storage Beginner wanting to data hoard

[filsdemorte]

I am trying to get into the server community, I am currently going to college to try to either go into programming or IT. I have a Dell PE 1800 that is ancient and I don't think is worth even keeping around, it was given to me last year as the person who owned it had upgraded. I was wondering if you guys thought I should try using it or use my hobby setup with specs shown below that I take to lan parties as to not hurt my reg build.
CPU: Intel Xeon X5460 OC to 4ghz
GPU: Nvidia GTX 670
SSD: Mushkin MKNSSDCR120GB-MX 120GB
RAM: Corsair DDR2 ram 4x2 GB
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P

PSU: ANTEC 750W
(LGA 775-771 mod)

I eventually want to get a r720 but that isn't practical right now in my circumstances. I mainly want to be using this for Hosting servers, Plex, and data storage.

My other question was is Windows 2008 even recommended for servers at this point or what OS would you recommend?

People keep telling me that Unraid is a horrible way to go and that NAS isn't as reliable as regular SATA hdd are. What would you guys recommend to do to start myself out? I do have a raid card just sitting on the side right now, and I already know I need to get a sata 3 card with how old that MOBO is to allow the cruddy ssd to preform a little better.

 

[Crunchy Dragon]

That's a little decent.

X58 would have been better, but if you can get more RAM and storage, you should be fine.

 

I don't know too much about server OSs personally, but I have Ubuntu 17.04 on my server tower.

[leadeater]

8 hours ago, filsdemorte said:

My other question was is Windows 2008 even recommended for servers at this point or what OS would you recommend?

It's going EOL early 2020 so not really, not for a new install anyway.

[NelizMastr]

10 hours ago, filsdemorte said:

I was wondering if you guys thought I should try using it or use my hobby setup with specs shown below that I take to lan parties as to not hurt my reg build.
CPU: Intel Xeon X5460 OC to 4ghz
GPU: Nvidia GTX 670
SSD: Mushkin MKNSSDCR120GB-MX 120GB
RAM: Corsair DDR2 ram 4x2 GB
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P

PSU: ANTEC 750W
(LGA 775-771 mod)

Oof, the PE1800 is a properly old machine, and primarily used U320 SCSI, which I doubt you have a lot of. That Xeon built would be better suited to this.

A few things to note though:

 

1. You'll need WAY more RAM, and desktop DDR2 is limited to 2GB per module to keep prices realistic so that'll limit what you can do.

2. You won't need the GPU so to lower power consumption, replace it with something cheap and low end, like a GT210

or HD5450. 

 

Quote

I eventually want to get a r720 but that isn't practical right now in my circumstances. I mainly want to be using this for Hosting servers, Plex, and data storage.

My other question was is Windows 2008 even recommended for servers at this point or what OS would you recommend?

Depends on whether you're talking 2008 or 2008R2. The former is Vista based and only been supported through security patches but barely any third party software runs on it. 2008R2 is better in that regard. Both go EOL in january 2020 (on my 26th birthday in fact). Going with a newer Windows Server version or just dumping a hypervisor on there like ESXi (mind you, your CPU will be limited to 6.5) or Proxmox and building your individual machines from there.

 

Quote

People keep telling me that Unraid is a horrible way to go and that NAS isn't as reliable as regular SATA hdd are. What would you guys recommend to do to start myself out? I do have a raid card just sitting on the side right now, and I already know I need to get a sata 3 card with how old that MOBO is to allow the cruddy ssd to preform a little better.

A RAID card isn't necessary in all cases. Some operating systems have software RAID implementations that are more than adequate, such as ZFS in Proxmox, UnRAID and FreeNAS. ESXi is the outlier here, it NEEDS RAID on a controller level. If you get a SATA card, by all means, don't get a PCIe X1 card, as it'll end up being slower than your onboard SATA. Drive wise, use whatever. Since you're not using a rack server, consumer drives are fine. Just be sure to get a spare or two.

[Stefan Payne]

10 hours ago, filsdemorte said:

I am trying to get into the server community, 
CPU: Intel Xeon X5460 OC to 4ghz

Now that's really bullshit.

YOU do _NOT_ Overclock a productive system or a server. You want stability and best data integrity.

YOu do not want data corruption that might be caused by OC. So that is a very bad idea.

Even if it looks like its stable, its not testable for consumers, only for the manufacturer.

 

10 hours ago, filsdemorte said:

I eventually want to get a r720 but that isn't practical right now in my circumstances. I mainly want to be using this for Hosting servers, Plex, and data storage.

