID Controller Card (SAS/SATA) 0-1  

1x 146GB 15K RPM SAS 2.5" Dell Hard Drive  

NO RAID

Included Dual Port Gigabit NICs  

Dell PowerEdge 2950 Bezel

 

Total cost:  $92 without the DRAC5.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, lazyfortress said:

1x 3.0 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor with 4MB Cache -- 5160  

4GB Memory Upgrade Kit (2x2GB) PC2-5300F

SAS 6/iR RAID Controller Card (SAS/SATA) 0-1  

1x 146GB 15K RPM SAS 2.5" Dell Hard Drive  

NO RAID

Included Dual Port Gigabit NICs  

Dell PowerEdge 2950 Bezel

Are you configureing this?

 

If you are, 

 

Id get it with out drives, and there drives are overpriced. Also no need for the bezel.

 

Also get 16gb of ram.

[lazyfortress]

Meh.  It's only $88 without the bezel.  So it's good?  Can I order it?  I included the 16GB RAM.  I also want the drive, as I can work with the server as soon as I get it.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, lazyfortress said:

Meh.  It's only $88 without the bezel.  So it's good?  Can I order it?  I included the 16GB RAM.  I also want the drive, as I can work with the server as soon as I get it.

looks good, get it.

 

Can you post pics?

 

Bug me if you want help with linux.

[lazyfortress]

Alrighty!  Thank you so much for your help!

 

Oh jeez.  It has $38 shipping!

 

Should I just get this?:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-1950-Gen-3-2x-E5430-2-6ghz-QC-8x2gb-Perc6-i-2x146gb-3-5-117-/401241180989?hash=item5d6bd68b3d:g:xF0AAOSwu1VW4xV7

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 minutes ago, lazyfortress said:

Should I just get this?:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-1950-Gen-3-2x-E5430-2-6ghz-QC-8x2gb-Perc6-i-2x146gb-3-5-117-/401241180989?hash=item5d6bd68b3d:g:xF0AAOSwu1VW4xV7

yep that one looks good.

[lazyfortress]

Alrighty.  I'm going to bed.  I'm ordering it tomorrow.  Thanks again!

[Pixel5]

just giving out my thoughs here to see if im really the only one thinking this after reading through this post.

 

If you just want a server for remote file access and to maybe host a website while having zero knowledge about servers and only 100$ to spend on it chances are you don't actually need a server, you just want one to have it.

 

If you actually have the intention to have a useable system that you can manage with some basic knowledge you should get the suggested Synology NAS.

They are more expensive but have a great OS even for beginners.

Something nobody mentioned here yet is if you want to host a website you hopefully have a good connection with high upstream.

 

You will 100% regret wasting 100$ on an old server not to mention the running costs for the high power consumption of the old hardware.

 

not to attack anyone here personally just giving my 2 cents on why this is not a good idea, this server will just be running having nothing to do while drawing 100W+ from the wall, with only 140GB HDD space you will also not really use it for any serious file storage stuff beside storing some documents you could also have on a single 10$ USB drive.

 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

5 hours ago, Pixel5 said:

you just want one to have it

Yep im pretty convinced of that too. I tired to tell him to get a nas, or use vms on his destkop, or the free trial of AWS, but they want a loud server in thier closed..

 

5 hours ago, Pixel5 said:

You will 100% regret wasting 100$ on an old server not to mention the running costs for the high power consumption of the old hardware.

My guess, parents.

[lazyfortress]

-___-  What do you guys do with servers then?  Electronics Wizardy, what do you do with your servers? I looked at that NAS.  It's not something I want.  I want a server to experiment with it.  And besides, I got this Visa $100 gift card as an early Christmas gift.  If I wanted to host a website on my server, it wouldn't take up much space.  Nobody really visits my website.  Not a whole lot of traffic.

 

I want a server so I can modify it and do different things with it.  I'm gonna unplug 2 to 3 times a week.  I may unplug it when the day ends.  I'm not gonna keep it running every single day for the whole year.  It's just something I've always wanted to have for the past 2 years.  I want to be able to experiment.

[Electronics Wizardy]

14 minutes ago, lazyfortress said:

-___-  What do you guys do with servers then?  Electronics Wizardy, what do you do with your servers? I looked at that NAS.  It's not something I want.  I want a server to experiment with it.  And besides, I got this Visa $100 gift card as an early Christmas gift.  If I wanted to host a website on my server, it wouldn't take up much space.  Nobody really visits my website.  Not a whole lot of traffic.

 

I want a server so I can modify it and do different things with it.  I'm gonna unplug 2 to 3 times a week.  I may unplug it when the day ends.  I'm not gonna keep it running every single day for the whole year.  It's just something I've always wanted to have for the past 2 years.  I want to be able to experiment.

For my personal servers, I have

 

Main(always on)

hp dl 180 g6(dual l5630, 48gb ram, 2x 146gb's raid1 boot, 4x 2tb raid5, 4x 4tb raid 5)

 

Custom old desktop(e3 1231v3, 16gb ram, assorment of drives totaling abot 12tb, lsi hba, 7300gt+5450, firewire card)

 

Custom amd gpu rig(amd althon ii x3 455, 16gb ram, ~8tb assorted drives, 5450+ quadro 5000+7850)

 

Other servers for testing(Currently have a 2012r2 cluster setup

 

1x 2950

2x f1dh's

2x google mini's

 

These are normally off to save power, and only used when i want to test clusetering on hardware. There are old and i got most of them for almost free.

 

Im using ovirt to make a custer for virtual machines. Current for vms i have this running

-AD domain 

-led light controller for room

-lizardfs controller

-unify controller

-dns server

-dhcp server + pxe boot server

-a few vms for experemnting

-puppet for config 

-ldap server

 

I use lizardfs to make a cluster storage from all the assorted drives in the systems. 

 

This is mainly for experimentation, cause i want to go into IT + sysadmin in after school

 

 

[lazyfortress]

Wow.  That's a lot.  I'm contemplating whether I should get the PowerEdge 1950 or the PowerEdge R300.  I want the 1950 because it comes with hard drives.

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, lazyfortress said:

Wow.  That's a lot.  I'm contemplating whether I should get the PowerEdge 1950 or the PowerEdge R300.  I want the 1950 because it comes with hard drives.

Id go 1950 or 2950. R300 is same gen, just lowerend.