Looking to replace Micro Server

[kitkat9933]

Currently I have the following two server setup.

HP N40L:- Microsoft Server 2012 (upgraded to 8GB RAM)

Disks:

1. 250GB OS
2. 500GB CCTV Local Recordings
3. 2x 3TB (RAID 1) Data Drive

Purposes:

• Local Data Dumping Ground
• Backups of all my other machines
• CCTV Recording and uploading to online store
• Plex and other media streamers
• Hosting 2 Websites under separate Debian VM's under Hyper-V

Optiplex 330 (Old machine from work) -: Debian Wheezy

Disks:

1. 160GB OS
2. 2 x 2TB (RAID 1) - File sharing server (for personal use)

Purpose -> Normally switched off, but has WOL enabled so I can access stuff externally. Only the 2 VM's on my N40L can be access externally, which is why I use this machine.


I am looking to consolidate these two into a single box, to save power and because the Optiplex 330 is old and loud.

I will need it to have the following:

1. 16GB + RAM
2. Be able to handle OS Drive + my two RAID 1 arrays + at least another 1-2 disks.
3. Host a few vms for me to remote play with.

Any ideas whether I should I buy? or build my own? and what sort of spec to look for. As when I spec machines I go to OTT, which ends up costing too much. Also will need an idea of budget. Currently, not looking to buy any more drives so no need to cost them.

Also for my current Server 2012 Machine, can I just take the OS disk out and boot on a different machine?

Thanks,


James

 

[jaket]

I was in a similar situation however cost made me buy a hp microserver, I've got 5xhard-drives and 1 SDD in an N54L running Xpenology.

The below will handle your requirements;

Fractual Design DEFINE Mini - 6x 3.5" + SSD Slots and 2x 5.25" bays, could convert one.
Corsair 500W+, either RM or Builder series
Intel i3 4340
ASRock H87M PRO4 Intel H87
Kingston HyperX Beast 16GB (4x4GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Quad Channel Kit (KHX16C9T3K4/16X)
x6 Sata 6GBs / 2x PCI-E x16
2 x Startech 2Port Sata3 6gb/s PCI-E Card


Yes you can take out the OS drive and plug it in anywhere and it will work.

With wanting so many drives, the only real way is to build your own.

 

[Deleted member 138126]

ML110 G7

 

[Confused]

This is essentially my server:

YOUR BASKET
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34GM1600HC11DC01) £32.99
1 x Intel Celeron G1610 2.7GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £31.99
1 x Imp MicroATX Tower Case (500w PSU) £31.99
1 x Foxconn H67M Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £29.99
Total : £138.66 (includes shipping : £9.75).



Albeit I have an older Pentium G550. (If you purchase this board with an Ivybridge CPU, ask OcUK to put the latest BIOS on it, the shipped BIOS will likely give you a black screen, as I found when I purchased the above mobo/cpu/RAM combo for my sister's PC)

This runs WHS 2011, has ~8TB of storage, has MySQL for my XBMC instances across the house, as well as running CouchPotato, Sickbeard, Headphones, sabnzbd+, Argus-TV for Live-TV, Apache, OwnCloud, FTP server and a few other things I can't remember.

With 4x HDDs in it that are always powered up, it uses about 100W on average, and I never have an issue with it.

Being socket 1155, and with 4x DDR3 slots, you can drop in any processor you want, as well as plenty of RAM.

Yes, I'm even using the included 500W PSU, and in the last 18 months, it's been perfectly fine - however, you may want to look at a different case and PSU.

I think that a Microserver is limited in where you can go with it - it's total replacement. With a custom built system, especially one based around something like 1155, you've got plenty of options for upgrading - do you stick with a G1610 or do you put an i7-3770k in there? Or something inbetween?

 

[Frozennova]

You mention use virtualisation, is this hyperv or esxi, If you going to be using esxi and want hardware passthru then you need a non k series i5,and if looking at amd builds it gets more complex slightly as there are very few boards that do it properly.

 

[ASE001]

The latest FM2 socket motherboards like http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-464-GI&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=2399 'Gigabyte F2A88XM-D3H AMD A88X Chipset' supports hardware pass through. I've only tried it with a A10 5800K processor. Not sure about the other variants.

Why am I using this configuration, well the CPU was in the clearance section and cheap. The motherboard supports 8 SATA III devices and I have mixed bag of drives to plugin.

I'm running ESX 5.1, NAS4FREE and Pfsense.