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Building a home server. Please help, DC!
superboyac:
What do you guys think of the Dell PowerEdge R710 units? They seem to be popular and reliable from what I've read.
superboyac:
Stoic, I just spoke to Geoff from Stallard. He's a great person to talk to, thanks for that recommendation. Very knowledgeable and easy to understand.
Stoic Joker:
Stoic, I just spoke to Geoff from Stallard. He's a great person to talk to, thanks for that recommendation. Very knowledgeable and easy to understand.-superboyac (May 23, 2011, 04:55 PM)
--- End quote ---
Yeah he's a hell of a good (real people kinda) guy. And he does know what he's doing.
So why the R710? Are you planning a rack system?
You're not going to have 500 users, so you really don't need QuadCores. So why not go back one more generation to a 2900 (tower) or 2950 (rack). You can still get ( 8 hot-swapable) 3TB drives on a 6I controller in the box with redundant power supplies.
I just picked up one of the 2900's around the first of the year. I got it with 4GB RAM, and 2 Xeon (5060) 3.2GHz CPUs. Serving the accounting db to 20 users at the office is super fast. The old HP NetServer LH3 used to take 30 - 45 minutes to do a from the application local backup. The 2900 doesn't even take a full minute to do the same thing.
Could be a lot more bang for your buck, if you don't need that close to the cutting edge.
40hz:
I'm not generally too enamored of Dell. But I have to say I have never had serious issues with any of their servers. And that goes back to the 90s when I first started not insisting on IBM, Compaq or HP (they used to be two different companies back then!) for server deployments.
Dell does a nice reliable server. I have clients with Dell servers that have been running continuously for years. And if we set them up, the only time they ever need to get power-cycled is when a software upgrade requires it, or if a drive is getting replaced because it threw a SMART alert.
One additional thing I really like about Dell is they don't load their servers up with a bunch of proprietary technology, or adopt their own vocabulary for common industry-wide terminology.
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Agree (like I almost always do) w/Stoic regarding the spec for your personal server. Unless you're planning on supporting more than 100 heavy users, the 29xx series (or equivalent) should do ya fine. And since you're mostly talking "file & print" as your core function, even the 29xx will provide you with more power than you need right now. Which is great because you'll have room to grow.
For you, the most expensive components you own will probably be your disk controllers if you're serious about running something like 15Tb worth of storage. Muy macho! I like! :Thmbsup:
Note: If you plan on running Windows Server, put any spare money you have into RAM (up to 8Gb) first. 4Gb is a good number. Probably 4Gb the sweet spot for what you'll be doing. So start with that and up it if you think you need to. Don't bother going past 8Gb however, because you'll start getting diminishing returns unless you have a lot of simultaneous users.
re:CPU - go with Intel if at all possible. I know you can arguably get more bang for the buck with AMD. Don't bother unless you're a heavy-duty Linux or BSD wonk. Intel OWNS the Windows server marketspace. And when it comes to CPUs, be sure to check for: 64-bit with support for virtualization. Because that's where everything is going - if it hasn't already gone there.
8)
superboyac:
Yeah, I just threw that R710 model out there. That was before talking to Geoff. Now, I'm sort of relying on his analysis to recommend something for my needs. So I don't have any idea at this point what models I'll be using.
40hz: regarding your comments, I have a couple of questions. if not Dell, what other brands would you consider? Also, how hard would it be to build a Dell-like server? I always prefer building things myself because I get to choose each part specifically, and I end up knowing how to do the maintenance later on, when necessary. Now, as an older and wiser person, I am moving away from all that DIY stuff, especially since I am extremely busy now and I can afford way better things than I used to. So if something is reliable and made well, I'll just buy it if it's in a rather large price range. People on this forum are always concerned about how much I pay for things, and I appreciate their concern (but I probably spend a little more "liberally" than most people are comfortable with).
About prices, it sounds like this project will cost me around $3-5000 or something. Which is fine, and I hope it's a reliable setup. I'm very excited about having my own server and trying to clean up my life. I want as much of my "stuff" as possible on hard drives and backed up. Then I can clean out unnecessary paperwork and cabinets and other useless things that I've held on to. I'm in the middle of a whole clean up phase in my life. I simply don't need or care to have a lot of the things I have. DVD's, useless books, unused furniture, all that type of junk. I just want to remove all the clutter. This server will really help me do that. All the stuff I have backed up on spare drives and cd's and dvd's, it's all going on the server.
The next step would be to create my own private network, or intranet, or VPN, or whatever you call it. if I can accomplish that, I'm really set. especially if I can do it using no other cloud services or anything. The only service I'd like to employ is the ISP, and that's it. If I can achieve that level of computing independence, I'll be very happy.
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