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[SevenEleven]

Hello everyone,

 

Thanks in advance for reading, and any help that you can provide.

 

We are renovating our house top to bottom. With that I am planning on upgrading the home network and server to a rack mounted solution.

 

I currently have an unraid server that is several years old, and I will likely just sell of the parts.

 

I am looking to spend in the medium range of cost, not real cheap. But not on the highest end either.

 

I am not super fussy about how many drives I use, my current system is 7TB over 3 drives and is almost full. So I would probably want to be in the 10-15TB range with some room to expand later. But not anything massive.

 

I plan on running a couple of VM's - Home Assistant on linux, and Possibly a Windows VM for when I need it. I also run 4 dockers, and would like to continue doing that. NZBGet, Sonarr, Radarr and PiHole

 

For the speed of the drives currently two of them are 5400, and the other is 7200 I do stream media from them, havent noticed any issues. So I assume more 5400's would be fine?

 

I am way out of touch with what is current with MOBO's, processors etc. I read into supermicro, but there are so many options I am not sure which way is up with that. Or if it is even a good solution for me. I came across it when trying to learn about rackmounted enclosures. I havent purchased a rack yet, but I am kind of thinking that 2u might be enough space for what I want to do?

 

I will be making most purchases online in Canada if that matters at all

 

Thanks again for any suggestions.

Edited February 24, 2021 by SevenEleven
Added location

[Energen]

Your only factor to consider is hard drive space, current and future expandability.  You may find a particular 2U that offers enough drive capacity but I'm not sure what the maximum would be.. or plan for your maximum size by using larger capacity drives.  4x 10TB for example.

 

Hardware wise you don't need anything too crazy.  Compare what you're using now and how it performs to what you can get for current gen hardware.  A Ryzen 5/7 offers a lot of performance for the money if that's the platform you're ok with using, but you would need either an ASRock Rack (server grade) motherboard or any other consumer motherboard for a Ryzen platform.

 

SuperMicro has good (server) boards but somewhat limited Intel CPU compatibility.

[SevenEleven]

Would you suggest budgeting for a larger case? Like maybe 3u? I havent purchased a rack - still planning, so I am flexible that way.

 

Im very out of date with hardware, its not something I follow much unless I am planning on something. Is there limitations to a Ryzen system that would cause frustration? Or is it that the just dont have as much choice when it comes to the motherboard?

 

Thanks for your reply. 

 

 

[Energen]

5 hours ago, SevenEleven said:

Would you suggest budgeting for a larger case? Like maybe 3u? I havent purchased a rack - still planning, so I am flexible that way.

 

Im very out of date with hardware, its not something I follow much unless I am planning on something. Is there limitations to a Ryzen system that would cause frustration? Or is it that the just dont have as much choice when it comes to the motherboard?

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

The size of the case only depends on your hardware requirements really..  drive space, basically.  You can see in my signature for my Ikea lack rack that I have a couple 4U cases, you may or may not want that size.  I don't know how many drives you can fit into a 2U, so it depends on what you can find.

 

As for Ryzen -- the only thing I know of is that there may be a command or two to add to your configuration files but other than that it runs pretty smooth.  The choice of motherboard is the issue when comparing server hardware and consumer hardware.  If you want a server board with server features there's not much to offer for Ryzen.

[SevenEleven]

On 2/25/2021 at 8:04 PM, Energen said:

The size of the case only depends on your hardware requirements really..  drive space, basically.  You can see in my signature for my Ikea lack rack that I have a couple 4U cases, you may or may not want that size.  I don't know how many drives you can fit into a 2U, so it depends on what you can find.

 

As for Ryzen -- the only thing I know of is that there may be a command or two to add to your configuration files but other than that it runs pretty smooth.  The choice of motherboard is the issue when comparing server hardware and consumer hardware.  If you want a server board with server features there's not much to offer for Ryzen.

Not sure I want to have to add things to the configuration to make it work. But not completely out of the question.

 

When building a system what piece do you suggest I start with? Case, Motherboard, processor?

 

I am assuming that if I want to add a standalone graphics card that I will have to wait a while to be able to get one?

 

 

[Energen]

5 hours ago, SevenEleven said:

When building a system what piece do you suggest I start with? Case, Motherboard, processor?

 

So with your desire to use a rack mount system I would say that you start with two things simultaneously... the size of your case, and then the CPU.  But with that, CPU choice is simultaneously determined by the features you want on the motherboard. 

 

However, I probably make things more difficult than they need to be.

 

So first -- choose a case.  If you want a graphics card (at any point now or later) then you most likely should look at 4U cases.  I believe there are ways to get a full size card into a 3U case by mounting it horizontally but I've never done it, never looked at what's needed, wouldn't want it for myself.  You can also use a CPU with onboard graphics for any transcoding you might need, depending on what else you might have wanted a video card for.

 

Next, CPU and Motherboard --  do you want server features like IPMI? That's headless remote management of the system, i.e. you can change BIOS settings remotely without needing a mouse/keyboard/monitor connected to the server, and other motherboard related settings...  IPMI is mainly one of the only reasons to get a server grade board.  If you don't care about IPMI then you have a whole world of options.

