Recommendations for Home Server Build

[TantalizedMoon]

Hello all.

 

I'm looking to get a home server setup for myself. I know I could technically grab an old PC and use that as a server, but I'd like a step up from that. Something that can last me a few years.

I'll be using it for personal and business, but I'll be the only one accessing it, so it's load will be minimal. 

I'll want a RAID setup for the system. Not sure what type.

Don't have a particular budget in mind, but don't want to spend thousands. Just no reason to right now.

I'd like it in a server rack preferably so any recommendations on an affordable rack and actual server case would be appreciated.

 

And, the main point of the post, any recommendations for the specs of the server would be great.

 

Thanks as always.

 

P.S. Security for the server is important to me. In fact, I wanted to implement the requirement to have a Yubikey in order to access the server remotely. I'll make a forum post on that down the line, but if anyone thinks that would affect what system specs I'll need for the server, that'd be nice to know beforehand.

 

[BiotechBen]

2 minutes ago, TantalizedMoon said:

Hello all.

 

I'm looking to get a home server setup for myself. I know I could technically grab an old PC and use that as a server, but I'd like a step up from that. Something that can last me a few years.

I'll be using it for personal and business, but I'll be the only one accessing it, so it's load will be minimal. 

I'll want a RAID setup for the system. Not sure what type.

Don't have a particular budget in mind, but don't want to spend thousands. Just no reason to right now.

I'd like it in a server rack preferably so any recommendations on an affordable rack and actual server case would be appreciated.

 

And, the main point of the post, any recommendations for the specs of the server would be great.

 

Thanks as always.

 

P.S. Security for the server is important to me. In fact, I wanted to implement the requirement to have a Yubikey in order to access the server remotely. I'll make a forum post on that down the line, but if anyone thinks that would affect what system specs I'll need for the server, that'd be nice to know beforehand.

 

Do you have a roundabout budget for the system?

[voyager_]

We would need a better idea of the budget and what exactly you want/need to run on it. You stated that you don't want to spend thousands but going server rack does cost a pretty penny. Do you already have the rack? What network speeds are you looking for? Storage capacity? VMs? We can recommend specs without knowing more

[TantalizedMoon]

8 minutes ago, voyager_ said:

We would need a better idea of the budget and what exactly you want/need to run on it. You stated that you don't want to spend thousands but going server rack does cost a pretty penny. Do you already have the rack? What network speeds are you looking for? Storage capacity? VMs? We can recommend specs without knowing more

Not a hard budget but I'd like to spend ~$1,000. Just not familiar with servers, so don't know what kind of a system that would get me.

 

I do already have a rack that I could use. I don't love it because it's not lockable, so I'd take any suggestions there. But there's no reason I can't use the one I've got.

Not sure on network speeds. As fast as I can get without going out of reason.

For storage capacity, I'm thinking start with ~10TB and leave room for expansion. Could go ahead and add more if needed for the RAID setup.

Not sure what VMs are.

[TantalizedMoon]

22 minutes ago, BiotechBen said:

Do you have a roundabout budget for the system?

~$1000. Not a hard budget. Not sure what that kind of money gets you server-wise.

[Aaron_T]

1 hour ago, TantalizedMoon said:

Not sure what VMs are.

VM = Virtual Machine

It sounds like all you plan to do with this is store a little data. If you have more specific uses you'd like the server to be functional for, then please do share.

The reason it's important to understand your use case is because the OS, and hardware for a "server" can vary a great deal depending on what you want to use the machine for.

If you just want a NAS, there are a lot of good COTS(Commercial Off The SHelf) solutions, like Qnap and Synology.

If you want run VMs you need more powerful hardware, if you want a media server then some device with transcoding hardware might be nice, if you want to install a k8s cluster and push docker containers to it instead of full fat VMs then you may want some other variation of hardware and OS. Also what you're using the containers for can make a big difference.

Just some examples to illustrate why it's so important to understand the use case. And "I just want something to learn on" is a valid use case that would be a more general hardware config. But thinking through what your needs are, and being as specific as possible will help those here give you the best advice.

