Home rackmounted server

wildest_jjk · 2 Sep 2012 at 12:03

Hey guys,

So I was looking for opinions on whether a rack server is worth it for home use and if so a prebuilt one or a custom built?

I want it for various reasons and to run it with my home lab for certifications that I am studying for. I would also like to run VM's on it for things like:

File server
Media streaming - TV's/Xbox/PC
Web server
Backups
General testing

What do you guys think?

Cheers

Shad · 2 Sep 2012 at 12:25

I think that if it's just for home and playing, and you're happy without manufacturer support, the DIY option is pretty attractive. I've just put together a file server in a good value 4u chassis using predominantly desktop components and it's doing the job nicely.

On the other hand, you can pick up surplus Dell/HP/etc servers on eBay for not a great deal more, and ultimately that may give you a safer and faster platform to build on and one which offers more support in terms of being a known quantity in the wider community. They're normally much noisier though

PhillyDee · 2 Sep 2012 at 12:48

I have been running a rack mounted server (4u, half depth) for the past few years. All desktop bits (low power stuff but still an i3 though) and has been stable. It has a UPS as well as all the patch panels and switcging gear in there. Perfectly reasible, and much easier to place the whole rack somewhere out of site. Mine is in the reptile room and has a viv on top of it.

If you buy a pre-built, expect it to cost a lot more, especially in a rack case! My case is from a large case company and I believe it cost about £65. Trust me and I can email you.

wildest_jjk · 2 Sep 2012 at 13:08

Thanks for the responses. I do already have a rack so that is not a problem luckily.

From what you have both said it seems you would suggest that building a server is best?

Would you guys or anyone else be able to spec me one? As I am not really sure what I would need for a server build. Also will building a server be compatible with all of the functions that I need?

Thanks again

djg85 · 4 Sep 2012 at 08:40

wildest_jjk said:
Thanks for the responses. I do already have a rack so that is not a problem luckily.

From what you have both said it seems you would suggest that building a server is best?

Would you guys or anyone else be able to spec me one? As I am not really sure what I would need for a server build. Also will building a server be compatible with all of the functions that I need?

Thanks again

Well I'm running ESXi 5 on my home-built server and have UnRAID, 2008R2 and a basic install of XP running off it quite happily. The motherboard I'm using has full pass-through capabilities and IPMI so you can do all the cool remote access stuff with the machine powered off

. In fact it's my first proper board with IPMI and I must say I'll never buy another server board without the feature!

Anyway your after some specs so here is mine..

Case: X-Case RM420
Motherboard: Supermicro X9SCM-F-O
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-2130
RAM: 2x Kingston KVR1333D3E9S/4G (although I'm adding 2x KVR1333D3E9S/8G soon)
PSU: Antec TruePower Quattro 850W
RAID: Dell Perc 5i / Dell H200 (only being used to provide Mini SAS connections to backplanes on case)
HDD's: 4x 2TB, 4x 1TB, 2x 500GB (all passed through to UnRAID), 2x 160GB 2.5" drives used for ESXi datastores, 16GB USB stick connected to internal USB port (ESXi/UnRAID install).

You can probably build something far cheaper with a desktop grade mobo/CPU and you might not need any RAID cards (I grabbed mine cheap of the bay) but after a few servers using old parts I decided to do things a bit more proper. Some of the HDD's and the PSU are the only "recycled" parts from other systems. I mainly use my box for media streaming to several PC's and laptops but it also runs AD/DNS/DHCP without any issues. There's still plenty muscle remaining so I could easily add a few more VM's. The only down side to my setup is the motherboard is a bit picky about RAM and only accepts unregistered ECC DIMMs (which are not easy to find in large capacities). My best advice is try and do a bit of research into exactly what you need and what you will want to do with the server in the future. If your sticking to your original posts requirments then my setup will work very well for you

Zarf · 4 Sep 2012 at 23:17

Main consideration is noise, prebuilts especially are not built for audio comfort so you need to be able to stick it out of the living areas of your house.
They'll also use a fair amount of power thanks to redundant PSU's, which are kept running "hot" and use around 60-100 PSU's from what i've seen at work.

A rack is another investment, might not be worth it for a single server. For home use I'd probably just grab an HP ML110 G7. It's great value with the cashback offer and is well built + quiet.

a1ex2001 · 12 Sep 2012 at 14:42

For a single server I don't see what advantages a rack could posibly offer and can see a lot of drawbacks in terms of more expensive hardware, noise and the rack itself. For the uses you have a tower chasis will be fine and take up less room that a rack and server. Racks only really come into their own when you wnt to house a large amount of computing power in one place.

PhillyDee · 12 Sep 2012 at 18:30

I have all my networking gear in mine. Patch panel, cable modem, router, 16 port gb rackmount switch, 2 wireless access points (g and n, purely because I bough an n and left the other connected) server, a UPS and store cables and wiring underneath it all.

Quite a lot of gear to leave hanging about in view. Mine lives in the reptile room and has a viv on top of it.

With a server tower, and gear perched on top, it just looks a mess. This way you can close the door, and out of sight, out of mind. IIRC I bought one for £45 from a member on here a while back. I would not pay a great deal!

GodAtum · 25 Sep 2012 at 13:36

PhillyDee said:
I have all my networking gear in mine. Patch panel, cable modem, router, 16 port gb rackmount switch, 2 wireless access points (g and n, purely because I bough an n and left the other connected) server, a UPS and store cables and wiring underneath it all.

How did you attach your cable modem into the rack?

I'm also thinking about setting up a rack server at home for file backup (fibre SAN). I'm not sure how noisy one 1U/2U rack server (for example a Dell R310) would be though as my flat walls arent that thick!

Deleted member 77746 · 27 Sep 2012 at 18:27

PhillyDee said:
I have all my networking gear in mine. Patch panel, cable modem, router, 16 port gb rackmount switch, 2 wireless access points (g and n, purely because I bough an n and left the other connected) server, a UPS and store cables and wiring underneath it all.

Quite a lot of gear to leave hanging about in view. Mine lives in the reptile room and has a viv on top of it.

With a server tower, and gear perched on top, it just looks a mess. This way you can close the door, and out of sight, out of mind. IIRC I bought one for £45 from a member on here a while back. I would not pay a great deal!

That was meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

PhillyDee · 28 Sep 2012 at 13:59

GodAtum said:
How did you attach your cable modem into the rack?

I'm also thinking about setting up a rack server at home for file backup (fibre SAN). I'm not sure how noisy one 1U/2U rack server (for example a Dell R310) would be though as my flat walls arent that thick!

The cable modem is free standing in the bottom alongside the UPS. The routers are on a cabinet shelf (1U) and the Wireless n has a PoE which means I can locate it quite high on top of a viv!