basic home server hardware questions

[D3LTA9]

Decided I needed centralised storage for quite a few reasons so was just going to just buy a NAS box. But then I started thinking and realised I had a fair amount of spare parts that for a similar outlay I could maybe build a very cheap home server which interests me a lot more. Plus I have just finished my latest gaming rig and need a new project to distract me from actual work haha.

 

So my question is could I get away with a Pentium g3258 as a cpu choice or would I need something with more cores? and would 8gb of ram be enough? I will be pretty much be the only person using the server and will only be pretty light use such as media streaming and bulk storage.

 

I know I could just use a NAS setup for this usage scenario but as I said I would prefer to build a server and possibly get some experience using a server based OS.  

 

Thanks in advance

[DigitalHermit]

@D3LTA9

An Atom-based system with FreeNAS would do fine if it's just for personal use...

 

DIY Tryin build video:

 

Tek Syndicate video(s):

 

You can also check out the Raspberry Pi stuff... They should have one being used as a NAS server...

 

EDIT:
You'd need at least 2 HDDs for FreeNAS... The OS takes up the entirety of one disk (I'd recommend getting a small SSD for this or a 32GB SD Card/USB Drive)...

[alpenwasser]

So my question is could I get away with a Pentium g3258 as a cpu choice or would I need something with more cores? and would 8gb of ram be enough? I will be pretty much be the only person using the server and will only be pretty light use such as media streaming and bulk storage.

Yeah, that Pentium should be enough for a home file server,

no problem. Nicely enough, it also supports ECC memory if

you wish to use ZFS or something else which would make using

ECC RAM a good idea. And 8 GB is fine for streaming and

bulk storage (unless, again, ZFS in some circumstances).

EDIT:

Or, as said, an Atom might also be a viable solution. Many

roads lead to Rome and all that.

[Speedbird]

You could even get away with a Celeron, which also supports ECC memory for some reason. I wouldn't go with an Atom because you can't upgrade in case you want to.

[D3LTA9]

@D3LTA9

An Atom-based system with FreeNAS would do fine if it's just for personal use...

 

DIY Tryin build video:

 

Tek Syndicate video(s):

 

You can also check out the Raspberry Pi stuff... They should have one being used as a NAS server...

 

EDIT:

You'd need at least 2 HDDs for FreeNAS... The OS takes up the entirety of one disk (I'd recommend getting a small SSD for this or a 32GB SD Card/USB Drive)...

 

 

Yeah, that Pentium should be enough for a home file server,

no problem. Nicely enough, it also supports ECC memory if

you wish to use ZFS or something else which would make using

ECC RAM a good idea. And 8 GB is fine for streaming and

bulk storage (unless, again, ZFS in some circumstances).

EDIT:

Or, as said, an Atom might also be a viable solution. Many

roads lead to Rome and all that.

 

Awesome, thanks for the replies guys. Will have to have a think about what route to take now. 

[hannson]

I wouldn't recommend using a Rasperry Pi for a server since it's usb/ethernet controller is slow as balls. Tried it already, built a home server as well in the end. Zfs is great, but sometimes a little unflexible. If you have multiple hdds, your pool is limited by the smallest one and you have to rebuild your entire pool if you want to add a drive later on. 

It would be good to know, what you want to do with the server. Is it just for backup? Do you want to stream movies from it? How many users are going to access the server? Let us know if you need help...

[wpirobotbuilder]

You could even get away with a Celeron, which also supports ECC memory for some reason. I wouldn't go with an Atom because you can't upgrade in case you want to.

Does it really? Which model?

[wpirobotbuilder]

Decided I needed centralised storage for quite a few reasons so was just going to just buy a NAS box. But then I started thinking and realised I had a fair amount of spare parts that for a similar outlay I could maybe build a very cheap home server which interests me a lot more. Plus I have just finished my latest gaming rig and need a new project to distract me from actual work haha.

 

So my question is could I get away with a Pentium g3258 as a cpu choice or would I need something with more cores? and would 8gb of ram be enough? I will be pretty much be the only person using the server and will only be pretty light use such as media streaming and bulk storage.

 

I know I could just use a NAS setup for this usage scenario but as I said I would prefer to build a server and possibly get some experience using a server based OS.  

 

Thanks in advance

I would honestly recommend just buying a 2-bay NAS, and use that to store your data on. Then buy the remaining parts you need to start experimenting with a server OS until you get proficient enough with it to set it up as your main NAS. Then use the 2-bay NAS as a backup for your regular NAS.

