Tips on Buying First Server for NAS, VMs, etc.

[metaleggman]

Hi all,

 

I'm currently in the process of building a bit of a home office for myself, and I was considering a home server, primarily, to act as a NAS server and, secondarily, to act as a SMB share for my Bluesound Node, Plex Server, and possibly dip my toes into pfSense or a minecraft server if I have the time or interest.  I could also use it for computation or projects, since I'm beginning my career in software engineering and would love to have something like this to play with.  In terms of NAS devices, I'd prefer going for a rack mount server primarily because most consumer NAS devices are very limited for what they cost.  A rackmount server would also allow me to get a rackmount UPS as well (plus a server rack in the home just exudes geeky cool), and the redundant power supplies seem to be a worthwhile investment long term.  I am considering buying a refurb server off of newegg as a base, replacing the fans with something like Noctua models (if possible) for lower noise levels, install FreeNAS on it, and throw in 4 or 5 8TB (or 4TB if the budget gets tight) NAS drives in RAIDZ2.  That should give me more than enough of space to start off with.  I'm currently paying for a "Gigabit" plan through Xfinity (so all copper, but still worthwhile), so I should have ample bandwidth to both back up a large server, as well as serve content out of the home (I pay that dang $50/mo for unlimited bandwidth).

 

I was at first considering building one myself, but it seems both too costly and, frankly, a bit confusing, at least compared to consumer PC parts.  So I was considering getting this refurbished Supermicro SuperServer (Supermicro link) on newegg.  Is that incredible overkill?  I was thinking the high core clock would be useful for things like a Minecraft server or transcoding with Plex (If I go crazy with transcoding, I could always throw in a P2000 or something), and the fact that the processor was introduced only 6 years ago, it should be fairly capable and energy efficient, at least in comparison to much older, and less expensive, refurb servers out there.

 

So, questions:

 

1) Is this overkill or will this be a server that should give me plenty of room to grow, both in terms of adding vdevs and upgrading ram/processors (board appears to be able to use E5 V4 chips)?  The price is right for me, including the cost of SSDs for the FreeNAS installation and the drives for the zfs array, but saving money by not buying something I could never fully utilize is also good.  Any notes on my choice are definitely appreciated.  Are server clock speeds wildly different in terms of capability compared to their consumer brethren?

 

2) I believe I would need a converter or a switch to connect the SFP+ connectors to normal RJ45 wiring.  Is this correct, and if so, which is preferable in the long run, a switch or just converters? I plan on networking parts of the house around the same time as I make this purchase, to fully maximize its usefulness (mainly my bedroom, the office, and where the modem and router is currently located).  In terms of WAN, I use a Nighthawk AX1200, if that matters.

 

3) Would it be better to load FreeNAS on a SATA SSD or use one of Supermicro's SuperDOMs?  Does anyone have experience using the SuperDOMs?

 

4) How would I go about adding drives past the 12 bays provided?  Is it okay to just put extra drives where they fit (assuming I had a PCIe card to control them), or is it better to get some sort of additional rack mount storage, and connect it via some sort of external SAS card?  I'd like to be able to add more than 12 drives eventually, without simply buying a complete second server.  Keeping things hot swappable would be a plus.

 

5) Am I thinking about this problem in a reasonable way?  My logic here is that I want a large capacity NAS, and I want it to be a server so I can use it as more than just a NAS (I know some consumer NAS solutions can double as home servers, but again, price and capability are the issue there).  Eventually I plan to buy an additional setup off-site so the two can backup to one another.  I'm still rather new to servers in terms of hardware, so any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

6) Are refurbished servers a fairly safe and reliable way to buy a server?  I would assume refurbishing servers is a fairly common place practice, since many businesses can't afford brand new servers, networking gear, etc.

 

7) Can servers be made to be fairly quiet, assuming they're not being used at capacity 24/7?  Has anyone had any luck lowering noise by swapping out oem fans for a brand like Noctua?  Would choice of server rack/cabinet have a large effect on noise?  Would it simply make more sense to get a lower clocked configuration, or would that likely not make much of a difference in terms of noise levels?  Would swapping in better CPU heatsinks help as well?

 

8) This is possibly the most important question, despite being last: is it relatively straightforward to deal with home server security?  Is Anti-Virus, Firewall, Anti-malware, Anti-intrusion, etc., fairly straightforward when it comes to FreeNAS, for those who have used it?

 

9) Is it possible for me to create a cordoned off area for EOL computers on the network/server?  I have an old PC from 2006 I plan to use for XP/W7 gaming, and it would be nice to be able to store my old game installers or image files on the server without letting it get too close to the outside world (this is partially a router question as well, but since I'd like to be able to backup that computer to both the cloud and have access to the NAS, it somewhat fits the theme.  This could also be a reason to look into and try out pfSense).

