NAS/file server + whatever build?

[FaustR101]

So I recently acquired an old 11th gen Dell Poweredge R610 1U rack mount server. ( Dual Intel Xeon X5560, 96GB of ECC DDR3 RAM, 6 drive caddies {more on this later} hosted by a Dell PERC H700 raid controller, dual 10 Gigabit Nic, integrated quad Gigabit Nic, iDRAC, etc. ) I want to make a file server but this thing seems widely over powered for just it. So I was thinking of using unRAID or an EXSi hypervisor to split up my resources and run a few VMs.

 

1. What else can/should I use it for? 

2. For the file server I plan on using 6 WD Red 1TB 2.5in drives ( pretty much the only NAS drive i know of that will fit in 2.5in drive sled ). Should I use RAID 5? What about RAID 10? 

3. I plan on buying a Samsung 950 pro and throwing it in a PCIe card I have left over to act as a cache drive. Is this possible? 

4. What environment should I run this in? Windows? Some Linux distro? 

 

As a side note, I do plan on buying an ASUS XG-D2008 10G switch when they launch so I do plan on making use of the 10G connectivity I have available to me. Any input and ideas are welcome. This thing almost seems wasted on me. Lol

[mikat]

ESXi

[lowlyf]

Pfsense, zfs filesystem with ssd cache with free bsd, grab a dyndns name and host a website (practice development), owncloud (host your own cloud storage), MX server (get your own email you'll want a domain name and probably a static IP) to name a few things. Find a hypervisor that you like and learn how to secure it. Find linux, freebsd, or windows server (yuck) you like and learn how to harden them. When you start forwarding ports from the internet you're going to want to learn other ways to secure your personal devices on those networks other than relying on NAT. (Hence the pfsense box) And check out ZFS and BDFS instead of RAID. Error correction is the future. If this is your first server, you're going to want to find a place for it, its going to be loud. But you're going to learn a lot, which is awesome. Start checking out hypervisors in vmware.

[FaustR101]

Any thoughts on BTRFS? 

Anyone have any preference on drive selection in a 2.5in form factor? 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, FaustR101 said:

 

1. What else can/should I use it for? 

2. For the file server I plan on using 6 WD Red 1TB 2.5in drives ( pretty much the only NAS drive i know of that will fit in 2.5in drive sled ). Should I use RAID 5? What about RAID 10? 

3. I plan on buying a Samsung 950 pro and throwing it in a PCIe card I have left over to act as a cache drive. Is this possible? 

4. What environment should I run this in? Windows? Some Linux distro? 

1. Up to you - what do you need to have running at home?
2. RAID 6 would be a better bet, faster rebuild times than RAID 5. You can look at software RAID however it will be significantly slower.
3. I don't believe the PCIe drives will work in this board.
4. Whatever you're comfortable with

[FaustR101]

1 hour ago, lowlyf said:

Pfsense, zfs filesystem with ssd cache with free bsd, grab a dyndns name and host a website (practice development), owncloud (host your own cloud storage), MX server (get your own email you'll want a domain name and probably a static IP) to name a few things. Find a hypervisor that you like and learn how to secure it. Find linux, freebsd, or windows server (yuck) you like and learn how to harden them. When you start forwarding ports from the internet you're going to want to learn other ways to secure your personal devices on those networks other than relying on NAT. (Hence the pfsense box) And check out ZFS and BDFS instead of RAID. Error correction is the future. If this is your first server, you're going to want to find a place for it, its going to be loud. But you're going to learn a lot, which is awesome. Start checking out hypervisors in vmware.

I was looking into ZFS but my PERC H700 won't do JBOD and as far as I know can't be flashed to allow JBOD. 

[lowlyf]

Get rid of it and get a cheap jbod controller. I manage a SAN with ZFS. BTRFS is still growing. They're really working hard on it. But ZFS as of right now is more complete imo and the developers I listen to agree for mission critical data. I'll hang my hat on a machine with ZFS and say you're data isn't going anywhere. Plus I'm kind of a bsd fanboy, but only through experience. With all of that buffered RAM, you'd be crazy not to use ZFS or BTRFS. It is important to have ECC RAM with either and you've got plenty.

[lowlyf]

I've lost so much data to RAID. I've almost lost my job because I mismanged a RAID array. Granted it was my fault, but with snapshots, and full error correction, I'm not nor will I ever be in that boat again with ZFS.

[lowlyf]

Plus it is so easy to learn. I built a box with 4 almost dead drives and a tiny SSD I borrowed from work. I read articles online, watched every YouTube video, and was up to speed in 2 weeks. And if you're not backing up snapshots and full backups offsite or locally or whatever, even for a machine you're learning on, it's so nice to have that layer of data protection. 

