High-End File/Cloud/VM Unraid Server recommendation??

[Aion]

Hello Linus Tech Tips community, I am currently building an unraid server for the purpose of holding all of my data and to run my Virtual machines on.

On top of using this for just being a file server and holding my data, I want to be able to access my files both locally and from any external computer.

 

I will be putting this system into a server rack chassis, so any size motherboard will fit.

 

So I'm just looking for some hardware recommendations on the build.

 

 

[Aelita Sophie]

3 minutes ago, Aion said:

Hello Linus Tech Tips community, I am currently building an unraid server for the purpose of holding all of my data and to run my Virtual machines on.

On top of using this for just being a file server and holding my data, I want to be able to access my files both locally and from any external computer.

 

I will be putting this system into a server rack chassis, so any size motherboard will fit.

 

So I'm just looking for some hardware recommendations on the build.

 

 

Could you state your budget? Have you considered VMWare ESXI? (free version)

 

[Aion]

As for my budget, I don't really have one for this project. I am just looking to build a high-end Server with my needs. And all I can find anywhere are budget builds.

 

[jkirkcaldy]

On 17/10/2017 at 1:44 PM, Aion said:

As for my budget, I don't really have one for this project. I am just looking to build a high-end Server with my needs. And all I can find anywhere are budget builds.

This doesn't really wash with server builds. Unlike a workstation/gaming system where you just buy this years most powerful cpu and gpu, slap as much ram in as you can afford, throw it all on a decent motherboard and you will have spent around 5K, Servers can go up to the hundreds of thousands £££/$$$

 

Some indication of budget can vastly change the nature of the advice given. Eg. advice for £500, I'd say go second hand. For £5000, there is a lot more options available to you.

 

Buy Second hand - Something like an Dell R510 with 12x3.5" drive bays would be good. Although if you can afford it going for the newer R520 or R710xd would be better on power. Then you have Xeon cpus, ECC ram, and there is a shed load of support for them on forums etc.

 

If you want to build for the experience of building a server, InWin have some pretty sexy 2u cases that are kind of like the Dells but without all the proprietary connections so you just use standard off the shelf parts. Or do you already have a chassis? They also have SAS expander backplanes that take sata drives so you can throw in a raid/hba card and bob's your uncle.

 

Either way I would look for a supermicro board with IPMI support. This can be really useful for troubleshooting when you are out of the house. Look for a board that can hold a lot of RAM as you will probably need somewhere around 64GB+ for running a lot of VMs. I would also recommend looking at redundant power supplies, they can be quite a bit more expensive than normal power supplies but they don't use any more power (maybe a Watt here or there) and it gives you a little more protection from hardware failures.

[leadeater]

6 hours ago, jkirkcaldy said:

InWin have some pretty sexy 2u cases that are kind of like the Dells but without all the proprietary connections so you just use standard off the shelf parts.

Thanks for this info, didn't know InWin did rackmount chassis