Server upgrade

[Drew Learns Tech]

So I'm looking to upgrade my server that I've been using for the last few months because of dead hardware. I've never really tried to make one from scratch so I was looking for recommendations I mostly use it to run Virtualizations for Plex and file shares. I'm looking to build a new one but if someone can link an old eBay server that is from a good seller I've heard that may be a better choice. This is my spec that I came up with: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Benidict/saved/p73THx

 

Edit: I've also been looking at something like this but the price is really similar to what I speced out and seems like it would have less power: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075MZTQBT/?coliid=I3VDOQCJWCZS32&colid=2XU8BLRD2D5XG&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

I'm still really new to the server atmosphere and please don't be afraid to call me out for being stupid (only if you offer a proper solution).

Thanks!

[Windows7ge]

What OS is the server running natively? This may alter what hardware is recommend. If it's like Windows 10, a desktop version of Linux, etc then desktop hardware is fine but if you're using a server OS then you might find the features of server hardware more to your liking.

 

Plus you can find bare bones supermicro servers for just a few hundred. Slap your own RAM/CPU/drives in it and your good to go for cheap (relatively speaking).

[Copie]

You want to use a different board and ram, a basic workstation board and ECC ram is the go, far better reliability and less chance of data corruption  The i3 supports ECC so its only the board and ram.

 

 

[Drew Learns Tech]

1 hour ago, Windows7ge said:

What OS is the server running natively? This may alter what hardware is recommend. If it's like Windows 10, a desktop version of Linux, etc then desktop hardware is fine but if you're using a server OS then you might find the features of server hardware more to your liking.

 

Plus you can find bare bones supermicro servers for just a few hundred. Slap your own RAM/CPU/drives in it and your good to go for cheap (relatively speaking).

I've been using Ubuntu but I've heard I can get a copy of Microsoft server 2016 for free through school and might give that a go.

[Drew Learns Tech]

20 minutes ago, Copie said:

You want to use a different board and ram, a basic workstation board and ECC ram is the go, far better reliability and less chance of data corruption  The i3 supports ECC so its only the board and ram.

 

 

I've looked the i3 ECC compatible processors aren't for sale anywhere.

[Pixel5]

the big question is what is important for you, do you need more power for something or is powerconsumption an issue?

generally synology systems are easy to setup and plex runs directly on it with no need for virtualization.

 

im using synology systems since a few years now and there is one thing i would recommend, if you forsee that your storage usage will or could go up significantly in the future make sure to get a model with enough drive bays, i started with a 2bay model and used it for almost 4 years before i switched to the new 918+ model a few weeks ago.

[Drew Learns Tech]

3 hours ago, Pixel5 said:

the big question is what is important for you, do you need more power for something or is powerconsumption an issue?

generally synology systems are easy to setup and plex runs directly on it with no need for virtualization.

 

im using synology systems since a few years now and there is one thing i would recommend, if you forsee that your storage usage will or could go up significantly in the future make sure to get a model with enough drive bays, i started with a 2bay model and used it for almost 4 years before i switched to the new 918+ model a few weeks ago.

I'll have to look exactly I've only used plex for a week or so before my last server crapped out on me. I've been working g to consolidate all of my families media into one server so I'd imagine at least 8tb to start with and more to come probably.

[Pixel5]

if plex is new for you anyways you could also check what kind of devices you will play the media on as a simple DLNA server would work as well.

 

im personally also using my synology mainly as video and photo storage and simply access the DLNA server or SMB shares directly from my TV´s or other devices.

 

[Windows7ge]

10 hours ago, Drew Learns Tech said:

I've been using Ubuntu but I've heard I can get a copy of Microsoft server 2016 for free through school and might give that a go.

This is true if you take a class or major/minor in certain technology courses. They will make an account for you on Microsoft Imagine - Premium which gives you not just Windows Server 2016 Dataserver 64-Bit but many other pieces of expensive software for things such as Office, Programming, etc. The only real catch is it's in the Terms & Conditions of the licences that you're not allowed to use the software for profit. About the only thing they care about. I know all this because that's how I got the same OS for free. Though I don't run it natively on my server.

 

I'd look into server hardware over desktop especially if you plan to consider using a server OS down the road. How much virtualization do you actually do? I use to use the ASRock C2750D4I  which includes a BGA 8 core chip and crazy I/O in a Mini-ITX form factor. It's a little expensive but it includes the CPU. It has a little sister the C2550D4I which is a quad core, it's a little cheaper too but don't expect to be running high demand VMs on either. You could build this into a small enclosure with a lot of drive bays to get that NAS feeling. It also comes with the usual perks of server boards like IPMI, voltage monitoring, ECC support (the bga CPU on both support ecc), and the ability to force a shutdown/restart if the OS crashes without having to be in-front of the machine.

