freegeek FreeGeek Server. (bad idea?)

[Metaflop]

So, i did my 24 hours at freegeek and got my free pc, put some hard drives in it, and i'm not sure what to do with it. i already have a pc so its pretty much useless. any ideas?

Specs:
i3-3240 @ 3.40ghz
4GB DDR3 1333 Mhz
main drive: 250gb Seagate Caviar Blue
storage: 1tb toshiba server grade
personal storage (lacie): 1tb SSD

Case: OptiPlex 7010
Motherboard: Stock

Pics:

[Mikensan]

HTPC one option. Backup server is another. Or get a little wild and play with Docker.

[AngryBeaver]

Turn it into a game server. It should be able to host a decent multiplayer server for most games out there... just don't try to put more than one on it.

 

You could also throw windows server on there and play around with making it a DNS/DHCP/AD/GP machine. Learning windows server and how to operate those functions can always be fun. You could also turn it into a DHCP server maybe even one that trans-codes for devices that don't support a certain format.

 

There are many options for what can done with it, but without knowing more of your interests I can't make any big suggestions.

[Turretgaming]

I'd recommend freenas for the backup server cause you can use Plex on it too. But I recommend a minimum of 8 gigs of RAM and if you have more than 8tb of storage than move to one gig of RAM per one tb of storage. But I highly recommend a backup server cause omg it's important to back things up.

[voyager_]

you could use it as a backup for your main computer. Running Plex, an i3 should handle 1-2 streams just fine. You could also use it as a NAS.

[Turretgaming]

Everyone is recommending Plex and backup server haha.

[AngryBeaver]

Something else you can do... as these are the 7010 version and not the 2010/3010.. you have more cpu options. Instead of being limited to say an I5... you could pick up a used 3770 cpu for about 50 bucks and drop that in.  That would immediately buff up this system and open up your options.

 

This would give you a 4 core 8 thread cpu with better boost speeds. Then you would have more options come open. You could buy a new case / power supply and transpant that system in it. Then add a decent graphics cards for a good gaming rig.

 

You could also keep everything like it is and pick up something along the lines of a 1050 or 1050ti. This would also give you great 1080p gaming potential for a very minimal cost. 50 (cpu) 130-160 (gpu) so for around 200 you could have a fully capable gaming machine.

[ProjectBox153]

55 minutes ago, Turretgaming said:

I'd recommend freenas for the backup server cause you can use Plex on it too. But I recommend a minimum of 8 gigs of RAM and if you have more than 8tb of storage than move to one gig of RAM per one tb of storage. But I highly recommend a backup server cause omg it's important to back things up.

You don't need 8GB of RAM. 2-3 has worked perfectly in my experience. Why do people always recommend more when it's not needed? 

[Turretgaming]

20 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

You don't need 8GB of RAM. 2-3 has worked perfectly in my experience. Why do people always recommend more when it's not needed? 

Your data is at risk and it slows the system. Yes less works but the performance and reliability trade-off shouldn't be worth it for anyone.

[Mikensan]

22 hours ago, Turretgaming said:

Your data is at risk and it slows the system. Yes less works but the performance and reliability trade-off shouldn't be worth it for anyone.

There's no risk, the operating system only needs about 2-4 even then it'll just use swap. The rest of the RAM is used for ARC / cache which affects performance, however on a single connection over a 1gb line - you'll still get 110mb/sec. Cyberjock is a smart guy but he gets very stuck in what he knows - even when one of the original developers of ZFS from oracle tells him otherwise.

 

I will say however if you're investing money to improve performance, the best place it is best spent is RAM in regards to ZFS. If you have a 10gb card and not getting the speeds you should, or multiple users pegging the system - give 'er some RAM.

[Turretgaming]

2 hours ago, Mikensan said:

There's no risk, the operating system only needs about 2-4 even then it'll just use swap. The rest of the RAM is used for ARC / cache which affects performance, however on a single connection over a 1gb line - you'll still get 110mb/sec. Cyberjock is a smart guy but he gets very stuck in what he knows - even when one of the original developers of ZFS from oracle tells him otherwise.

 

I will say however if you're investing money to improve performance, the best place it is best spent is RAM in regards to ZFS. If you have a 10gb card and not getting the speeds you should, or multiple users pegging the system - give 'er some RAM.

So I was half correct. Preformence will be affected but stability not so much

[_Tibbles__]

 

On 05/03/2018 at 4:07 PM, Jamiec1130 said:

You don't need 8GB of RAM. 2-3 has worked perfectly in my experience. Why do people always recommend more when it's not needed? 

 

If your running deduplication ram requirements go up a lot saves some disk space

 

[AngryBeaver]

On 3/5/2018 at 10:29 AM, Turretgaming said:

Your data is at risk and it slows the system. Yes less works but the performance and reliability trade-off shouldn't be worth it for anyone.

So why do you think less ram puts my data at risk than more ram? I mean technically if I have more ram I am more likely to lose data if the power goes out. I mean ram is VOLATILE storage... that means the more ram I have and the more data being stored in it... the more data that stands to be lost in the event of a failure.

 

I mean if you have 4gb of ram and something needs more than that.. then it will instead use a swap file. The swap file is slower, but is also stored on your hard-drive.

 

So in regards to performance you could have an argument, but when it comes to reliability... you are very wrong.

[Mikensan]

23 hours ago, AngryBeaver said:

So why do you think less ram puts my data at risk than more ram? I mean technically if I have more ram I am more likely to lose data if the power goes out. I mean ram is VOLATILE storage... that means the more ram I have and the more data being stored in it... the more data that stands to be lost in the event of a failure.

 

I mean if you have 4gb of ram and something needs more than that.. then it will instead use a swap file. The swap file is slower, but is also stored on your hard-drive.

 

So in regards to performance you could have an argument, but when it comes to reliability... you are very wrong.

Yea he replied about this already at least - but it's unlikely that over a gigabit connection you'll fill ARC enough to even risk losing more from just having more RAM. It's also COW which helps in the event of power loss - missing files but no corruption.

[dalekphalm]

On 3/5/2018 at 10:11 AM, Turretgaming said:

I'd recommend freenas for the backup server cause you can use Plex on it too. But I recommend a minimum of 8 gigs of RAM and if you have more than 8tb of storage than move to one gig of RAM per one tb of storage. But I highly recommend a backup server cause omg it's important to back things up.

As already noted, the "1GB of RAM per 1TB of Storage" myth for FreeNAS is mostly incorrect. There is some truth to it, but not much.

 

In actual practice, you really only need around 4GB (less, even) of RAM to run a smooth FreeNAS server. Unused RAM is used for a cache, but unless you have super fast networking (eg: 10GigE), your FreeNAS storage will already be fast enough to saturate a 1Gbps Gigabit Ethernet network.

 

The only situation where 1GB of RAM per 1TB of Storage is actually accurate, is when using Deduplication.

 

Deduplication is the process where a storage array is scanned, and any identical files are only stored once, and all the other "copies" of said file are just link-pointers that point to the one location.

 

Eg: You have 5 Windows 10 PC's on your home network. All are being backed up to your FreeNAS box.

All 5 will share many of the same system files. They also might have some of the same pictures, music, games, etc. Any of these files where there are more than one copy, using Deduplication will mean that only one copy of the files will take up space on the FreeNAS Storage.

 

However, unless you happen to have a lot of RAM, and not that much storage, there's little reason to buy that much extra RAM.

 

With that in mind, if you have the extra RAM already? Might as well enable Dedupe.