Dell R#10 Tips

[Robi_g]

Me and a partner have recently started a business. We're currently using Google drive to share and sync files but we don't want to rely on this long-term (and that's no fun anyway - we're both electronic engineers).

As a basic setup I was thinking a pfsense router, unmanaged switch, and a FreeNAS NAS. All gigabit for now.

 

I'm planning on running the router and NAS off of some Dell servers, that'll probably come to £300 total without drives. I've looked at Dell Optiplexes and other cheap desktops, but by the time you pay for better network cards, and consider the lack of reduandant PSUs / remote management / ECC memory it's a similar value.

 

So what I'm asking is are there any things to look out for with Dell R710 / R510 / R310 with regards to compatabilty or other 'gotchas'? I got burned a few months ago with an HP DL180 G6 that was going to be a NAS for personal use, but it turns out that the fans stick at 100% if you install a non-HP PCIe card.

 

Also, are there any good resources for networking hardware that people can recommend?

 

Thanks in advance

[manikyath]

i'm having a hard time fully agreeing here, but i cant quite pick up on any specific issues either.

 

what i can say is i'd recommend buying your (gigabit) switches new, at this point even HP makes affordable managed gigabit switches. and depending on the kind of data your company deals with, gigabit is honestly good enough for quite a long time to come. and the stuff that's on the second hand / refurbished market usually has HORRIBLY outdated management interfaces, to the point you'll probably just walk over there with a serial cable to do config.

 

besides that, do have any specific input.. mind dropping in some extra info on the type of business, and office you'll be in?

primarily this stuff:

- how dependant on the network / servers is your company? (if you're a woodworking shop, the CNC is still running if the server goes down. but if you're an IT consultancy going down is a BIG issue)

- what would the physical setup look like? do you have a rack, is it just an office where a certain table is the "serverroom", is it out of a garage?

- do you handle big data files for the work that goes on? (let's say >1GB files several times per day)

- do you require outside access to the network? (for example access a file on the server, while on-site at a client)

 

 

the place i work for has files seperated between 3 "pools":

- all the big "less critical" stuff (software installers, stored log files, etc) is stored on a NAS and gets an off-site backup overnight

- all the high security stuff (employee data, contracts, inventory, sensitive customer information) is stored on a server with very finely adjusted access control, and backed up to the above NAS

- all the "high traffic" files (work instructions, configuration overviews, documentation of installations) gets stored on cloud storage, and is synced to all (encrypted) workstations so they can access those out on intervention.

 

there's no "shame" in cloud storage, but there defenately is shame in just "shoving everything" in cloud storage.. as a client of ours recently discovered when they saw their amazon s3 bill

[Robi_g]

2 hours ago, manikyath said:

...snip...

- We're in design and manufacture of low-volume equipment, some PCB design, some embedded software, the odd bit of analogue or FPGA stuff.

- A really large project might be 10GB, with most being ~5GB. We'll use the NAS more as a nightly backup rather than working off of it, and as a place to keep all our admin synchronised. Security and long-term stability trumps anything else for our use case, because we're not reliant on the network to get work done.

- The server 'room' will indeed just be a table, or maybe a cupboard. You're not far off with the place being run out of a garage

- We absolutely require external access to the network as I frequently work remotely. This is the main reason for the pfsense router over some other less complicated thing, because I heard about its good security and logging capabilties. But again, speed isn't a priority here.

- The reason for planning on going for some dedicated machines from the outset is because we don't know where we're going to be in a year or two, and don't want to be caught short with some limiting network. I.e. we'd rather spend some good time now while we're still ok with just cloud storage and aren't under any pressure from that.

- Some background on us - we're savvy with electronics (having both got degrees in it and a few years in industry) and consumer PC hardware, but neither of us have yet to do any serious networking. I've run some basic LAMP webservers and have played around with some consumer NAS stuff but that's about it. So we're lacking in experience, but have the means to learn reasonably quickly.

[manikyath]

24 minutes ago, Robi_g said:

- We're in design and manufacture of low-volume equipment, some PCB design, some embedded software, the odd bit of analogue or FPGA stuff.

- A really large project might be 10GB, with most being ~5GB. We'll use the NAS more as a nightly backup rather than working off of it, and as a place to keep all our admin synchronised. Security and long-term stability trumps anything else for our use case, because we're not reliant on the network to get work done.

- The server 'room' will indeed just be a table, or maybe a cupboard. You're not far off with the place being run out of a garage

- We absolutely require external access to the network as I frequently work remotely. This is the main reason for the pfsense router over some other less complicated thing, because I heard about its good security and logging capabilties. But again, speed isn't a priority here.

- The reason for planning on going for some dedicated machines from the outset is because we don't know where we're going to be in a year or two, and don't want to be caught short with some limiting network. I.e. we'd rather spend some good time now while we're still ok with just cloud storage and aren't under any pressure from that.

- Some background on us - we're savvy with electronics (having both got degrees in it and a few years in industry) and consumer PC hardware, but neither of us have yet to do any serious networking. I've run some basic LAMP webservers and have played around with some consumer NAS stuff but that's about it. So we're lacking in experience, but have the means to learn reasonably quickly.

i think i've got a bit of a grasp on the situation.

 

given the "dont know where we're gonna be" statement, here's what i recommend:

- get a decent-ish "half rack" (you know, like a rack, but less tall) on wheels, so you can easily migrate the rack with you as you grow into new spaces, or move into different garages.

- from the below stuff, try to get (or frankenstein) as much rackmount as possible, in before mentioned rack.

- for your router, being off the shelf or pfsense, pick a solution that supports some form of VPN that easily integrates with your workstation OS of choice, and hooks into the network seamlessly.

- buy a new managed switch, i run linksys gear at home and i'm very happy with it. similar stuff is available from just about any other brand these days.

- if you're running windows at the office, get a rackmount server (new or refurb, depends on budgets) and set up a domain (windows server 2016/2019, enable active directory role), saves the migration in the future. try to find something that'll run with 3.5" hard drives and doesnt require proprietary hard drive trays (dishonorable mention for HPE proliant G8 and up). slap some 3-8TB drives in in raid6 and call it a day.

- if you arent running windows at the office, repeat the above but freeNAS things up.

- long-term, decide on a way to divide "archive" storage (old projects that need to be kept on file, but are not accessed regularly) from "active" storage (currently running projects, etc.) in your data management policy. 

- EDIT: get a UPS, if you want to invest into gear with dual power supplies, getting two UPSes will save those devices from UPS battery failure.

 

for backups, i'd consider one of the following, depending on the situation:

- if your entire archive will fit on a single USB drive, i'd recommend getting two usb drives and swap them weekly for doing backups, keeping one on-site attached to the server, and the other off-site.

- if the above doesnt apply, and uplink bandwidth isnt at a premium, i'd suggest backing up to an off-site NAS.

- if uplink is at a premium, do backups to an on-site NAS in a different room, preferably as far from the main storage as possible.

[Robi_g]

21 minutes ago, manikyath said:

i think i've got a bit of a grasp on the situation.

 

You've given me a lot to think about. Thanks so much for the advice.