I have been using/running unRAID for about 8 years. I started with a basic build, please see attachment for details.

 

However, now with dockers and VMs running, I feel like its a good time to upgrade my machine with server grade components. LimeTech has a good server hardware recommendation in their wiki page, but feels like its a bit outdated. I would like to build a system that will at least last few years without a dire need for an upgrade.

 

I would like to keep using my Cooler Master Centurion 590 case. But, these are my requirements:

• I would like to use the server as a development machine, where I can deploy/test code, run CI/CD tools etc.
• run about 10 - 15 dockers, mostly MariaDB, Plex, custom docker images with programs running on JVM
• run about 1 Ubuntu server or desktop VM. Maybe, use device pass through and use the Ubuntu Desktop VM with peripherals.
• Xeon (is i7 enough?) processors with multiple cores/hyper threads
• ECC RAM, is 32 GB enough or do I need 64 GB? Do I really need ECC ram?
• Motherboard that can support more than 8 SATA drives, I don't want to add SATA controllers. Currently, I have 5 hard drives, and one SSD drive as cache. In the near future I see myself adding one more SSD to create a btrfs pool.
• I am not into gaming, therefore I probably don't need a fancy graphics card.
• I would like the budget to be in between $1500 - $2000.

 

I am thinking, the budget should be good enough to get a decent system, including a new power supply. But, I have been wrong before. Could you please give me a list of hardware, similar to the LimeTech server recommendation, that is still current and compatible with unRAID.

 

Also, please do let me know if I am out of my mind, or it might not be possible.

 

Thanks,

Sagun

I moved this under "unRAID Compulsive Design" section. I tired deleting this thread, but was unsuccessful.

 

Moderators, please feel free to delete this.

 

Thanks,

Sagun