JMO

I haven't forgotten about this thread, and nor is this a "vapor-build" ...I'm just busy as heck with work atm. AS I mentioned earlier in the thread, I'll be away over Christmas. Will update mid to late January when I get back and have a chance to really sink my teeth into this project. Merry Christmas all!

Under $2k would be good. That board looks nice. Seems like a reasonable price to me. See the end of my post for an alternative. Yes, I had assumed that the SSD installs would sit outside my unRaid array. I am not concerned about software challenges at this point int time. So long as I can be certain I meet system requirements and compatibility I am happy (for the time being). I think the price si fairly reasonable for that mobo and I may not be spending as much on SSD's as you think. I already have an Intel x-25M 80GB available. So I'd be looking at something like this: X-25M 80GB - Microsoft Server + Exchange $0 OCZ Onyx 32GB SSD - VmWare $79 OCZ Onyx 32GB SSD - MythTV $79 Not too bad imho . The Antec 300 was bought some time ago as a cheap server solution, well before I decided to get serious about this build. It's still sitting in the box. 12TB should be sufficient to meet my storage needs for a while yet. You're wrong about how many drives you can fit in a 300 though 6 standard 3.5" bays + 5 in 3 + floor mounted 2.5" (300 has specific mount point) = 12 drives. Add two of these and you now have room for 14 drives. You would end up with 9*3.5" + 5*2.5"=14 Alternatively, you could add three of these and fit 16 drives. Works out as 9*3.5" + 7*2.5"=16 As another option, you could add one of these and fit the 11*3.5" + 5*2.5"=16. This does require a spare PCI slot thought (from what I can tell). I'm sure there are other equally valid combinations. Really, if you wanted to combine masses of 2.5" and 3.5" drives in your system, you could quite readily fit 20 drives in this case. Not suggesting this is a good idea, but it is certainly possible Some useful advice there prostuff, it's nice to get a little confirmation on some of my thoughts. A a matter of interest, my current desktop is an i7-930, EVGA X58 SLI Micro, Seasonic X-Series 650w, 6GB DDR3 (of some sort, I don't recall...and I'm lazy). Could I retire this rig to my server? The onboard NIC is realtek afaik, so this might be an issue. Otherwise I am just as happy to start organising a purchase list for my parts and proceed from there. Thanks everyone for the help thus far.

Ok, so the hardware issue is holding me up significantly. I can read until the cows come home, but without getting my hands dirty I will never get anywhere on this project. Hypothetically speaking- What hardware would you suggest for running: UnRaid VmWare MythTV backend(vmWare). Plan to later combine the front and backend on this machine once it is running. Microsoft Server 2008 + Microsoft Exchange 2008 (vmWare) I'm not too concerned at this stage how difficult it might be to get a machine such as this setup. My primary goal atm is to get an outline of what the minimum, and then ideal (read: reasonable) hardware requirements are. Worst case scenario, I scale back the role(s) of this machine to something that I can get to just *work*. At this stage these are my thoughts along with any concerns I have: CPU: AMD 1055T or i7 930. Enough grunt? Maybe it's overkill? Should I look to server chips like Xeon's? Also, does vmware support intel's hyperthreading - there is a lot of conflicting/confusing information out there...maybe it just depends on the version of vmware? RAM:12GB DDR3 (triple channel). Is this enough? Should I be looking at 16GB, or even 24GB +? MOBO: This one I am not sure on. Still looking. Will primarily depend on CPU and quantity of RAM. PSU: depends on final system configuration USB: unRaid install, can it be USB 3 or should I stick with 2? HDD1: SSD for VmWare HDD2: SSD for Microsoft Server + Exchange HDD3: SSD for MythTV backend (and later combined frontend/backend all things according to plan). HDD4: SSD for swap/cache. Not sure if this is needed. HDD5...n: Data drives + Parity CASE: Antec 300 TV tuner: Assuming PCI pass-through will work. Otherwise I will start looking at HDHomeRun. NIC: Possibly. Again there is conflicting/confusing information re: onboard NIC support for guests under vmware. Feel free to add anything I might have forgotten. I really appreciate the input and time. Thanks.

That mobo is sold out. Snooze you lose Thanks for the links, given me some reading to do over the weekend...if the gardening doesn't kill me.

So I'd like to get some more hardware for this build, I don't have a spare machine that i can start mucking around with at home as yet. So far I have been looking at the Intel i5-661. According to Intel (http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=43553) the 661 supports VT-x. Is that the only real requirement for VMWare? I probably would have bought this chip already except for the fact that i keep seeing posts around the place stating that the 661 does NOT support virtualisation. Anyone care to clarify, or offer comments on my chip selection? I figured this chip was a reasonable balance between CPU grunt and power consumption. Assuming I get the 661, any mobo thoughts? I plan on hooking up 8-10 storage drives at this stage, with two additional drives dedicated to OS/Software. VMWare will definitely be running of a SSD as per an earlier suggestion, any need to run unRaid on other than a mechanical drive? Once I have a machine up and running I will be getting stuck right in to making this box useful. I'm going to be very (online) community dependant through the entire build I think, so c'mon gang, a little help here!