[Drew Learns Tech]

10 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

This is true if you take a class or major/minor in certain technology courses. They will make an account for you on Microsoft Imagine - Premium which gives you not just Windows Server 2016 Dataserver 64-Bit but many other pieces of expensive software for things such as Office, Programming, etc. The only real catch is it's in the Terms & Conditions of the licences that you're not allowed to use the software for profit. About the only thing they care about. I know all this because that's how I got the same OS for free. Though I don't run it natively on my server.

 

I'd look into server hardware over desktop especially if you plan to consider using a server OS down the road. How much virtualization do you actually do? I use to use the ASRock C2750D4I  which includes a BGA 8 core chip and crazy I/O in a Mini-ITX form factor. It's a little expensive but it includes the CPU. It has a little sister the C2550D4I which is a quad core, it's a little cheaper too but don't expect to be running high demand VMs on either. You could build this into a small enclosure with a lot of drive bays to get that NAS feeling. It also comes with the usual perks of server boards like IPMI, voltage monitoring, ECC support (the bga CPU on both support ecc), and the ability to force a shutdown/restart if the OS crashes without having to be in-front of the machine.

I would probably only use plex in virtualization at the moment as I wouldn't need my Nas OS anymore (Ive been told a file share does the same thing) the main thing would then turn to expandability as I think it would become an issue really fast to store all the data and then raid it for safety.

[Windows7ge]

2 minutes ago, Drew Learns Tech said:

I would probably only use plex in virtualization at the moment as I wouldn't need my Nas OS anymore (Ive been told a file share does the same thing) the main thing would then turn to expandability as I think it would become an issue really fast to store all the data and then raid it for safety.

If you mean stream video/music over a file share then yes it's the same just that Plex makes it look pretty instead of looking at file directories. As for OS that depends on what you want to use to RAID the drives. ZFS (a version of software RAID) is popular for it's resiliency and ability to RAID drives across multiple sata controllers without caring. FreeNAS (a *NIX based OS) is one that uses it but there are others.

[Drew Learns Tech]

12 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

If you mean stream video/music over a file share then yes it's the same just that Plex makes it look pretty instead of looking at file directories. As for OS that depends on what you want to use to RAID the drives. ZFS (a version of software RAID) is popular for it's resiliency and ability to RAID drives across multiple sata controllers without caring. FreeNAS (a *NIX based OS) is one that uses it but there are others.

I should have been more clear I've been using freenas on my old system in a vm and plex in another vm. I'd only need the plex vm from now on if I switch to server 2016 because I don't see the point of having the freenas vm if a file share is the same thing. I was trying to ask if your recommendation is good for expandability because I see my storage needs increasing quickly because of raid storing my data. Sorry for the confusion.

[Windows7ge]

Just now, Drew Learns Tech said:

I should have been more clear I've been using freenas on my old system in a vm and plex in another vm. I'd only need the plex vm from now on if I switch to server 2016 because I don't see the point of having the freenas vm if a file share is the same thing. I was trying to ask if your recommendation is good for expandability because I see my storage needs increasing quickly because of raid storing my data. Sorry for the confusion.

My recommendation would be ideal if FreeNAS was the native OS and plex was running as a service or in a VM. If you want a desktop with the most compatible programs (windows) natively then hardware RAID might be better suited to you. However I can say that windows runs good enough in a VM and the IP it gets is on the local network in a FreeNAS bhyve VM which would allow you to use 50% of the system resources for windows compatible applications.

 

Right now 8TB drives are the most bang for you buck deal if future expansion is a concern for you. I don't know what software RAID options come with Windows Server 2016 (I'd expect RAID5 but RAID6 preferably) if you want to run that natively then you can go that route. RAID5/6 using hardware can be costly but every type of RAID has its drawbacks. As for hardware options if you only want to run a single VM then a quad core should be all you need but I'd still recommend a Xeon, ECC memory and appropriate motherboard.

 

What form of RAID have you been using up until now? hardware/software if software what kind? BTRFS/ZFS/etc...

[Drew Learns Tech]

2 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

My recommendation would be ideal if FreeNAS was the native OS and plex was running as a service or in a VM. If you want a desktop with the most compatible programs (windows) natively then hardware RAID might be better suited to you. However I can say that windows runs good enough in a VM and the IP it gets is on the local network in a FreeNAS bhyve VM which would allow you to use 50% of the system resources for windows compatible applications.

 

Right now 8TB drives are the most bang for you buck deal if future expansion is a concern for you. I don't know what software RAID options come with Windows Server 2016 (I'd expect RAID5 but RAID6 preferably) if you want to run that natively then you can go that route. RAID5/6 using hardware can be costly but every type of RAID has its drawbacks. As for hardware options if you only want to run a single VM then a quad core should be all you need but I'd still recommend a Xeon, ECC memory and appropriate motherboard.

 

What form of RAID have you been using up until now? hardware/software if software what kind? BTRFS/ZFS/etc...