 

I know that's a lot of questions, so if anyone has any relevant threads they can think of, or links, to save your guys' time and effort, please share.  I'm definitely a novice when it comes to servers, but I'm guessing they're not that much more difficult to setup and manage in the home than a consumer desktop or home network.  Thanks in advance for any and all help.

[Windows7ge]

1. I didn't even know LGA2011-v3 had a quad-core CPU. Very underwhelming but it would give you a great upgrade path. I think you could find better prices on ebay though. The motherboard supports v4 chips. The silicon is basically identical to the desktop counterparts but with more features enabled so clock speed is pretty 1:1 with equivalent desktop chips.
2. There are SFP+ to 10Gig RJ-45 transceivers. Little pricey though.
3. I don't have experience with the SuperDOMs but from my understanding they're basically a really small SSD. It is an option but I'd just buy an Intel server series SSD. Very reliable but whichever is cheaper/more beneficial to your situation.
4. You can look into buying or building a Disk Enclosure
5. Your choice of hardware I think will be limited by your choice of software. For what else you want to do it sounds like you want to do some virtualization which I cannot recommend FreeNAS's hypervisor (Bhyve).
6. Supermicro/Dell/HPE refrubs are a great way for people like us to get enterprise level gear for really cheap. It does come with it's risks (hardware failure) but most datacenters upgrade equipment so quickly that what ends up on eBay is only a couple of years old with plenty of life left in it.
7. There are ways to make the fans quieter such as fan mods, BIOS settings, and scripts. The connectors are often a proprietary form-factor though so you can't go throwing just any fans in it unless you're comfortable around a soldering iron. Most cabinets aren't designed with noise suppression in mind. About your best option is one that has a door on the front.
8. On the Linux side of things with most well known distros you're usually set. FreeNAS is a pretty out-of-the-box appliance. Just don't enable services you don't need and only Port Forward what you have to. You can also lockdown the root user and substitute password authentication for public private key authentication.
9. You can create a network for it that has no default gateway. From there you can backup or pull data from the server without worry of it having access in or out.

[metaleggman]

8 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

I didn't even know LGA2011-v3 had a quad-core CPU. Very underwhelming but it would give you a great upgrade path.

Would you recommend something closer to 2.5GHz but with 8-10 cores instead?  Using this for something like a minecraft server would definitely be a secondary goal (that and transcoding are really the only things I'm aware of that would need high clocks), so if getting like 16 - 20 cores, 32-40 threads, is going to be better for general NAS, virtualization, etc., I would much rather have more cores than higher clock.  Plus, I'm pretty sure the higher core count, lower clocked refurbs I've seen are cheaper to boot lol.  Is 64GB plenty for running a NAS full-time and a few VMs?

 

8 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

Your choice of hardware I think will be limited by your choice of software. For what else you want to do it sounds like you want to do some virtualization which I cannot recommend FreeNAS's hypervisor (Bhyve).

What would you recommend for the host hypervisor?  Xenserver and ESXi are the two I generally read about, along with Hyper-V (I think I would prefer a *nix based OS, since I'm more versed in linux command line than MS).  I also hear a little about Proxmox and oVirt.  Presumably something that's popular to virtualize FreeNAS on.

 

Also, thanks for replying.  Your guide for the enclosures is exactly what I was looking for!

[Windows7ge]

8 minutes ago, metaleggman said:

Would you recommend something closer to 2.5GHz but with 8-10 cores instead?  Using this for something like a minecraft server would definitely be a secondary goal (that and transcoding are really the only things I'm aware of that would need high clocks), so if getting like 16 - 20 cores, 32-40 threads, is going to be better for general NAS, virtualization, etc., I would much rather have more cores than higher clock.  Plus, I'm pretty sure the higher core count, lower clocked refurbs I've seen are cheaper to boot lol.  Is 64GB plenty for running a NAS full-time and a few VMs?

Depends on how demanding the VMs are. For general purpose you don't need a lot but for room to grow and experimentation more than 4 cores is great and 32GB of RAM or more is good.

 

10 minutes ago, metaleggman said:

What would you recommend for the host hypervisor?  Xenserver and ESXi are the two I generally read about, along with Hyper-V (I think I would prefer a *nix based OS, since I'm more versed in linux command line than MS).  I also hear a little about Proxmox and oVirt.  Presumably something that's popular to virtualize FreeNAS on.

I would recommend PROXMOX for a hypervisor but there isn't really a point in running FreeNAS on top of PROXMOX as ZFS is supported by PROXMOX natively. I have a PROXMOX beginners guide if you're interested:

 

[metaleggman]

Alright, awesome.  I'll give Proxmox a look through, and check out your guide as well.  Thanks for all the help!