I know how you feel. Guess I'll start with the suggestion on installing VM with unRaid. If When I get it up and running I'll write a complete guide, rest assured

First, thank you so much for taking the time to provide some input, it is very much appreciated. And second, trust me, you are not inexperienced when to compared to me. Ok, that sounds sensible. So maybe I can run my exchange server under a VM, and run unRaid native? Precisely! I see no point to not be getting more use from this machine. Honestly, i will access it 4-5 times a week for work, and the rest of the time it will hold backups and media. I don't watch *that* much television, so surely i can do other things with this box. The idea of multiple boxes for such infrequent tasks grates against my sense of form vs function. I've been lurking for the last couple of days, seems like a very well informed and helpful community. I have been posting on a couple of other boards around the place, but for some reason i cannot get much support/advice. Perhaps I need phrase my questions a little differently, like...I don't know much about this sh*t, can anyone help me with some advice?...or perhaps not I am sure I'll track more info. over the next few weeks with my pro-lurking. It's early days for me on this build. I'm going overseas for a month at Christmas and although it would be nice to have it up and running before then, I'm not one to rush beyond research into regret. Thanks!

Hi, First off, sorry for the lengthy post, but I have so much on my mind trying to pin this build down, that I am finding it hard to know where to even start…. I am looking for advice on a home server build. My basic idea is for a box that runs unRaid and Microsoft Exchange, one of which will be hosted under VMware. Budget is preferably under $1000. I already have my unRaid license, data drives and case. I have a problem though. I have absolutely no experience with unRaid, Microsoft Exchange or VMware. I have been trying to some research and to be honest I am finding it rather challenging to narrow down what exact approach I should be taking in both software and hardware configurations. My understanding is: - for VM more Ram is good - u can assign cores, physical or virtual (hyper-threaded?) to VM’s - unRaid does not have high system requirements - for MS Exchange I require a validated hypervisor for the server virtualisation, such as Hyper-V (is that the same thing as Intel-VT?) - not all modern CPU’s support hardware virtualisation - a cache drive is a good idea for unRaid. Would an SSD make a good cache or will TRIM issues and lifespan become factors? Here's a list of my needs as I have listed so far: MOBO: ? Uncertain as to how much bottleneck I might encounter from using controller cards for my drive array on the PCI bus. unRaid doesn’t stripe, so I am currently figuring that and any cards with 4 or less drives on them on x8 PCI or better will be fine? I have also read that the onboard network controller can make a difference to performance, with Intel supposedly the better choice. RAM: 8GB DDR3 CPU: i5-661? Is this overkill? GPU: I imagine it will be an integrated solution OS: UnRaid and MS Server, which one do I run in VMware? Also, is WHS a valid alternative to MS Server? CASE: Antec 300 PSU: Dependant on hardware config. RAID Controller: ? Keep in mind the case can hold 11 drives :Record FTA television (in HD). This isn’t a must have, in fact it’s a last minute addition to my list (as in, added it just now). If it's feasible for a TV tuner then great! :(secure) Remote access/admin :File serve to 4-5 clients. The server will be based in my home office and in addition to holding all my work files, will also stream HD content over my home Gb network. :Air Video host (http://www.inmethod.com/air-video/index.html;jsessionid=75B8A249E8E91DEEDBC1060458319C55) :Run a torrent client :Provide data backup. I don't care so much about backing up my desktop(s), as all the important files will be held on the server once it is built. Redundancy should focus on work files and photos, other media and software can always be replaced. Although my partner tends to hold a lot of her Uni. files on her laptop, so perhaps some kind of automated backup option for her might be worthwhile. :Integrate with Microsoft Outlook (email, calendar and my iPhone being the three big things I need to sync). I would be open to migrating to another email/calender system if needed/advised. I don't think I want to do anything crazy with this machine, but I'm still very uncertain as to what the "good" hardware choices would be. I basically want a SBS/Media server. I am not overly bothered by cost within reason. I don't specifically need a "low budget" build, but I also don't like wasting my money. I'm really going with what the community recommends here . With that in mind, it would be nice to run something that is power efficient as this will be a 24/7 machine. Also, does anyone have any suggestions as to what I might do (or that a server should do) with my server that I haven't thought of? It has been a long time since I used a server in a work environment, and I would be more than open to any constructive thoughts. I am more than happy to come back and clarify any of the requirements and address any points raised. Thanks for your time.