Home MM/FS/etc. Server

Humour · 29 Sep 2014 at 17:18

Hi all,

I've been trying to justify to myself for a while now to build a home server for various tasks, but thus far been content with an old iOmega NAS box good for file sharing and backups, but little else.

I've sourced a Corsair case a while ago along with a LSI RAID card capable of hosting 8 physical drives, but these have been gathering dust for months as I wasn't sure which way to go with the rest of the hardware, or just didn't have time to put into research.

I'm now leaning on the following:

1. Intel i3-4130T Processor (85 ish)
2. ASRock H97M Pro4 (65 ish)
3. Corsair CS550M (60 ish)
4. Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD (60 ish)

The above comes to just shy of 280 quid, subject to where I buy the parts from and will provide the basis of the system along with the RAID controller and Case.

Obviously I am aware that the major cost will come in the form of the storage, so this is intended to be sourced separately at a point in time that suits.

My thoughts are to build the box, host the OS (choice to be determined), and configure and test the box for reliability before I fork out on storage and move all my digital data onto it.

The intention is to have this box do all necessary home server jobs for the next 5 years. In terms of what these are, mostly file sharing, media streaming over DLNA a library of Bluray/FLAC/etc. possibly also host a home CCTV system recording server and other bits and bobs as they come up.

What I'm struggling with at the moment is:

1. Dual channel "low voltage" memory for said motherboard (2x4GB minimum)
2. Choosing an OS for this project

Any thoughts and opinions on hardware, OS, or out of the box ideas will be welcome.

BR, Humour

ASE001 · 30 Sep 2014 at 07:50

If this is switched on 24/7, then i3-4130T looks to be a reasonable choice at 35Watts? But you need to pair it up with a descent efficient power supply. Possibly get rid of the RAID controller, it's consuming power and you are not visualizing. The built in software RAID of the motherboard or that provided by OS should be sufficient for your needs.

For the OS then anything Plex media server will run on?

Shad · 30 Sep 2014 at 07:55

+1 for an efficient PSU - something like a Silverstone Strider Essential Gold - 500W would be a good bet.

Humour · 30 Sep 2014 at 19:03

ASE001 you are correct, the intention is to setup for 24/7 headless but I'm also considering setting up WOL and RDP access so when not required can be switched off. Yes the i3 choice is 35W tdp.

The Corsair PSU I listed is a Gold rated unit with efficiency in the 90%.

I take on board the comments about raid, but I have two issues with the Software RAID approach.

1. I can only have as many drives as the Mobo supports, which in most cases is 6 Sata ports. On top of this, to have all 6Gb's ports will require a step up in Mobo to something above the £120 range.

2. I currently have the setup suggested through my PC for media streaming on a P67 setup and I'm not convinced that the performance is there to stream movies at 50Mbps data rate when other demands are put into the equation.

Hence the thinking that my Hardware raid controller will meet the disk density (up to 8 with the card I have) and hopefully the performance element. Plus if I want to expand to more drives, another card can be added, though granted I will have to migrate into a bigger chassis capable of supporting upwards of 10 disks (current chassis limit).

On the OS side, I'm not aware of Plex media, will have to look up what this option offers....I was thinking perhaps MS for interoperability and support for dedicated CCTV software such as Genetec/Milestone, but the licensing will add to the cost.

Hum.

Frozennova · 30 Sep 2014 at 19:27

Remember 50Mbps is not the same as 50MB/s

You could stream 10 files easily from just about any consumer drive at that bit rate.

Kei · 1 Oct 2014 at 10:54

I'd stick with the hardware raid card as a good one can support more drives than you can fit inside a consumer case using a sas expander. (I'm going for 12 disks in mine, but I could run up to 24 with one expander or 40 with two) My old lsi megaraid 8888elp is only 19w which is nothing next to the power consumption of the other components. Just remember that they need good airflow to keep cool.

Humour · 1 Oct 2014 at 14:24

Kei said:
I'd stick with the hardware raid card as a good one can support more drives than you can fit inside a consumer case using a sas expander. (I'm going for 12 disks in mine, but I could run up to 24 with one expander or 40 with two) My old lsi megaraid 8888elp is only 19w which is nothing next to the power consumption of the other components. Just remember that they need good airflow to keep cool.

Thanks for the feedback Kei. I have an LSI Megaraid card that I am considering using which as you point out provides disk density scalability.

I am currently reviewing and considering a different approach with Flexraid, but struggling to secure SATA port density through PCIe slots.

Personally I doubt I will require more than 16 disks through the lifespan of the server, but having the option to scale is always a positive.

@frozenova, yes I do know the difference

Humour

Frozennova · 1 Oct 2014 at 14:39

In which case you would realise that you even your average consumer drive will handle more streams before I/O becomes a concern than your ever likely to use, and secondly that SATA2 is never going to be a bottleneck either unless you intend on building your array with SATA drives.

Not to mention you will be hitting a network bottleneck on Gigabit before you hiy the bottleneck of a single spinning disk

Humour · 1 Oct 2014 at 16:03

@frozenova I understand your point and did so with the first comment, thank you.

I am intending to use SATA disks for the array, but more importantly I'm also aiming to size the sub-system performance envelope sufficiently to meet my demands over 5 years, which as I explained earlier will involve introducing a CCTV (in HD) system which does put a noticeable overhead on I/O, so whilst not a production environment the role will be multi faceted.

Perhaps you are looking at it from a single dimension (media streaming to devices) point of view?

Anyway other than the disk I/O capacity, what is your point just so I am clear?

BR, Hum.

Frozennova · 1 Oct 2014 at 20:30

I just think you are hugely over estimating the power will actually need.

My FX4100/12GB ram home server will happily run a couple of Windows Server Virtual Machines, a couple Win 7 and couple linux too and stream HD content to a couple of devices as well as serving general NAS duties.

You would also be better seperating Media/Storage drives and the drives used for CCTV (i.e WD Red/Seagate NAS for storage, then WD Purples for the CCTV system)