Home server setup

daztrouk

daztrouk

daztrouk

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Joined
24 Dec 2005
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811
Location
London
I installed VMWare on my PC, and have been playing around with a domain setup using virtual machines for a while now, but I’d like to get more hands on. I’ve had no hands on experience with RAID and would like to get into this, as well as delving more into the HW side of servers, rather than just the SW side only available by using virtual machines.

Ideally, I’d like to get a home server and get it setup with RAID so I can get some hands on experience, as well as just playing around with the server (testing backup procedures, setting up an FTP, diagnosing issues etc).

I’m on a limited budget, and was initially thinking of getting a slightly older spec PC, get a RAID controller card, a few HDD’s, slapping server 2003 on there and using that as a DC. Would that be suitable? The only issue I can think of that I’d be missing out on by going this way would be the lack of hot swappable support!? If anyone can suggest a suitable server model for the home that doesn’t cost the earth to purchase and operate, that would be appreciated, as I’d prefer to have all the server features available, rather than trying to mock one together. Also, if anyone has any other suggestions and recommendations that would be appreciated as well.
 
fobose said:
What sort of RAID was you thinking? RAID 1? 5? 1+0? :D
Click to expand...

Was thinking Raid 0, 1 and 5. The server will be used for gaining experience, and i understand these are the most common, so i'd test them all out at some point, eventually deciding on one that will stay on the system.
 
I'd recommend a 4-port RAID controller with something like the IcyDock SATA cage here. This will give you the opportunity to try differing RAID setups. You can use any old spare drive to run the Windows off.

One thing to remember is that not all RAID cards are the same, some are simply hardware with modified driver software, if you really want to get the experience of something closer to what you would expect in a production environment, its worth spending the money and getting something with dedicated silicon. These generally have better management capabilities and will give you the most wide ranging options such as true hot swapping and rebuild without taking the array offline.
 
Fully agree with Kalsius - I've using a PERC 6/i from Dell and the speed and options in the setup are much better. Using it on Serial Attached Storage, but the same rule applies. Buy quality cards secondhand off the bay especially as you are only needing them for testing and learning, when finished you'll probably get your money back.
 
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