I haven't been using any RAID up until now. This failure is what makes me want to go and make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm probably not going to continue using FreeNAS in the future as I haven't really been happy with how it navigates and has crashed so many times I never was able to keep even a pc back up on it.

[Windows7ge]

1 hour ago, Drew Learns Tech said:

I haven't been using any RAID up until now. This failure is what makes me want to go and make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm probably not going to continue using FreeNAS in the future as I haven't really been happy with how it navigates and has crashed so many times I never was able to keep even a pc back up on it.

We're these experiences from running it in a VM or natively? FreeNAS likes direct access to the hardware, you also have to consider what chipset the OS is running on. If you're using a server OS on desktop hardware issues can arise. For example using the X79 platform instead of C602. That's another reason to use server hardware instead of desktop. Also I wouldn't recommend running FreeNAS in a VM to anyone unless maybe the host OS supported hardware pass-through but even then I don't know if FreeNAS would play nice with it. I very much support ZFS and FreeNAS but the hardware you use needs to be compatible with the OS. This might be why you had a bad time.

 

If you haven't used any RAID up until now I would either go with a hardware RAID controller but you'll be limited by how many ports the card has forcing you to use higher capacity drives or software RAID either through windows but I don't know what it offers or it's reputation or alternatively use a server distro of *NIX, the most popular of the bunch are Redhat server, Ubuntu server, UnRAID (not free), FreeNAS, NAS4FREE, then there's Rockstor. These all are their own OS's with their own software RAID solutions. You can try asking around for suggestions as to which might suit your needs the best.

[Drew Learns Tech]

2 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

We're these experiences from running it in a VM or natively? FreeNAS likes direct access to the hardware, you also have to consider what chipset the OS is running on. If you're using a server OS on desktop hardware issues can arise. For example using the X79 platform instead of C602. That's another reason to use server hardware instead of desktop. Also I wouldn't recommend running FreeNAS in a VM to anyone unless maybe the host OS supported hardware pass-through but even then I don't know if FreeNAS would play nice with it. I very much support ZFS and FreeNAS but the hardware you use needs to be compatible with the OS. This might be why you had a bad time.

 

If you haven't used any RAID up until now I would either go with a hardware RAID controller but you'll be limited by how many ports the card has forcing you to use higher capacity drives or software RAID either through windows but I don't know what it offers or it's reputation or alternatively use a server distro of *NIX, the most popular of the bunch are Redhat server, Ubuntu server, UnRAID (not free), FreeNAS, NAS4FREE, then there's Rockstor. These all are their own OS's with their own software RAID solutions. You can try asking around for suggestions as to which might suit your needs the best.

My issues with FreeNAS arose when I was running it natively. Do you know of any reputable refurb brands where I can get server hardware? From what I've seen that is the best bang for your buck method of getting server hardware.

[Drew Learns Tech]

26 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

We're these experiences from running it in a VM or natively? FreeNAS likes direct access to the hardware, you also have to consider what chipset the OS is running on. If you're using a server OS on desktop hardware issues can arise. For example using the X79 platform instead of C602. That's another reason to use server hardware instead of desktop. Also I wouldn't recommend running FreeNAS in a VM to anyone unless maybe the host OS supported hardware pass-through but even then I don't know if FreeNAS would play nice with it. I very much support ZFS and FreeNAS but the hardware you use needs to be compatible with the OS. This might be why you had a bad time.

 

If you haven't used any RAID up until now I would either go with a hardware RAID controller but you'll be limited by how many ports the card has forcing you to use higher capacity drives or software RAID either through windows but I don't know what it offers or it's reputation or alternatively use a server distro of *NIX, the most popular of the bunch are Redhat server, Ubuntu server, UnRAID (not free), FreeNAS, NAS4FREE, then there's Rockstor. These all are their own OS's with their own software RAID solutions. You can try asking around for suggestions as to which might suit your needs the best.

Or what about something like this?

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zhsvfH

[Windows7ge]

18 minutes ago, Drew Learns Tech said:

My issues with FreeNAS arose when I was running it natively. Do you know of any reputable refurb brands where I can get server hardware? From what I've seen that is the best bang for your buck method of getting server hardware.

ebay sells refurbished supermicro gear for relatively cheap. You'll need to put some hardware into it though like RAM/CPU/etc.

2 minutes ago, Drew Learns Tech said:

Or what about something like this?

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zhsvfH

You don't need to jump strait to 2011-V3 and also that's a desktop motherboard with X99 chipset. You'll probably want a server motherboard chipset. Hold on, I'll put something together.

[Windows7ge]

@Drew Learns Tech

 

SUPERMICRO X9SRA

Intel Xeon E5-2670

Kingston 8GB

 

Server hardware costs more but If you can find them cheaper elsewhere then cool. I'd also consider using a stronger PSU. I'd like it in the 500W~600W range. Gives you room for more drives and heavy tasks without pushing it to its max. I'd also consider buying two sticks of the RAM if not four to get either dual or quad channel performance. Other than that the rest of your list will suffice.