Small, Low Power Render Server with 10Gb for M.2 NVMe SSD

[JohnSmith2]

I have an M.2 2TB NVMe drive that needs to be accessed by six Windows 10 computers simultaneously. Currently, it is in my only desktop computer and it is being shared over the network with the other machines. The problem is that I use the desktop for multiple purposes since it has the best hardware, and there are many times that I need to restart or run tasks that interrupt its function as the render server for the other machines, which can cause problems.

 

Ideally I would have a low power computer acting as the render server with the SSD so all my machines could access it 24-7. I would prefer it to be as low power and physically small as possible. My Windows 10 editing computer would also need to connect to it to edit the output from the render clients, and ideally, this connection would be as fast as possible (a 10Gb connection if possible). A 1Gb network connection to the render clients is sufficient.

 

The render server should be able to run Python code and the files on the SSD should obviously be accessible by multiple Windows computers simultaneously. I don't think the OS needs to be Windows, I assume any Linux variant would work as long as it can run Python.

 

This diagram sums up what I'm looking for.

 

What hardware(motherboard and processor) would best fit these requirement for the render server? I'm OK with adding in a 10 gigabit network card if necessary. Cheaper is better but functionality and power usage is my primary concern, not price.

[Electronics Wizardy]

THere are a lot of itx boards with m.2 slots and pcie slots for 10gbe or 10gbe built in. Then get a small case and your good. Would that work well?

 

Id probably add some dhds for archive storage, and if you wanted to expand, as your footage size will likely only grow