 

If you want IPMI -- you basically have two choices.  ASRock RACK and SuperMicro -- there are some others such as Gigabyte boards -- but these are the two main brands that everyone uses and could potentially help you with if you had any problems.  ASRock boards will give you the option of a Ryzen platform whereas SuperMicro only has Intel options (with exception of the big $$$$ EPYC cpus).

 

If you don't want IPMI then you can use any motherboard/CPU combination that you want.

 

So once you figure out your server/consumer platform (IPMI/non-IPMI) then you can choose a CPU that fits either build.  That's why I say it's sort of a cpu/motherboard simultaneous decision to make.

 

You don't seem to need anything super-super powered for the CPU, but I wouldn't start out by limiting yourself to something low powered.  Ryzen 5/7 offers a lot of performance for the price.  So do some Intel cpus.  I use https://www.cpubenchmark.net/ to compare rankings on various cpus.. if I've narrowed down a socket type for the motherboard I want I look at cpus for that socket and compare single threaded ratings and multi threaded ratings, as well as the number of cores/threads available.

 

For example, part of my upgrade process was comparing my old Pentium CPU to my new Xeon CPU https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-Pentium-G4560-vs-Intel-Xeon-E-2246G/2925vs3523 and while it's not a mind blowing upgrade, it was enough of an upgrade for what I needed/wanted.

[PeteAron]

Regarding cases:  I have two cases the rosewill 4500 and cooler master N400.  Both are fine and at least decent values.  But your needs may differ.  

 

My primary server has 13 drives and two spares, in the 4500.  This case holds 15 drives in a rackable 4U layout.  I have two banks of 3 fans and ventilation is more than enough.  They make noise.  The drive mounts are toolless and probably the best i own.  However, drives are mounted in 5-drive cages.  The only hassle is that to remove or add a drive, it's drive bay needs to be removed, and this involves removing all of the SATA and power connections to those five drives.  That's the worst of it, though, it's a great case, esp because i bought it on 2012 for about $100 =P

 

I just bought the N400 because it isnt $200 and i dont need another 15 bay server.  This case is pretty roomy, and importantly, it has an 8 bay drive cage at the front with mounting locations for 2 120mm fans.  Above that is an external 3.5 and two external 5.25's - it would be easy to change that bay into an insert for 3 3.5's and get a total of 11 drives into this case.  It's also a very good layout for a server that I would recommend for you.  Dont get a case that will only hold 3 or 4 drives, you will use the extra slots if not now, sooner than you think.  

[PeteAron]

Seven,

 

while you're considering builds, i suggest you google Killer NAS 4.0 and check out builds there.  There's also a 5.0 thread.  I am in the process of building a new backup server (thus the N400 case) and wondered a lot about this.  I got no input from folks here on my build and when i discovered that thread I learned a lot from that.  Now, this is all discussing used hardware and that may or may not be your thing, however, there are many very reliable boards out there that will serve for another decade or so ... i could not justify buying new hardware.  Based on that, here is the thought process I went through.

 

My current server is from about 2011.  It is going strong and i expect that to continue for some time.  but it is time for backup hardware.  I have a supermicro C7P67 and i really like the reliability and reputation of supermicro.  So my search stuck with them.  the P67 is a consumer board (i.e, i3, i5, i7), and i decided to look at server boards from them.  For NAS 4.0 we are talking supermicro boards beginning with X9, and for 5.0 we are talking X10 boards.  Nas 4.0 and 5.0 refer to the socket.  4.0 is LGA 1155 and 5.0 is LGA 1150.  There are a lot of these boards available on ebay and there are also complete servers there in the several hundred range; i am cheap and know exactly what i need so i elected to purchase a board, cpu, and memory all used.  

 

Looking at 4.0 vs 5.0, the pricing sweet spot right now is 4.0; 5.0 is a little more expensive - basically i spent an additional $50 ish for my 5.0 config.  I wanted 6 SATA ports and one of the cheapest options is the X10SCM-F, which i bought.  Now for the cpu, i am using this only for storage, and i wanted to minimize power draw.  So i chose the 25W E3-1230L v3.  Not a rocket but will be more than fast enough for my need.  I added 16 GB of the right ram and i am good to go.  You would likely be more interested in the E3-1280 v3, with passmark ~ 10,000.  

 

Now if you search around a bit you will see many dual cpu options from supermicro for not a lot more cash - in the $100 plus area.  This will get you on the path to 20,000 passmark if power is what you want.

 

I hope that helps.  The serverbuilds.net folks have lots of good information on hardware there.  Unraid is a fixture in these discussions in case you want more information.

 

good luck,

 

kf

 

 

[SevenEleven]

On 3/3/2021 at 11:40 AM, kimifelipe said:

Seven,

 

while you're considering builds, i suggest you google Killer NAS 4.0 and check out builds there.  There's also a 5.0 thread.  I am in the process of building a new backup server (thus the N400 case) and wondered a lot about this.  I got no input from folks here on my build and when i discovered that thread I learned a lot from that.  Now, this is all discussing used hardware and that may or may not be your thing, however, there are many very reliable boards out there that will serve for another decade or so ... i could not justify buying new hardware.  Based on that, here is the thought process I went through.

Thanks so much for all your help. I am working my way through all of this information. Lots to process.

 

You both have been very helpfull. Thanks!