A Home Server

[christeonromain]

OK so I'm thinking about building a home server with about 12-24 x 3 TB HDDs for mostly storage but i'll also be rendering DWGs etc. from it (not too regularly but still). I couldn't find any proper explanations and guides about home servers online (or maybe i didn't look hard enough). I'm a complete NOOB when it comes to servers, COMPLETE NOOB. So basically i want to know;

 

1. How does a home server work.

2. Hardware and software i need for a home server.

3. What's a raid controller, what's it for, suggestions for a good raid card if necessary.

4. Would i need a separate NIC, what would it be for, would it provide extra performance.

5. How to program it etc.

6. Anything else I might need to know!

 

Not sure if i missed anything but PLEASE make be sure to be thorough in your explanations etc. so a tonne of acronyms related to servers are not favored! THANKS IN ADVANCE.

[rufee]

1. Essentially a home server is to store files, redundancy for those files, and easy access to them from within the network, and any service you want to run (web server, game server, teamspeak etc...) Its like a NAS, but its a normal computer.

2. WHS (Windows home server) is the most popular distro for this kind of server, it integrates well with other windows machines on the network. As for the hardware, a plain storage server can be run on a Core i3 or older Core 2 Quad/Duo, but since you will be rendering you will need some horsepower like an i5, i7 and if it supports Cuda or OpenCl a graphics card would go a long way (preferably a Quadro since you have something to do with AutoCAD).

3. A hardware raid controller is a pci-e addon card that lets you connect a lot of drives together then run them in a raid (redundant array of independent disks) array to provide speed, redundancy incase of a drive failure. For running a 24 drive array you will need a quite high end controller something among the lines of http://www.lsi.com/products/storagecomponents/Pages/MegaRAIDSAS9280-24i4e.aspx (yes they are NOT cheap), there are software options if you are not willing to invest in a raid card.

4. If you want high speed transfers and the ability to work while the files are on the server a 10 gbit NIC would be a good idea, http://www.emulex.com/products/10gbe-network-adapters-nic/emulex-branded/oce11101-nx/overview.html there are cheaper options, but still quite expensive, otherwise get a 1gig Intel NIC if the board does not feature an integrated Intel NIC.

5. If you will be using Windows the setup is straight forward, the LSI raid software is also easy to use.

6. Get a 4U or more rack mount case that has 24 drive support, Norco among other manufacturers make these.

 

Hope this helps.

[christeonromain]

Thank you very much! I've already got a case in mine and i'm willing to put in the investment for the RAID and NIC. One thing though you didn't say what kind of motherboard i would need, would it be a special one or just a regular performance board or something? But anyway thanks alot for your input, very helpful

[rufee]

If you want reliability and dont care much for the feature set which for a server doesnt really matter - Intel boards.

I see that you are willing to invest quite a good amount into this, if it wont blow your budget look into server grade components like a xeon chip and a compatible board.

Anyway normal LGA1155 boards and chips will do the job just fine.

[christeonromain]

I already had a xeon chip in mind aswell so great. Thank again!