Home(lab) server

Greendigit · December 13, 2020

Hi all,

I'm looking into 'building' a home server.

I'll be running Proxmox on it so i can install different vm's doing its tasks.

The problem of course is my lack of HW knowledge and budget.

I already have 4 500GB SSD's i can repurpose so i don't look into storage atm.

In the future i want the server to also run a backup NAS (a backup from my Synology nas for the extreme important data) and i'll get new harddrives for this in the future.

The rest of the servers won't be place consuming.

i was thinking of using the rest mostly for educational purposes.

i was looking for around 7 VM's excluding the NAS so around 8.

Now the question is what i should do en what to get.
i've been looking around for 2nd hand PC's i can get for cheap but they all seem to be either to far outdated or to pricy.

Since i don't have realy any space for it it'll be under my desk so it can't be to loud either, so no old server gear...

budget is around 300€.

sugestions?

I'm currently running:

a Pi Zeor as a pihole server but it keeps rebooting...

Synology DS213+ as NAS Backup server only (no streaming)

ps: i was thinking of looking for an I3/I5 Gen4 processor and around 32gb of ram.

Edited December 13, 2020 by Greendigit

Mkfelidae · December 13, 2020

It really depends on what your doing in the VMs. But for an off hand opinion I would look for something like an old HP z600 if you are looking to go cheaper (~$200USD) for starting off, it has some serious limitations for single threaded performance and with the case, motherboard and power supply being proprietary, it is a copper plated pest to upgrade but it can be a nice home server start, it is where I started, some of the good things about it are: it supports dual Xeon x56XX processors which can help you get better grunt from it, and also helps you learn NUMA compatibility; it has a moderate amount of PCIe connectivity with multiple PCIeX4 (gen2.0) slots; it is relatively quiet, not as quiet as a custom watercooled PC but also not anywhere on the "server" spectrum of noise.

As an alternative you could look into building a spare parts rig: i would personally go with older Skylake or Kabylake intel parts, (do NOT get an f series cpu, integrated graphics is almost always a bonus to a home server), and then build arround that, you should be able to start with something like a i7-7700, a basic motherboard (h270/b250) and 8-16 GB of ram for ~$350USD. One thing to avoid, (unless you get a good deal) are k series processors. Overclocking is cool, but servers need to be rock stable and overclocking isn't usually a good value for a server. With newer parts you do get better single thread performance but RAM is generally going to be more expensive at the DDR4 ($3-$5/GB) point than the ECC-DDR3 ($1.25-$2/GB) there are trades for both ideas and i would be happy to flesh out my answers if it would help.

Edit: a phrase for clarity.

Edit2: a parts list

Here would be the computer tower with dual xeons:

https://www.newegg.com/p/1VK-001E-17M19?item=9SIAC0F7ZH5065&source=region&nm_mc=knc-googlemkp-pc&cm_mmc=knc-googlemkp-pc-_-pla-pc+server+and+parts-_-desktop+pc-_-9SIAC0F7ZH5065&gclid=CjwKCAiAlNf-BRB_EiwA2osbxWNRGghQaUTciFc2EsLMauS1HP8pfWQsc8UPQpnlGxxVoL215XRN7BoC8yIQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

and here would be a memory kit with the maximum (officially) supported RAM configuration (this is the seller I bought my memory kit from when I setup my z600):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/48GB-6-X-8GB-MEMORY-FOR-HP-WORKSTATION-Z600-C2-REVISION/182670705553?hash=item2a8805c391:g:h5wAAOSwsS1ZknhV

and lastly here would be a pair of the second best processors this motherboard supports, (the best set is 3-4 times more expensive):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Matching-Pair-of-Intel-SLBV7-X5670-2-93GHz-6-Core-Processors/324363011864?hash=item4b858ac718:g:lPcAAOSw2rheUgF1

Greendigit · December 13, 2020

1 hour ago, Mkfelidae said:

It really depends on what your doing in the VMs. But for an off hand opinion I would look for something like an old HP z600 if you are looking to go cheaper (~$200USD) for starting off, it has some serious limitations for single threaded performance and with the case, motherboard and power supply being proprietary, it is a copper plated pest to upgrade but it can be a nice home server start, it is where I started, some of the good things about it are: it supports dual Xeon x56XX processors which can help you get better grunt from it, and also helps you learn NUMA compatibility; it has a moderate amount of PCIe connectivity with multiple PCIeX4 (gen2.0) slots; it is relatively quiet, not as quiet as a custom watercooled PC but also not anywhere on the "server" spectrum of noise.

As an alternative you could look into building a spare parts rig: i would personally go with older Skylake or Kabylake intel parts, (do NOT get an f series cpu, integrated graphics is almost always a bonus to a home server), and then build arround that, you should be able to start with something like a i7-7700, a basic motherboard (h270/b250) and 8-16 GB of ram for ~$350USD. One thing to avoid, (unless you get a good deal) are k series processors. Overclocking is cool, but servers need to be rock stable and overclocking isn't usually a good value for a server. With newer parts you do get better single thread performance but RAM is generally going to be more expensive at the DDR4 ($3-$5/GB) point than the ECC-DDR3 ($1.25-$2/GB) there are trades for both ideas and i would be happy to flesh out my answers if it would help.

Thanks for your reply,

Unfortunately they go for 400€ locally so the Z600 isn't really an option yet. (thought i might consider it, see image)
But i like the Dual Xeon, with a cheap upgrade solution for the future.