[Blake]

5 minutes ago, lowlyf said:

Plus it is so easy to learn. I built a box with 4 almost dead drives and a tiny SSD I borrowed from work. I read articles online, watched every YouTube video, and was up to speed in 2 weeks. And if you're not backing up snapshots and full backups offsite or locally or whatever, even for a machine you're learning on, it's so nice to have that layer of data protection. 

You have an edit button, no need to spam the same thread every 5 mins. Makes you sound like a cowboy, nobody in IT likes a cowboy.

17 minutes ago, lowlyf said:

I've lost so much data to RAID. I've almost lost my job because I mismanged a RAID array. Granted it was my fault, but with snapshots, and full error correction, I'm not nor will I ever be in that boat again with ZFS.

There is nothing wrong with RAID, and why are you using it as a backup?

2 hours ago, FaustR101 said:

So I was thinking of using unRAID or an EXSi hypervisor to split up my resources and run a few VMs.

 

1. What else can/should I use it for? 

2. For the file server I plan on using 6 WD Red 1TB 2.5in drives ( pretty much the only NAS drive i know of that will fit in 2.5in drive sled ). Should I use RAID 5? What about RAID 10? 

3. I plan on buying a Samsung 950 pro and throwing it in a PCIe card I have left over to act as a cache drive. Is this possible? 

4. What environment should I run this in? Windows? Some Linux distro? 

 

As a side note, I do plan on buying an ASUS XG-D2008 10G switch when they launch so I do plan on making use of the 10G connectivity I have available to me. Any input and ideas are welcome. This thing almost seems wasted on me. Lol

Depends if your going into IT or if this is just a hobby, and where this is getting deployed. Generally i'd say go with ESXi, grab the free version, it's not that hard to setup and most HW vendors have a custom iso to install from that already have the drivers rolled into it.

 

1. Depends what you're after? do you want to host your own blog? mail server? Use it as a white box? if this doesn't sound like fun to you, sell it, get a cheaper/lower power server and just use it as a NAS.

2. RAID 5 has the better performance, as your using 1TB disks you don't need RAID 6 for the extra redundancy and you will have more usable space then RAID 10, however keep in mind if you plan on using 2+TB disks without an actual backup, just forget about RAID 5/6 and look at 10, also RAID 5/6 wont have quite as nice write speeds.

3. Yes, Windows has something called storage teiring. I haven't needed to mess with ESXi to that degree (our systems are all on a SAN connected via iSCSI), so someone else can answer this part. I'd assume it does though.

4. Whatever you are most comfortable with, and meets all your requirements.

[FaustR101]

37 minutes ago, Blake said:

You have an edit button, no need to spam the same thread every 5 mins. Makes you sound like a cowboy, nobody in IT likes a cowboy.

There is nothing wrong with RAID, and why are you using it as a backup?

Depends if your going into IT or if this is just a hobby, and where this is getting deployed. Generally i'd say go with ESXi, grab the free version, it's not that hard to setup and most HW vendors have a custom iso to install from that already have the drivers rolled into it.

 

1. Depends what you're after? do you want to host your own blog? mail server? Use it as a white box? if this doesn't sound like fun to you, sell it, get a cheaper/lower power server and just use it as a NAS.

2. RAID 5 has the better performance, as your using 1TB disks you don't need RAID 6 for the extra redundancy and you will have more usable space then RAID 10, however keep in mind if you plan on using 2+TB disks without an actual backup, just forget about RAID 5/6 and look at 10, also RAID 5/6 wont have quite as nice write speeds.

3. Yes, Windows has something called storage teiring. I haven't needed to mess with ESXi to that degree (our systems are all on a SAN connected via iSCSI), so someone else can answer this part. I'd assume it does though.

4. Whatever you are most comfortable with, and meets all your requirements.

Well its sort of job training and a hobby. Its a little out of my realm as I primarily work with adhoc radio networks. I'm looking to change up my career path a little so its half training half me wanting a file server. I got it for free so I may as well make the most of it.

I really am interested in ZFS ( enough so to get to change to a HBA ) but I'm familiar enough with RAID and understand it that I'd consider sticking with it. Depends on how adventurous I get. 

Like I said earlier I primarily want a file server, with Plex and maybe to act as a torrent box. Which freeNAS does to my understanding. But I feel I can do more and learn more by just tinkering with stuff, Maybe host a few dedi servers for CS:GO, TS3, and do some other junk a little bit more "professional". I've always flirted with the idea of having my own website just find that I do nothing to warrent it. 

[FaustR101]

As an open question, what capacity SSD should I be looking at to act as a cache ?