Daniel's Home Setup 2 - Discussion

[danioj]

I started a thread in 2015 which culminated in my current setup:

 

Main Server

 

M/B: Supermicro X10SL7-F Version 1.01

CPU: Intel® Xeon® CPU E3-1241 v3 @ 3.50GHz

Memory: 32 GiB DDR3 Single-bit ECC

Disk Capacity: 71 TB w / Dual Parity

 

Backup Server

 

M/B: ASRock C2550D4I Version

CPU: Intel® Atom™ CPU C2550 @ 2.40GHz

Memory: 12 GiB DDR3 Single-bit ECC

Disk Capacity: 15 TB w / Single Parity
 

I have no issue at all with my data requirements.  These machines are NAS workhorses and serve my needs perfectly.  Where I am starting to come up short are the ‘extra’ things I’d like to do with my servers. 
 

I’m not a ‘one box rules them all’ fan given I have a family and with the way unRAID is, taking the array down (or a problem with a single disk) can bring your house to halt so I stay away from running everything from one machine.  I’d love to do more with my backup server but it doesn’t support vt-d so I only have it power on once a day to take the backup from the main server. 
 

I run Home Assistant and PiHoles (mainly due to the ridiculous writes this thing does) on small little NUCs sat alongside my servers.

 

All my servers connect into one Gigabit (except the Dedicated IPMI which I feed into the router) switch (dual Nic aggregate bonds) which connect into an Asus AC88U.
 

On my Main Server I currently run LibreELEC VM which powers my Livingroom TV and a number of dockers including Plex supporting that. I have an Nvidia Card in there (on a riser cable) which means I don’t transcode and all my house clients are Rpi4’s and a 4 port Sata extender which has allowed me to increase my drive capacity to 16 Disks (mostly 8TB with a few original 3TB for data and parity and a 1TB SSD for Cache along with a 259GB SSD for the VM).

 

My backup server is full of WD 3TB Greens with a mechanical drive as cache (running the backup docker and a few non relevant others).
 

A good setup all in all (except some of my SATA ports on my Backup server are damaged - not an issue as the Case only allows 8 disks).

 

As I have inferred my needs are expanding.  I don’t however want to centre myself away from unRAID.  So I am thinking about how to do that.
 

I am preparing myself to move into a new home.  I want to setup a NVR (BlueIris) VM which will run 8 POE Cams.  I’m going to need POE switches for the Cams and a better solution to my Wifi needs as my new home is massive and while the little Asus worked in an apartment it won’t work in a large single storey house.  I’m going to need POE switches, Patch panels, Access Points. Those are a no brainer as UI has excellent products for them.  Going to go with Pfsense for my router and BluIris as I mentioned for my NVR do not going anywhere near the ‘Alpha‘ UDM Pro and their NVR solution in ‘Protect’.
 

Which means I will need to expand my current setup to acquire surveillance drive(s) and a VM powerful enough to run BlueIris.  I will likely move my TV client to a Rpi4 as server and equipment will end up in the garage (and not near the TV as it is now).  I’d also like to be able to virtualise things on my backup server (e.g while I’m not a one box rules all fan, my backup server would be a perfect solution for pfsense if I could pass through a 4 port Nic) but can’t.  I keep hoping LT will allow VMs without Array start but I won’t hold my breath.
 

I’m open to my Backup Server running 24x7 like my Main Server (given my pfsense comment above) but I’ll need to upgrade it to allow virtualisation support 
 

So ....

 

What I am thinking is this:

 

Move my current mITX SuperMicro Main Server setup into my backup Server case.  Use my mITX Atom Backup Server Setup into a SFF case (with an external PSU) as the base for a Pfsense router (with the 4 and 2 port Intel NICS I have in a drawer upstairs) and ultimately build a new 2020 Main Server.  If I end up getting a rackmount case for my main server (see below) I’ll ditch the Silverstone DS380 that houses my backup server and use my Main Server Fractal Define R5 case as my backup server. 

 

As you can see from my current Main Server, I didn’t cheap out on components. I went with very much recommended server grade products for the time for all the features (ECC, IPMI etc) and I don’t want to loose them.  Unlike back then, the Wiki doesn’t have a current recommended build and I am not sure where to turn (given we now have Ryzen with more cores than a MF) and how to proceed.  My initial thought was to just buy the natural upgrade to the x10sl7-F but there isn’t one!!! Certainly not one with as much Sata ports either. So I’m going to need an expandable card. Before I know it I’m outgrowing my current case (in my head) needing more PCIe slots and am thinking (given the network rackmount equipment I’m buying) I should build into a rack case - however the selection there isn’t simple either. Silverstone Tech had a great hot swap 16 Disk 2U case but They discontinued it. Others I’ve seen look crap. 

 

Long Story Short (too late I know), I believe I built the 2015 SOHO build and now I am after the 2020 SOHO Plus build. 
 

I know we all (deep down) love talking hardware and this is the prelude thread to an updated build thread I did in 2015 so am after suggestions, comments and general discussion on how to move forward!

 

Much like my journey in 2015, this should be a fun 6-12 months!!!  Glad it’s my 40th birthday year and have some approval to spend some $$!!