[BiotechBen]

1 hour ago, TantalizedMoon said:

~$1000. Not a hard budget. Not sure what that kind of money gets you server-wise.

Like @Aaron_T said, a more specified use case helps narrow it down more. You can get an EPYC bundle on eBay for $300-700 that should be able to grow really well. 

[Bersella AI]

I would like to make a list of components for your interests:

• Processor: Core i3-12100 ($116)
• Cooler: Stock ($0)
• Motherboard: ASUS B760M-A D4 ($145)
  (Note: 3 PCIe x16 ports & 2 M.2 ports bundled, decent for future expansions)
• RAM: pair of Crucial DDR4-3200 8GB ($40)
• Storage: Seagate Exos 7E10 (10TB) ($206)
• Optional HBA Card or M.2-SATA riser card
• Chassis: Fractal Design Node 804 ($125)
  (Note: 10 drive bays bundled)
• Power: EVGA GE 500W ($83)

The total costs would end up being $715, well below the $1000 budget.

 

Whether or not RAID should be utilized depends on how critical the service would be. RAID 5 (RAID Z1) would be feasible in regular home use & a bunch of small drives (with a few terabytes), while RAID 6 (RAID Z2) would guarantee more room for drive failure. However, RAID cannot guarantee data integrity, and more backups should always be undertaken.

 

Modern NAS systems have implemented two-factor authentications, as well as drive encryption, for security. For example, TrueNAS Scale allows two-factor authentication by setting up a secret for authenticating apps (like Google Authentication) on smartphones, and allows encryption of datasets using a key or a passphrase. I have, unfortunately, yet to acknowledge the use of Yubikey in NAS systems.

[voyager_]

Something else to consider is that you may want to keep your personal and business information completely separate and backup to a cloud service. Depending on the work you do and the information that you have stored there may be certain laws regarding the handling of data. Where I work we are required to keep information for a certain length of time and are responsible for client data that could be harmful to their business if it was either lost or got out and they we have to not only sight agreements with the clients for projects but also with my employer. 

 

From the sounds of it you may be better going with a premade nas setup from synology or something similar. If just having a place to store information is the end goal they are very good options and have a bunch of tools built in and are easy to setup. If you wanted to add virtual machines, media streaming, etc... down the road a custom build would be better long term but I would still look at the pre-built for the business data and a custom setup for personal use. The DIY setup is great but does take more work, that being said there is a metric ton of support for building your own using something like truenas or unraid. I personally prefer unraid but it also fits my use case really well.

 

On 2/13/2024 at 10:16 PM, Bersella AI said:

I would like to make a list of components for your interests:

• Processor: Core i3-12100 ($116)
• Cooler: Stock ($0)
• Motherboard: ASUS B760M-A D4 ($145)
  (Note: 3 PCIe x16 ports & 2 M.2 ports bundled, decent for future expansions)
• RAM: pair of Crucial DDR4-3200 8GB ($40)
• Storage: Seagate Exos 7E10 (10TB) ($206)
• Optional HBA Card or M.2-SATA riser card
• Chassis: Fractal Design Node 804 ($125)
  (Note: 10 drive bays bundled)
• Power: EVGA GE 500W ($83)

The total costs would end up being $715, well below the $1000 budget.

 

 

This is a good setup, I would consider changing a few things though, I would make sure to include two drives. One drive will act as a backup for the other. I'm not saying to use raid one but let the OS use one of the drives as a parity drive. I would also consider adding a cache drive if you choose an OS that supports it. For the case if you still want to rackmount it, Rosewill has some rack mount chassis for a decent price and in several configurations. The fans they come with though suck, I replaced all mine with noctua and just put them on a manually fan controller powered of a sata connection. Check around for pricing on their cases, they have gone up over the past couple years but I found my last one for a steal on ebay. Even with the second drive and the rackmount case you should still be in the neighborhood of $1k