Server OS suggestions

[rh-z3r0]

Hello out there I am looking for some suggestions. We recently decommissioned a server at work, a Dell Poweredge R520. It is of no use anymore due to our normal work flow so me and my boss had decided to repurpose it. We had upgraded the memory to 192 gb of maxed the CPUs out to E5-2470 v2 which should give us 20cores/40threads at 2.7ghz and we plan to increase storage to around 40TB

 

1. NAS storage. We would like to create a area to not only store our collected videos and such but also a place we could make a full backup of our work data like a backup vault.

2. Virtual Machines. We want to be abel to setup and run virtual machines for testing various appilcatios and systmes changes on.

3. Plex or plex style server. Want to be able to watch and stream not only personal media for ourselves but possbily develop a video library for new employee training.

4. Mincraft Server. Whats more to say we like to have alittle fun when we have down time.

 

I know of many differnt OSes we could use in this situation but I am crious what suggestions are out there and how would be the best way to implent them on this server. 

[CyberneticTitan]

Really depends on what kind of disks you have, attitudes towards uptime, performance demands, and flexibility.

 

Anything ZFS go TrueNAS, but all your disks need to be the same size. This will likely be the most performant setup.

 

If you want to mix and match disks, you can use Unraid or OpenMediaVault mergerfs + SnapRAID. Note they are not equivalent, and there are performance implications.

 

Or classic Linux install with standard CLI tools for creating an array, setting up VMs, etc.

 

I would spend some time with each of the above three popular NAS OS, especially if you are going to be the one managing it.

 

[goatedpenguin]

It seems like your trying to scale up in terms of storage I would recommend using LVM + Linux with RAID 5. Since hardware is pretty old I would just stick to good ol debian linux.

[m9x3mos]

1 hour ago, rh-z3r0 said:

Hello out there I am looking for some suggestions. We recently decommissioned a server at work, a Dell Poweredge R520. It is of no use anymore due to our normal work flow so me and my boss had decided to repurpose it. We had upgraded the memory to 192 gb of maxed the CPUs out to E5-2470 v2 which should give us 20cores/40threads at 2.7ghz and we plan to increase storage to around 40TB

 

1. NAS storage. We would like to create a area to not only store our collected videos and such but also a place we could make a full backup of our work data like a backup vault.

2. Virtual Machines. We want to be abel to setup and run virtual machines for testing various appilcatios and systmes changes on.

3. Plex or plex style server. Want to be able to watch and stream not only personal media for ourselves but possbily develop a video library for new employee training.

4. Mincraft Server. Whats more to say we like to have alittle fun when we have down time.

 

I know of many differnt OSes we could use in this situation but I am crious what suggestions are out there and how would be the best way to implent them on this server. 

This sounds like something truenas would be good for. If you are putting in all the storage bays at time of deployment that is what I would do. 

To the last reply, TrueNAS scale runs on Debian, so it shouldn't be any issue with supporting the hardware. 

[LIGISTX]

Proxmox as your hypervisor and virtualize truenas under it for NAS duty. Then spin up VM’s for whatever else you need. 

[wseaton]

What LIGISTX said.

Right now it sems to be boiling down to being either team Proxmox or team XCP. 

I would try both personally.

[rh-z3r0]

23 hours ago, wseaton said:

What LIGISTX said.

Right now it sems to be boiling down to being either team Proxmox or team XCP. 

I would try both personally.

Yeah definately going to be trying a few differnt OSes befor we settle on the final OS. I have suggest Proxmox and boss has suggested unraid. Definatley will look into XCP as well.

[rh-z3r0]

On 2/25/2024 at 10:53 AM, LIGISTX said:

Proxmox as your hypervisor and virtualize truenas under it for NAS duty. Then spin up VM’s for whatever else you need. 

This is my first thought no much experiance with Proxmox but I am eager to learn and sounds like it would be a good choice. Boss wants to try unraid as well just have to try a few until we settle on the final build.

[m9x3mos]

1 hour ago, rh-z3r0 said:

This is my first thought no much experiance with Proxmox but I am eager to learn and sounds like it would be a good choice. Boss wants to try unraid as well just have to try a few until we settle on the final build.

The promotion method is actuality pretty easy. Especially if you are using a pcie hba to pass through. 

There are a number of guides on YouTube that can guide you through it.