New Home Server Recommendations

scotsdragon

scotsdragon

scotsdragon

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1 Apr 2013
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Dundee, Scotland
Im turning my old quad core into a home server my main reasons for doing this are like most back ups and file sharing but im going into networking in college and would love to practise a lot at home as i learn more by doing aswell as theory.


My server will be 3.2ghz quad core amd
8gb ddr3 1333mhz
2x 2tb seagate barracuda from OC's clearance line
and a 430 watt corsair builder series (i know its overkill but since its only 40 quid and a good make from OCer)


My main point is is it worth me paying 40 pounds for windows home server 2011 or are their better alternatives since college uses windows mostly this is why i thought of sticking with that.

all ideas and advice is most appreciated :D
 
I thought about nas's but i dont want just a network storage i want my server to grow as i learn new skill at college hence why i thought of WHS
 
scotsdragon said:
I thought about nas's but i dont want just a network storage i want my server to grow as i learn new skill at college hence why i thought of WHS
Click to expand...

ESXI ;) but if you are new it's not for the faint hearted. ESXI gives you virtual desktops than can be accessed via a client on any workstation on the network. This gives you whichever operating systems you like virtually.

ESXI is a linux based OS, then you add your virtual based OS's on top of it. Lots of experience gained if you can run ESXI with virtual desktops and keep your data safe...

http://i.imgur.com/brMbnuX.jpg | http://i.imgur.com/uTBQhkN.png
 
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mrbell1984 said:
ESXI ;) but if you are new it's not for the faint hearted. ESXI gives you virtual desktops than can be accessed via a client on any workstation on the network. This gives you whichever operating systems you like virtually.
Click to expand...
Yeah but... no but....

The "problem" with ESXi is that if you want best performance, you need to invest in the right hardware (ability to pass disk controllers directly to the OS would be one I'd look for if I were running my home server on ESXi).

You really need to decide what you want to do. I have a full blown FreeBSD machine here as my home server (primarily because it runs ZFS) and I also have an ESXi server which I use for lots of other things such as my firewall, dev machines, SQL servers and a pbx. The ESXi server manages a number of machines, and all the virtual machine disks are on an SSD for speed - I wouldn't consider building an ESXi server without fast disks (and LOTS of memory) underneath me.

Personally, I'd buy a NAS of some description as the home server (perhaps one of the HP micro servers) put a Linux variant on it and just share the disks via samba, and then build a separate ESXi server for tinkering with.

YMMV of course...
 
PS. "Networking" isn't home servers - or any other server for that matter. Networking is about setting up infrastructure and whilst a second machine helps you do that, you won't learn much there. In fact, that's where ESXi does come in - you can prototype network architectures on VMs very easily (I had several VMs running here which simulated machines on 2 private networks talking to each other via a router/firewall - all on a single VM server).
 
Yes i agree VM's are good my NQ end of year project was to set up a small buisness of 4 comps and one server speak to each other and allow file sharing (with microsoft virtuall pc). but if i go virtuall wont i still have to buy the OS's i want to imitate?
 
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scotsdragon said:
Yes i agree VM's are good my NQ end of year project was to set up a small buisness of 4 comps and one server speak to each other and allow file sharing (with microsoft virtuall pc). but if i go virtuall wont i still have to buy the OS's i want to imitate?
Click to expand...

If you are a student ask your place of study if they are enrolled on any student software deals. :)
 
So basically i should just turn my old old pc into a nas/media server and use my dream spark keys together with ESXI/microsoft virtual pc on my main rig and tinker with the server and pc's virtually like i have done in the past?
 
Because as was stated i have only done an NQ lvl so i am still very green, having more experienced peoples ideas on how i can proceed and enhance my knowledge helps a lot if i dont ask i wont know :) so thank you for your suggestion of free nas its somthing to tinker with and get all 4 comps and a laptop speaking to it a which should be fun i may be calling on your expertise again lol
 
scotsdragon said:
Because as was stated i have only done an NQ lvl so i am still very green, having more experienced peoples ideas on how i can proceed and enhance my knowledge helps a lot if i dont ask i wont know :) so thank you for your suggestion of free nas its somthing to tinker with and get all 4 comps and a laptop speaking to it a which should be fun i may be calling on your expertise again lol
Click to expand...

ESXi gives you the 'freedom' of using single hardware with multiple os's though so give youtube a scan.
 
Seconding ESXi as well. Brilliant tool, lets you hide the server away somewhere and use a client somewhere else to manage it and set up other VM's. With virtual console and being able to mount ISO's remotely it saves a lot of hassle.

Might be worth checking out if your college gets you technet access too, for free Windows and server operating system access.
 
You'll need to check that your NIC works with ESXi on the hardware compatibility matrix.
It may not as I suspect you will be using the onboard NIC so you'll need to check what chipset it is to find out.
Failing that just try and install ESXi and find out that way.

Worst comes to the worst you can spring for an intel NIC as they can be had pretty cheaply..
 
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