under desk ITX home server build

[EvilChuck]

Hi!
I'm planning to build a PC, the main purpose it would be to work as a firewall and a bit of do-it-all server (DHCP, DNS, Proxy and FTP), and I need a little bit of help.
My main constraints are these:

• ITX case meant to mount it under the desk.
• Dual NICs: One for WAN, the other for LAN (Preferably Intel NICs over Realtek)
• 1 or more M.2 NVMe slots

When I search about ITX mobos, it seems that it is more common with Intel platform, but if someone tells me a good AMD mobo with 2 NICs and 1 NVMe slot, no problem at all.
My biggest problem is finding an ITX case, which is already thought to mount it under the desk.

This PC would be attending a maximum of 10 devices, in special occassions like Christmas' Day a maximum of 50 devices (most of all through the WiFi mesh of the house), so I think that any modern CPU with 4 or 8 gigs of RAM will be more than enough.

I live in Spain, so it would be really really nice that the components were available in my country or at least able to buy with international shipping.

 

Thank you all!

[Jurrunio]

you'll bottleneck with bandwidth tho, ITX boards only come with 1Gb LAN and at best WiFi 6;

[Timotheus2]

28 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

you'll bottleneck with bandwidth tho, ITX boards only come with 1Gb LAN and at best WiFi 6;

He doesn't seem to need a dedicated GPU, as such he can get 10Gbit for the PCIe slot. WiFi should be done with a separate AP anyway.

 

Do you need high CPU power? AMD only has APUs with 4 cores and integrated graphics is really nice for installation/troubleshooting. Intel might be the better choice then. I could not find any AM4 mITX board with 2 NICs, but Intel has some (mostly ASRock). What about Supermicro boards with soldered (low power) CPUs and high end NICs? Those are made for this kind of application.

[EvilChuck]

Thanks for the responses.
No, I won't use a dedicated GPU.
With the integrated graphics is more than enough for the initial setup of an Ubuntu Server, then I will manage it through SSH and maybe webmin.
I don't think that I will need 10 Gbit, the most demanding service that I run is the FTP and I'm the only person who use it, the FTP is only to upload backups of my Raspberry Pi once a day when nobody use the network at night.
There's no plans to make it accessible outside the house.
I don't think that DNS and Proxy servers needs tons of bandwidth, and DHCP usage is ridiculous.
In a daily basis we're 4 people in the house (and only we're all presents at night and weekends).

My internet connection is through 4G capped at 20 Mbps, I live in the middle of nowhere and I don't have any other option.

 

The "50 users/devices" is only once a year, at Christmas' Day when all my father's family comes to our house to spend that day all together.
It's not like I do LAN parties or that I own a CDN or something like that.
In that day most of the devices would be phones and tablets, always I can limit the bandwith of the WiFi mesh.
And the family knows that we have the crappy connection that we have.
And it's better that nobody complains about it because I'm very honest so I don't have any kind of problem to say something like the lines of: "Shut the fuck up, if you want a faster connection use your data, not mine". (I'm serious about it, sometimes my honesty is hurtful)

My actual server is an old PC, it has a 1st gen. Intel Core i5 and 4 gigs of RAM and works pretty well, but it wastes a good amount of space on my desk (and I don't want that).
With the current server running all those services I'm able to play Quake Champions and I don't notice any substantial lag increase playing through that old PC acting as a firewall.
If I have some minor problems, they are more related to the 4G connection than having a "poor performance" server with only 1 Gigabit interfaces.
 

Going back to my original post, where I'm having problems is finding a case which I can screw under the desk.
For CPU platform it will be easier with Intel, it has more ITX motherboards options than AMD, but as I said, if someone finds a good option of the red brand, it's welcomed.

I'll check out the Supermicro boards, and see what I can find.

[Timotheus2]

You could also check out NUC style mini PCs. They are prebuilts, but smaller than any mITX case and usually VESA mountable (probably the best way to mount under a desk). Many do have dual NICs and the power should be enough for your application.

 

https://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-Quad-Core-Graphics-DisplayPort-ZBOX-CI329NANO-U-W2D/dp/B07MH93T8Z/

[EvilChuck]

Thanks mate!