Server and Nas build specs

[schnuckss]

Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to help me with this. I am new to the pc world, spent 25 years with macs and now I need some help. I am looking to build a nas/server to store large amounts of data, mainly video files.  I am an editor and need to store projects in one place. I have been using external hard dives for a long time but I figured it was time to upgrade.  Here's what I'm looking for: I need anywhere from 8-12tb of storage space.  I have a networking rack in my closet with 6u's of empty space and that's where I plan and placing it. I have gigbit internet for really fast speed, for a residential building.

I was hoping to spend no more than $600-$700 (wife's limit) (Located in US)

it needs to be easy to use,

I have limited to no experience with building that's why my friend will be helping with building it.

don't care about brands

Thank you for any imput on this

 

[maxtch]

Since you are cost limited and you want a server, here are a few tricks you can use:

• Used server grade gear often still have a lot of life in them, since they are built to last (except storage devices which wears over time)
• Since datacenters routinely buy new machines and dump old ones, it is usually fairly cheap to find used server parts.
• Most servers runs Linux, so don’t bother with Windows if you don’t want to mess with compatibility and drivers.
• Do have redundancy, it allows you to have failed drives without losing data or resorting to backups.
• While it is not top priority, make plans for backing it up. Redundancy is not a replacement of backup though.

Here is my idea for a beginner’s first storage server, using mostly used parts:

• CPU: Intel Xeon X3340
• Memory: 4x 2GB DDR2-800 Unregistered ECC
• Motherboard: Asus P5BV-C/2L
• RAID card: IBM M5014 (force flash LSI MegaRAID 9260-8i firmware)
• HBA card: PCIe SATA 6Gb/s AHCI HBA
• SSD: 1x 240GB SATA SSD (new)
• HDD: 6x 4TB WD Red (new)
• OS: Ubuntu Server 18.04.1 (free)

The processor, RAM and motherboard is a Core 2 Quad grade machine. It is a bit old for most datacenters, so they are dumped out and sold at a very low price.

 

That specific hardware RAID card here is also a somewhat common dump from data center, being an IBM OEM card it is often sold cheaper due to restrictions put in place by IBM, but it being based on a common LSI RAID card design means this card can be force flashed the firmware of the base, unbranded card to lift those limitations, making it popular among home lab builders. In my plan the 6x WD Reds are organized in a RAID 6 on this card, so you can have up to 2 drives failed without losing your data.

 

The older motherboard does not support UEFI or SATA 6Gb/s, hence the inclusion of a small boot SSD and a SATA 6Gb/s HBA to fully extract its capabilities. The SSD holds the OS and provides space for a SSD cache. You can also use the Samsung 950 Pro NVMe SSD with an adapter card on this motherboard in place of the SATA SSD and the HBA, since the Samsung NVMe SSD carries a PCIe Option ROM allowing it being used as boot device without a recent UEFI.

 

I have a server running Ubuntu Linux supporting my Macs, hence the recommendation of that OS for the server.

[Razor Blade]

5 hours ago, schnuckss said:

Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to help me with this. I am new to the pc world, spent 25 years with macs and now I need some help. I am looking to build a nas/server to store large amounts of data, mainly video files.  I am an editor and need to store projects in one place. I have been using external hard dives for a long time but I figured it was time to upgrade.  Here's what I'm looking for: I need anywhere from 8-12tb of storage space.  I have a networking rack in my closet with 6u's of empty space and that's where I plan and placing it. I have gigbit internet for really fast speed, for a residential building.

I was hoping to spend no more than $600-$700 (wife's limit) (Located in US)

it needs to be easy to use,

I have limited to no experience with building that's why my friend will be helping with building it.

don't care about brands

Thank you for any imput on this

 

Does that price include hard drives? Because that will eat quite a bit of your budget... On that note. Don't be lulled in by more hard drives is better mentality... more hard drives = more power consumption, heat, and complication.

 

If you're mainly just needing something to store and deliver files... For ease of use and power efficiency it is hard to beat a good old off the shelf NAS box. Something from maybe Synology or QNAP.

 

If you're eyeing retired Xeon based enterprise servers, I wouldn't really bother with anything older than Westmere (Xeon 5600 series CPUs). But be warned... Even the good old LGA1366 is pretty power hungry and starting to show it's age when compared to the latest offerings. But for the price it is really unbeatable IMO.

[schnuckss]

On ‎8‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 6:21 PM, Razor Blade said:

Does that price include hard drives? Because that will eat quite a bit of your budget... On that note. Don't be lulled in by more hard drives is better mentality... more hard drives = more power consumption, heat, and complication.

 

If you're mainly just needing something to store and deliver files... For ease of use and power efficiency it is hard to beat a good old off the shelf NAS box. Something from maybe Synology or QNAP.

 

If you're eyeing retired Xeon based enterprise servers, I wouldn't really bother with anything older than Westmere (Xeon 5600 series CPUs). But be warned... Even the good old LGA1366 is pretty power hungry and starting to show it's age when compared to the latest offerings. But for the price it is really unbeatable IMO.

thank you I went ahead and purchased a sinology drive bay with 4 Seagate 4tb hdd to allow for 16tb of storage. they also have built in gigabit lan so it will make transfers fast!!

[brob]

1 hour ago, schnuckss said:

thank you I went ahead and purchased a sinology drive bay with 4 Seagate 4tb hdd to allow for 16tb of storage. they also have built in gigabit lan so it will make transfers fast!!

Presumably the drives are models intended for NAS use.

 

When budget allows, consider implementing a RAID 1 or 10 array.