 

I'm doing something similar right now; I won't ever switch to just one NAS for my data storage. My FreeNAS box is my main storage, but I have a backup on an older Windows machine in case the FreeNAS one craps out.

[Speedbird]

Does it really? Which model?

I guess all Ivy Bridge and Haswell Celerons do. Just don't get an SoC board with the Celeron J8100.

[alpenwasser]

Does it really? Which model?

For example, the G1840T

Use this filter on Intel's Ark to find others.

[wpirobotbuilder]

For example, the G1840T

Use this filter on Intel's Ark to find others.

That's damn useful. I thought only the i3 had support for it outside of the Xeon lineup. Low-power ZFS archival server?

 

Is it also chipset dependent?

[alpenwasser]

That's damn useful. I thought only the i3 had support for it outside of the Xeon lineup. Low-power ZFS archival server?

Yeah, I was rather surprised as well when I first noticed. But

apparently quite a few Pentiums and Celerons support ECC. Could

indeed be quite useful for a small ZFS box. 

 

Is it also chipset dependent?

Hm, good question. Since the memory controller is on the CPU, it

might be tempting to think it doesn't matter, but from what I've

read, the chipset seems to be relevant. I'd guess it has to do

with the M/B's RAM detection routine and all that, since even if

the memory controller is on the CPU, you'll probably still need

to go into the BIOS to enable ECC (at least that's how it is on my

Supermicro board).

This page from Intel's site says that you need the C226 chipset

for being able to make use of ECC when using Haswell Xeons:

 

Developers can also utilize error correcting code (ECC) memory when select processors are used with the Intel® C226 chipset

Presumably the same is true for other CPU lines with integrated

memory controllers, although it's a bit tricky to find solid info

on this unfortunately.

In this thread on superuser, somebody apparently has tried it out,

and found that indeed the ECC functionality is not available

when putting ECC RAM and an ECC-capable CPU into a non-ECC M/B,

at least in that specific example.

[D3LTA9]

I would honestly recommend just buying a 2-bay NAS, and use that to store your data on. Then buy the remaining parts you need to start experimenting with a server OS until you get proficient enough with it to set it up as your main NAS. Then use the 2-bay NAS as a backup for your regular NAS.

 

I'm doing something similar right now; I won't ever switch to just one NAS for my data storage. My FreeNAS box is my main storage, but I have a backup on an older Windows machine in case the FreeNAS one craps out.

 

Thanks again for further input. I do see your point but after looking at my options more I still think I will look into building my own basic home server rig. I should have clarified that I do not need the NAS urgently as I can leave the drives in my gaming rig until I have the server up and running and some experience with server OS(s).

 

Also NAS prices in New Zealand (like everything) are really high. Looking at $350+ for a barebones 2 bay synology Nas. Given I already have the HDD's, psu, peripherals, case and cooling I would only be spending a similar amount or a little more to build a very basic server. Also not sure if it is the same with Synology but I know that with the Netgear NAS's (at least the ones that I read reviews for) you have to re-partition all the hard drives if they have been used in windows which is a pain for me as the hard drives I intend to use initially (x4 WD black 1tb drives) are full and I do not have the space to back them up and transfer the data back.  

 

Further question, just reading up on what linux distro is most recommended for a home server. Any one have any recommendations? Or should I look at windows server? My Linux knowledge is rather limited but I intend to get much more familiar with it. The most time I have spent on any distro has been debian (or Raspbian I guess as its called) on my raspberry pi.

[alpenwasser]

Further question, just reading up on what linux distro is most recommended for a home server. Any one have any recommendations? Or should I look at windows server? My Linux knowledge is rather limited but I intend to get much more familiar with it. The most time I have spent on any distro has been debian (or Raspbian I guess as its called) on my raspberry pi.

If you have the time and patience to tinker around a bit, Linux

can be a good option (I use it as well, Arch Linux, speficifally).

If you're already somewhat familiar with Debian (or something simliar),

Debian is a good choice, @MG2R has a tutorial on it and will help

you out if needed (linky)

[D3LTA9]

If you have the time and patience to tinker around a bit, Linux

can be a good option (I use it as well, Arch Linux, speficifally).

If you're already somewhat familiar with Debian (or something simliar),

Debian is a good choice, @MG2R has a tutorial on it and will help

you out if needed (linky)

 

Excellent, thank you for your help. I will read up on the linked guide.