As said, OC is a big nogo for all kinds of Server/Workstation applications for obvious reasons...

 

10 hours ago, filsdemorte said:

My other question was is Windows 2008 even recommended for servers at this point or what OS would you recommend?

Something that works for more than a year.

One possibility is the Ubuntu LTS or other LTS Linux Distributions or the newest, WIndows 10 based Server for example Server 2019.

It makes little to no sense to install an old Server OS right now as leadeater stated, you have to look at the lifetime of the OS and use something that is at least usable until 2023 or longer as you do not want to migrate to a different OS on a Server if it is avoidable...

  

10 hours ago, filsdemorte said:

What would you guys recommend to do to start myself out?

What do you really want? How important is that Storage thingy? 

Personally I'd use either the Windows RAID for a RAID5 like Array (=at least 3 Drives). Or spend the money for a real RAID Controller from a Real RAID Manufacturer for example LSI based or so but I would NEVER ever use the Chipset RAID ever. That is just asking for trouble.

 

10 hours ago, filsdemorte said:

 I do have a raid card just sitting on the side right now,

What RAID Card do you have? Does it work in that system? With some RAID Cards you might have Problems in PCs. And some don't even support HDDs larger than 2TB (for example the Dell Perc 5i I have here)

[Stefan Payne]

12 minutes ago, NelizMastr said:

1. You'll need WAY more RAM, and desktop DDR2 is limited to 2GB per module to keep prices realistic so that'll limit what you can do.

You can use Registred ECC memory with old AMD Desktop Products.

But you're limited to ASUS, maybe ASROCK and eventually Gigabyte Boards and to K8 based CPUs. Wich means that the last AMD CPU that support buffered Memory in Desktop is the Athlon 64 X2.

Phenom 2 does not support that. And no, I'm not talking about hearsay, I'm talking about practical experience and tried that in real life  

Means: I put Registred DDR-2 SDRAM in an ASUS M3R32-MVP and with the Athlon 64 X2 I have (IIRC X2/4400+ or was it the 6000??)  and rammed the 512MiB DDR-2 SDRAM I have from the Dell Perc5i in the board - and it started, I got a picture.

 

ECC Memory is also highly recommended. And that also works with all AMD Desktop CPUs (=NOT APUs).

Wich leaves Athlon 64, Phenom, FX or just everything in an AM2-AM4 package...

Intel is possible in certain situations (IIRC X38 and X48 may support it) Doesn't look too good for more modern Plattforms either. In some situations the lower end i3 may support ECC but i5 and i7 do not. You really have to look it up for Intel...

X58 might also support it as well (Registred ECC only works with Server based Chipsets, NOT the "normal" X58!)

 

Long story short:
AMD CPU: ECC usually works with certian Boards (=NOT on MSI)

AMD APU: No ECC Support with any of them

Intel: Complete desaster, you have to look it up. With more modern i3 it might be possible, i5 and i7 usually do not support it in Desktop Systems. HEDT might be possible. But not sure...

[NelizMastr]

11 minutes ago, Stefan Payne said:

Long story short:
AMD CPU: ECC usually works with certian Boards (=NOT on MSI)

AMD APU: No ECC Support with any of them

Intel: Complete desaster, you have to look it up. With more modern i3 it might be possible, i5 and i7 usually do not support it in Desktop Systems. HEDT might be possible. But not sure...

I don't disagree, but I was just commenting on what he had, without going out buying different hardware. Just so you know  

 

The cheapest way to get this done is a decommissioned rackserver or tower. HPs ML350 and DL380 G6 are perfect servers with a lot of upgrade potential (Dell R710 also). More bargain basement models can be had for <$100, which is cheaper than trying to source older computer parts separately, I've found.

[leadeater]

59 minutes ago, NelizMastr said:

The cheapest way to get this done is a decommissioned rackserver or tower. HPs ML350 and DL380 G6 are perfect servers with a lot of upgrade potential (Dell R710 also). More bargain basement models can be had for <$100, which is cheaper than trying to source older computer parts separately, I've found.

Buying parts can work out to over double that of buying used servers, CPUs and RAM can be had cheap but the chassis and PSU prices and are typically priced higher than entire systems, why I have no idea,

[NelizMastr]

19 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Buying parts can work out to over double that of buying used servers, CPUs and RAM can be had cheap but the chassis and PSU prices and are typically priced higher than entire systems, why I have no idea,

Probably because servers are considered written off so literally no value.