Advice on home server

[Nettot]

Hi all,

 

I'm trying to get some advice on how to build a home server. My main question is whether I should combine a NAS with a separate home server to get to my ideal solution or whether it would be better to have everything stored in one machine and then use VMs to create each segment. 

 

Below are my main requirements:

NAS:

• Storing movies, GOPRO footage, photos etc (Currently thinking 4TB with upgrade potential when needed)
• Considering the photos and footage, I would like to maintain some level of redundancy to ensure the data won't be lost due to a drive failure 

Plex Server:

• Fairly standard requirements for a Plex server

SQL Server:

• I am a SQL developer by trade so would be useful to have a permanent home implementation
• I am working on a homemade PiNest and want to capture the data to a SQL server to do analysis 

 

Future Ideas:

• Home security

 

I have been looking into a number of videos and blog posts but I can't quite tell what the best solution is. What I would like to ask is whether it would be a good idea to have all of this one one machine and use VMs to separate the different segments or would it be a better idea to build the home sever and get a separate NAS to connect to it?

 

Thanks very much

[Master Disaster]

A Synology will do all that in one box.

[Windows7ge]

There's no reason you can't use virtual machines for this. If you want to build a server it will make management easier. Couple popular hypervisors are PROXMOX, ESXi, and UnRAID.

[Nettot]

Thanks for the responses - really appreciate it.

 

So what I should be able to do is build a server (I'm still working on a parts list) and then use a hypervisor as the "base OS" and then divide the segments up as I like? 

[Nettot]

14 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

There's no reason you can't use virtual machines for this. If you want to build a server it will make management easier. Couple popular hypervisors are PROXMOX, ESXi, and UnRAID.

Thanks, I looked into PROXMOX and that is exactly what I need.

 

What I am trying to figure out next is what hardware to go for. I was originally thinking of building it from scratch but there also seems to be lots of options on eBay. I was looking into the Dell PowerEdge R710. Below are the specs from the listing:

 

Brand: Dell

Model: R710 3.5" 6 Bay 

CPU: X5650 x 2, 2.66GHz, Six core CPU

Memory: 48GB of RAM - PC3 10600R

Storage: NO HDD included

               6 x 3.5" caddy with screws included

Power: 2 x Redundant 870W PSU 

Perc 6i Raid Card with battery

iDrac6 ENT

 

Obviously I would need to buy a rack for mounting also.

 

I can get one of these for £200 and then it would just be a matter of filling it with drives. My current thoughts on that are:

• Seagate 2TB Ironwolf HDD x3
• Western Digital Green 120 GB Internal SSD M.2 SATA x1 - I would need to buy an adaptor card for this to work I believe?
• Seagate 500GB HDD - I have one of these lying around so may as well use it 

 

What do you think of this? 

[Windows7ge]

8 hours ago, Nettot said:

Thanks for the responses - really appreciate it.

 

So what I should be able to do is build a server (I'm still working on a parts list) and then use a hypervisor as the "base OS" and then divide the segments up as I like? 

Pretty much. With a hypervisor you basically create a pool of resources that all your virtual machines will share. This includes CPU, RAM, Storage, and if the hardware supports it even PCIe device pass-through  so you could give hardware devices to independent virtual machines.

 

40 minutes ago, Nettot said:

Thanks, I looked into PROXMOX and that is exactly what I need.

 

What I am trying to figure out next is what hardware to go for. I was originally thinking of building it from scratch but there also seems to be lots of options on eBay. I was looking into the Dell PowerEdge R710. Below are the specs from the listing:

 

Brand: Dell

Model: R710 3.5" 6 Bay 

CPU: X5650 x 2, 2.66GHz, Six core CPU

Memory: 48GB of RAM - PC3 10600R

Storage: NO HDD included

               6 x 3.5" caddy with screws included

Power: 2 x Redundant 870W PSU 

Perc 6i Raid Card with battery

iDrac6 ENT

 

Obviously I would need to buy a rack for mounting also.

 

I can get one of these for £200 and then it would just be a matter of filling it with drives. My current thoughts on that are:

• Seagate 2TB Ironwolf HDD x3
• Western Digital Green 120 GB Internal SSD M.2 SATA x1 - I would need to buy an adaptor card for this to work I believe?
• Seagate 500GB HDD - I have one of these lying around so may as well use it 

 

What do you think of this? 

