Want some advice on what to do...

[RDMTS]

I currently have a Dell R710* sitting in my closet, it runs 24/7 and right now only hosts my Plex Media Server. My school finally gave us accounts for Microsoft Imagine which I have been waiting on for a few weeks. I would like to upgrade from Windows Server 2012 R2 to Server 2016 (It's free, why not?) I don't do much on the server, other than Plex it does nothing at all. Right now I'm stuck between installing Windows Server 2016 and adding Hyper-V, or installing Hyper-V and adding Server 2016 in a VM.

 

With how I never use it, I feel having Server 2016 as the base and Hyper-V on top of it is the smarter of the two options, but am open to your opinions.**

 

I'd also like to change my 2.5" HDDs out, they are... Well they are from old laptops that got SSD upgrades. I have two 750GB drives and two 500GB drives. One of them gives me an Error on the little display screen but works just fine, it's a slim drive compared to the other 3. Being a total noob to Dell PERC RAID controller, I have it setup as such; Virtual Disk 1 is the two 750GB drives running in RAID 0. Virtual Disk 2 is RAID 0 of one 500GB Drive, and Virtual Disk 3 is the another RAID 0 500GB. The OS is running on VD1 while VD2 and VD3 are used to back the server up at 9AM and 9PM.

 

I would like to upgrade these drives to WD Reds, but want to hear what you guys think. I don't want the top of the line server grade drives, if I used this thing like a proper server, I'd be more open to those suggestions, but cheap and easy.*** That's my goal.

 

*Specs are 32GB of RAM, 2x Intel Xeon E5520, with Dells bells n' whistles hardware.

**I don't use it often enough to warrant Hyper-V with Server 2016 on top of it. Kind of realized this while typing, but still want opinions.

***I bought this server for $200 off eBay, came with no drives and two trays, while I don't mind spending $220 on 4 Reds, I'm not spending $150 on one 300GB Server grade HDD.

 

 

[tt2468]

Why not run a hypervisor like Proxmox as the base OS, then run server 2016 vms inside it? I understand that you get free licenses, but proxmox is way better at virtualization than hyper-v is, and you can learn some linux skills. Plus, proxmox has a web interface that is really good.

[RDMTS]

2 minutes ago, tt2468 said:

Why not run a hypervisor like Proxmox as the base OS, then run server 2016 vms inside it? I understand that you get free licenses, but proxmox is way better at virtualization than hyper-v is, and you can learn some linux skills. Plus, proxmox has a web interface that is really good.

Simply because I don't think I'll use it ever, but have this, so figured why not add it? It's not like it'll kill the server. I might use it to play around with operating systems, or have some additional "computers" so to speak. But I have no plans in the foreseeable future to utilize virtualization. I realize there are hundreds of other better solutions out there.

[leadeater]

If server 2012 R2 is working fine and your unlikely to use the server much let alone the new features in Server 2016 I'd just leave everything as is. Server 2016 Hyper-V is better but you're unlikely to notice the difference or use the new features. If you want to play around with Server 2016 just create a VM on the current Server 2012 R2 installation.

[leadeater]

3 hours ago, RDMTS said:

I would like to upgrade these drives to WD Reds, but want to hear what you guys think. I don't want the top of the line server grade drives, if I used this thing like a proper server, I'd be more open to those suggestions, but cheap and easy.*** That's my goal.

WD Reds are fine, good $/GB and are RAID certified.