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Another Home Server Build

Scheer

I was in the process of building a small home server earlier this year, and quit working on it due to buying a house and never having time. Now I am all moved in, have most of the house fixed up and mostly finished prepping my workshop. Still a ways to go, but everything is to the point of being usable now.  :P  Here is my last build :http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/1624-home-server-build/

 

This time around I am going to go a bit larger to futureproof it a bit better as the last one was quite limited in drive space.

 

I'm starting off with a Norco RPC-450B and one SS-500 for the hotswap bays. This gives me room to add another SS-500 when I upgrade to more storage. Power supply will be a 750W Silencer MkII as I had it laying around, I have 2 1TB Seagate drives for the OS in Raid1, and 2 2TB Seagates for storage also in Raid1. Eventually I will move to 4 2TB drives in Raid 10 as I plan to share my Steam library from this server and will want the additional performance. Still deciding on the Mobo/CPU/Ram, most likely going for used 1366 stuff as it is dirt cheap.

 

Almost every review on the RPC-450 talks about all the sharp edges and how they cut themselves even when being careful... Either Norco has fixed that flaw, or they have very soft hands because I only found one edge that was even somewhat sharp and you would have to press and saw your hand back and forth if you wanted to cut yourself. 

 

The case comes double boxed and packed in a hard foam.

 

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The build quality of the HDD enclosure is impressive, but the trays themselves are a little on the flimsy side. All of the screws are neatly labeled in individual bags, which is a nice touch.

 

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SS-500 installed.

 

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The non-hotswap HDD cage comes with a fan that is powered off a Molex connector, so I swapped it out for a Corsair fan leftover from a H100i. After running this I have now decided its getting replaced with something else as it is extremely loud and when I put a Noctua low voltage adapter in line it will not spin unless I help it out a bit and even then it is much louder than I would have expected.

 

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Time to start ripping parts out of a spare computer, my favorite part. I really only needed the PSU from it, but I didn't feel like working on the house that day, so all the parts were installed for the hell of it.

 

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I forgot to take a picture of the 140mm fan that I installed in the center front, it was a tight squeeze and I haven't figured out how to mount it in there yet. The case is boxed back up while I work on the shop some more, I'll be sure to grab a picture of that when I get it back out.

 

Right now I am searching for a motherboard and CPU, so it may be a little while until the next update.

 

Until next time.

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nice build but I wouldn't have even bothered moving the graphics card over if its a home server :)

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nice build but I wouldn't have even bothered moving the graphics card over if its a home server :)

 

I was just messing around, that is just in there temporarily. 

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What OS are you running?

*** CPU - i7 3770K @ 4.6GHz *** MB - Asus Maximus V Gene *** RAM - 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum @ 1600MHz *** GPU - Asus Direct CUII AMD Radeon HD 7870 *** Case - Corsair Obsidian 350D *** OS SSD120GB OCZ

*** Storage - 500GB WD Black (Gaming Drive), 1TB Seagate Barracuda (Storage) *** PSU - OCZ ZX 1000W *** CPU Cooler - Cooler Master V6 GT *** Keyboard - Corsair Vengeance K70 *** Mouse - Corsair Vengeance K65

*** Headset - ROG Vulcan ANC

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What OS are you running?

 

Probably WHS 2011 because I picked up a copy cheap... But I haven't the slightest clue to the advantages/disadvantages of the alternatives.

 

I'm not going with Linux, as I always manage to mess it up after a few months of running it. I'll change a setting that shouldn't be changed and never can figure out how to get it running properly again lol.

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Probably WHS 2011 because I picked up a copy cheap... But I haven't the slightest clue to the advantages/disadvantages of the alternatives.

 

I'm not going with Linux, as I always manage to mess it up after a few months of running it. I'll change a setting that shouldn't be changed and never can figure out how to get it running properly again lol.

