Virtualised Home Server / Developer Workstation

[Fletcher Blight]

Hi LTT community,

 

I am looking at creating a single machine to serve as a both a server (for media (plex), and package manager server) and a normal desktop workstation (mainly used for software development). So here are some more details...

 

Motivation / Background:

I currently have a desktop (4790K, GTX970, 16GB DDR3) which is great but I would really love more cores for building. I am a software engineer, and I often build gcc/clang and other big projects where multi-core scaling is utilized extremely well. So I have been wanting to upgrade to an at least 8c/12t cpu, above 16c/32t would be overkill for my work though. So I could just upgrade my desktop and be done with it .. but I have recently also started a plex server on my desktop, which is great but it means I have to boot up my desktop top in the other room whenever I want to watch plex on the TV. I would leave my desktop on, but I am at work (when there isn't a pandemic) for most hours of the day and don't want it sitting there being power hungry for 90% of the day (including night time of course). So I am really looking for a solution where I can upgrade my desktop to have more cores, and have some abstract machine (virtual or physical) which is running 24/7 as a server. So I could upgrade my desktop AND buy a separate NAS (QNAP or DIY, not important) .. or I could think of a much cooler / complex over the top solution which would be an awesome project / setup and see if the LTT community shuns or redeems my idea.

 

The Plan:

Have one beastly machine, 16c/32t at least 32GB RAM, with virtual environments for a server and workstation. With a single thunderbolt interface from the server to my desk where the peripherals will connect. Ideally I'd like to have this off in another room but I don't have the space. (Yes this is a little inspired from Linus' gaming server / remote peripherals setup). So I was thinking of getting an AMD 3950X (16 cores, I can dedicate at least 12 to my workstation), at least 32GB of RAM (maybe 64), keep my current graphics card (I'm not a big gamer, don't need the upgrade), and I would need help knowing what motherboard I would need to best support thunderbolt-ness. Also what type of power supply I should look into? Should I get a server-style case which supports redundant power supplies, or should I just get a UPS. I hope my plan makes sense, I would really like if anyone could give me any past experiences on if this is a stupid idea and I should just get a simple low powered NAS; is this setup even via-able? would it draw a lot of power in idle? what are some possible downfalls I might run into? (e.g. I have heard plex doesn't like hardware acceleration with containers / virtual environments). Also how server oriented should I go with this, server rack-styled case / ECC memory (I don't think it's necessary...).

 

Notes:

when I say "virtual environment" I mean anything from unraid to docker to whatever, I haven't done this before so if anyone has a good guide on what to read/use for this setup that would be great.

I use linux (20.04) for both server and workstation at the moment.

I have never used thunderbolt before (with a desktop), would appreciate any information on what's required here.

I don't have any need for Plex remote, it's only local use and it's only every one streamer at once. (I could see a future where there is 2, but unlikely). So the plex server doesn't need too much horsepower.

 

Thank you to anyone who actually read all this, and great thanks to anyone who end's up replying!

 

[zeusthemoose]

Have you considered building the new machine in a dual system case with your current one? You could leave the server on your current one and use the new one for everything else.

[namvan]

Did you have a look at 2 disk NAS? Their power consumption is not that high and they will sleep like a baby when there is no traffic to it. Btw. a 500W PSU won't be at 500W all the time though. The problem you might have with a one box setup is that your monitors would be on all the time and that would contribute to your power consumption as well.

[AbsoluteFool]

1 hour ago, Fletcher Blight said:

Hi LTT community,

 

I am looking at creating a single machine to serve as a both a server (for media (plex), and package manager server) and a normal desktop workstation (mainly used for software development). So here are some more details...

 

Motivation / Background:

I currently have a desktop (4790K, GTX970, 16GB DDR3) which is great but I would really love more cores for building. I am a software engineer, and I often build gcc/clang and other big projects where multi-core scaling is utilized extremely well. So I have been wanting to upgrade to an at least 8c/12t cpu, above 16c/32t would be overkill for my work though. So I could just upgrade my desktop and be done with it .. but I have recently also started a plex server on my desktop, which is great but it means I have to boot up my desktop top in the other room whenever I want to watch plex on the TV. I would leave my desktop on, but I am at work (when there isn't a pandemic) for most hours of the day and don't want it sitting there being power hungry for 90% of the day (including night time of course). So I am really looking for a solution where I can upgrade my desktop to have more cores, and have some abstract machine (virtual or physical) which is running 24/7 as a server. So I could upgrade my desktop AND buy a separate NAS (QNAP or DIY, not important) .. or I could think of a much cooler / complex over the top solution which would be an awesome project / setup and see if the LTT community shuns or redeems my idea.

 

The Plan:

Have one beastly machine, 16c/32t at least 32GB RAM, with virtual environments for a server and workstation. With a single thunderbolt interface from the server to my desk where the peripherals will connect. Ideally I'd like to have this off in another room but I don't have the space. (Yes this is a little inspired from Linus' gaming server / remote peripherals setup). So I was thinking of getting an AMD 3950X (16 cores, I can dedicate at least 12 to my workstation), at least 32GB of RAM (maybe 64), keep my current graphics card (I'm not a big gamer, don't need the upgrade), and I would need help knowing what motherboard I would need to best support thunderbolt-ness. Also what type of power supply I should look into? Should I get a server-style case which supports redundant power supplies, or should I just get a UPS. I hope my plan makes sense, I would really like if anyone could give me any past experiences on if this is a stupid idea and I should just get a simple low powered NAS; is this setup even via-able? would it draw a lot of power in idle? what are some possible downfalls I might run into? (e.g. I have heard plex doesn't like hardware acceleration with containers / virtual environments). Also how server oriented should I go with this, server rack-styled case / ECC memory (I don't think it's necessary...).

 

Notes:

when I say "virtual environment" I mean anything from unraid to docker to whatever, I haven't done this before so if anyone has a good guide on what to read/use for this setup that would be great.

I use linux (20.04) for both server and workstation at the moment.

I have never used thunderbolt before (with a desktop), would appreciate any information on what's required here.

I don't have any need for Plex remote, it's only local use and it's only every one streamer at once. (I could see a future where there is 2, but unlikely). So the plex server doesn't need too much horsepower.

 

Thank you to anyone who actually read all this, and great thanks to anyone who end's up replying!

 

Honestly if you are afraid of using power a single system wont really help you much. A computer that is on idle doesen't really pull that much power. Powering on and off anything that is a server is generally missing the whole point with using a so called "server".

 

From what i understand you want a computer for your development, which should be strong. And you want a plex server for movies.

 

The simple way to do this with thinking of power consumption is to eliminate the need to have things online. A virtual envoriment wont really help you here.

Even if you power off virtual machines or w/e you choose to use you will use X amount of power for idle.

 

The best solution is to use a Raspberry pi or something as plex which barely uses a few watts. Then keep your desktop as development/gaming or w/e you do for that.

[Jarsky]

Just run your desktop as it is.

Put Plex into a docker container, and install a t2 hypervisor like Virtualbox or KVM+Virt-Manager for spinning up any sandbox/build environment you might need. 

 

If you really want to be able to power off your PC and have storage/Plex stay up then build a new desktop with your existing GPU, and repurpose your old machine to be NAS + Plex. 

 

It gets really cumbersome running your workstation as a VM.