If you want to save some money and buy a retired server off eBay (do note they're usually not quiet machines) I would look for something more modern than the Intel X5xxx series. Personally I'd go LGA2011v1/v2 series if you need more cores.

[Nettot]

15 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Pretty much. With a hypervisor you basically create a pool of resources that all your virtual machines will share. This includes CPU, RAM, Storage, and if the hardware supports it even PCIe device pass-through  so you could give hardware devices to independent virtual machines.

 

If you want to save some money and buy a retired server off eBay (do note they're usually not quiet machines) I would look for something more modern than the Intel X5xxx series. Personally I'd go LGA2011v1/v2 series if you need more cores.

I am planning on keeping the server in my garage so noise isn't a big deal. Do you think the R710 would do the job I want and give me a little bit of room for future projects? As for something more modern, would you be able to link me to a couple of motherboards/pre built machines that you would consider for this?

[Windows7ge]

23 minutes ago, Nettot said:

I am planning on keeping the server in my garage so noise isn't a big deal. Do you think the R710 would do the job I want and give me a little bit of room for future projects? As for something more modern, would you be able to link me to a couple of motherboards/pre built machines that you would consider for this?

It should it's just the X5xxx series is from 2009/2010 it's also not the most power efficient.

 

Do you have a budget for the server itself?

 

I take it you'd like a 2U with 12 3.5" bays?

[Nettot]

Just now, Windows7ge said:

It should it's just the X5xxx series is from 2009/2010 it's also not the most power efficient.

 

Do you have a budget for the server itself?

 

I take it you'd like a 2U with 12 3.5" bays?

For budget I was thinking something along the lines of £500 including the HDDs but less than that would be great of course. I think that the 3.5" bays is a must but the 2U isn't a huge deal since I would have probably had to get at least a 4U rack for it. 12 bays seems like that would be way more than i need to be honest. If I was going by my current plan I would probably need no more than 8 if I was leaving expansion room.

 

I would also be pretty interested in a Synology if that would do the trick in a smaller form factor.

[Windows7ge]

17 minutes ago, Nettot said:

For budget I was thinking something along the lines of £500 including the HDDs but less than that would be great of course. I think that the 3.5" bays is a must but the 2U isn't a huge deal since I would have probably had to get at least a 4U rack for it. 12 bays seems like that would be way more than i need to be honest. If I was going by my current plan I would probably need no more than 8 if I was leaving expansion room.

 

I would also be pretty interested in a Synology if that would do the trick in a smaller form factor.

I'll take a little look around. Your budget should be enough depending on how many and how dense of drives you need.

 

I can't verify anything pre-built but Master Disaster states a Synology would get it all done so if you want to go that route you should be set. It'd be quieter and come in a smaller form factor. Also use less power.

[Master Disaster]

Yeah, for £500 I got a Synology DS218+ with 2 4TB Toshiba NAS HDDs (though in hindsight I would have got 1 8TB and left a bay empty for another drive) & an 8GB DIMM to upgrade the RAM from 4GB to 12GB. Using Synologys custom RAID that gave me 6.5TBs worth of usable space.

 

It will obviously handle all your storage needs, thats what its designed to do.

 

On top of that it has Synology Web Services which runs an NGINX server by default. Its possible to add Apache 2.2 & 2.4, MariaDB and PHP 6 or 7 to it so you can customise to your needs there, also adding PHP Modules is a simple check box. PHPMyAdmin is also available directly from the Synology App Store and it comes preconfigured to work OOTB.

 

As for your Security needs, theres a Synology app that handles IP Cams however I believe there is a charge if you want loads of cameras and I have no idea what cameras it works with or how it handles the footage. Its not something I've ever even installed.

 

As a bonus I've got mine running Plex and Directory Server which acts as a Windows Active Directory Domain Controller. I have a domain set up and using a roaming profile I am able to share my files across all my Windows devices.

 

The one thing I will say is while its never been as issue the CPU isn't exactly fast. Synology DSM is actually really usable but I would guess that the CPU would very easily get bogged down if you want to do anything even remotely taxing.

 

Its a trade off, you pay quite a lot for a pretty low powered system because the Synology software and eco system is all very polished and user friendly. I suppose its the same thing with Apple products.