I run WHS2011, I would recommend it to you but Microsoft are stopping or stopped supporting it.  I think they are keeping security updates coming for a bit but thats about it.  I had a problem with GPT (think thats what it was called) partitioned SSD's but there is a hotfix on the MS website.  But the web access is good and the backup is flawless. 

 

I've been thinking about using mine as a Steam server but don't know how to set it up.

*** CPU - i7 3770K @ 4.6GHz *** MB - Asus Maximus V Gene *** RAM - 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum @ 1600MHz *** GPU - Asus Direct CUII AMD Radeon HD 7870 *** Case - Corsair Obsidian 350D *** OS SSD120GB OCZ

*** Storage - 500GB WD Black (Gaming Drive), 1TB Seagate Barracuda (Storage) *** PSU - OCZ ZX 1000W *** CPU Cooler - Cooler Master V6 GT *** Keyboard - Corsair Vengeance K70 *** Mouse - Corsair Vengeance K65

*** Headset - ROG Vulcan ANC

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I run WHS2011, I would recommend it to you but Microsoft are stopping or stopped supporting it. I think they are keeping security updates coming for a bit but thats about it. I had a problem with GPT (think thats what it was called) partitioned SSD's but there is a hotfix on the MS website. But the web access is good and the backup is flawless.

I've been thinking about using mine as a Steam server but don't know how to set it up.

I'd really like to step up to one of the newer MS home server softwares, but they are too damn expensive IMO.

From what I am reading its not too hard to setup Steam folders on it, just that there are some issues updating certain games and a few other little drawbacks, but it looks to be worth the hassle. I'll be sure to post how it goes when I set it up on mine.

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

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I'd really like to step up to one of the newer MS home server softwares, but they are too damn expensive IMO.

From what I am reading its not too hard to setup Steam folders on it, just that there are some issues updating certain games and a few other little drawbacks, but it looks to be worth the hassle. I'll be sure to post how it goes when I set it up on mine.

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

yeah there like £250-£350 aint they?  

 

I bought whs2011 for like £35!  I just can't see the point, 2011 does backup, web access and mass storage.....for me thats all the bases covered and as long as MS keep security updates coming that it will stay on the server

 

Look forward to your update...

*** CPU - i7 3770K @ 4.6GHz *** MB - Asus Maximus V Gene *** RAM - 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum @ 1600MHz *** GPU - Asus Direct CUII AMD Radeon HD 7870 *** Case - Corsair Obsidian 350D *** OS SSD120GB OCZ

*** Storage - 500GB WD Black (Gaming Drive), 1TB Seagate Barracuda (Storage) *** PSU - OCZ ZX 1000W *** CPU Cooler - Cooler Master V6 GT *** Keyboard - Corsair Vengeance K70 *** Mouse - Corsair Vengeance K65

*** Headset - ROG Vulcan ANC

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  • 2 weeks later...

CPU and RAM have shown up, still waiting for the motherboard however. I went with a Supermicro X8SAX, Xeon L5630, and 16GB of RAM, so all that is left now is a CPU cooler and a few more hard drives at some point.

 

My plan for this weekend is to get my old server down from storage and redesign the rack to fit in my "server closet" in the basement. It will be going under the stairs and luckily the duct work passes right by it so I will be able to control the temperature in there, although I will most likely need to do something about humidity.

 

Here is the rack when I first built it, it was at my dad's shop so I built it into a pallet for moving it around when I was ready to move it to my house.

 

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And here it is now, coated in dust:

 

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I have a HP DL380 and a random old case with homemade rackears on it now. There is a 24 port switch in the grey enclosure next to the rack that will be going into the rack and will serve as a temp home alarm (SNMP setup for dry contact switches so I know when doors are opened and/or left unlocked).

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Well I ended up hitting a few snags this weekend...

 

It started snowing so I wasn't able to get my server, then I found out the 212+ doesn't fit in the case, and lastly my BIOS version on my motherboard doesn't support my CPU.

 

Still working on two of the issues, but the CPU cooler was solved with a pair of pliers and a .280 casing.

 

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