Need recomendations on new server componants

[jbates58]

hi everyone

im wanting to build a better backup server than i currently have now, as well as have some extra grunt for other things. and after a recent drive failure on my desktop, and losing a small amount of data (about 100gb) im looking to make live better.

so the current setup is a

• i3-6100
• 8gb ram
• Windows 10
• 3 x 6TB WD Reds (in STRIPED RAID through windows, (i know, a terrible idea but i think i have mitigated a bit of the risk with my setup))
• approx 7TB of data at the moment

so, i also HAD 3 x wd Black 4tb drives in my desktop in STRIPED windows raid as my data storage drive, and these were copied to the server, so i effectively had an offsite RAID10 (my server is located in my shed about 30M from my house) but after one of the heads dying in the wd blacks, and the data not been worth the cost of recovery, i have chalked that up to experience. and am happy to move on.

i have replaced the 3 4TB Blacks with Ironwolf 8TB drives in my desktop, but am happy to move them to my server and put the 3 WD Reds in my desktop.

but, i want to have some more security and do a few other things now, and i would like them to all be done on the one machine.

so the hopeful eventual plan is

new server:

• running some form of ZFS or other much better file system for data integrity and security
• run PFSENSE as a VM for some network security aswell as segregating things like IOT devices etc aswell as run things like suricata and pfblocker
• VM’s for playing around and learning
• run a synchronizing backup to my mates server (as we hold a copy of each others data in case of the worst case, where both systems at either end are lost (we have ordered a set of ubiquity power beams for this so we should be able to run the sync via LAN
• have a total usable storage of about 25TB (This allows for current needs, as well as 100% over provisioning for the future)
• future ability for security cam recording and storage
• windows update and cache server so that the computers talk to the server rather than windows all the time
  *Use PFSENSE as a network wide VPN for my personal internet connection with filters for apps like netflix where is isnt through the vpn etc (but thats later after its built and operational)

not needed:

• awsome transcoding ability as we dont run plex or anything like that
• dont realy need any “media and content” serving, as we stream all our content

so, i need some suggestions on new hardware to get.

as my friend is possibly also looking to upgrade his server, he will likely follow the same system as i do, however, he isn’t interested in the extra functionality that i am like vm’s etc… so the hardware will likely be duplicated in the 2 systems and he will need new drives (easiest to just get 8TB ironwolfs, i think 3 in each server will be sufficient)

the current setup is

both mine and my mates desktops backup to our servers and are kept the desktop : server backup is pretty on point, we also want to sync the servers to each other (but there is no need to sync his desktop backup to my desktop if that makes sense)

i will also like some suggestions on what OS’s to use, like unraid with freenas on top or something else as this is all new territory to me.

i think an AMD system will be better due to cost : performance and i would also like to spin up a VM that uses the un-used CPU power to mine crypto and AMD is the way to go for the specific coin i want to mine. and a host OS that supports PCIE pass through would be good, as i have 3 AMD gpus i want to install in the system to also mine with. so im happy to go balls to the wall with the CPU in my server, but my mate not so much

i hope that all makes sense and conveys what im after. if more info is needed, ask away

 

[jbates58]

i should also note that im looking to keep it to 4-6 Hdd in total (well max of 5 data and 1 ssd for the OS, unless SSD Cache will be handy, then i guess 4 spinners and 1ssd for cache and 1 ssd for OS).

 

[Stephan]

Epyc or Threadripper will eat alot of funds, Ryzen X3950 for example could support ECC but I really don't like the fan on the X570 chipset. X470 is a bit dated imho.

Also do not overcomplicate things. More important than ZFS is having a good backup. Much more often is data deleted by accident than hardware destroying your data. So invest in something durable like LTO first, if your data is worth something. Then look into journaled+deduplicating backup solutions like borgbackup.

Really important data I still burn on blu ray 50gb dual layer discs. Still durable, still good, cheap drives, hard to damage media. Flash without power will loose data within months or few years. SATA 3-5, SAS 4-8 years until sector defects show up.

 

[BoredSysadmin]

Since you're interested in PFSense, which you could run it as a VM on your server, but then you'd be connecting your hypervisor directly to the internet traffic. How safe this would be you think? My 2c is to get dedicated hardware to run PF or OPnSense like this little guy:
FW6A – 6 Port Intel® Celeron – Protectli
As far as striping or raid 0 - these only suitable for temporary files, which you absolutely don't care to lose. Remember, a single disk/SSD failure = total data loss. There is 0 protection. I won't put VMs on any harddrive based storage, unless it's a volume for VM residing on SSD, like file server.
Again, I'd put the OS and apps on SSD and your files on disks if SSD too expensive.

 

[pinkanese]

Just a thought...

It sounds like you don't need much processing power from the CPU. Your current i3 supports ECC ram and VT-d, which is what you need for PCI-e pass through. So in you could simply get a new motherboard that supports VT-d and some new ram to go with it. Only issue is none of the ones I have found have more than one PCI-e x16 slot, so you would need to run adapter/risers for multiple video cards. I haven't mined coins in a few years, but from what I recall CPU mining isn't cost effective, and not having a full x16 link with the video cards doesn't hurt performance in mining.

Something like a Supermicro X11SSH-F or Asrock E3C236D4U.

As for the OS, Proxmox would support everything you are interested in, runs ZFS and allows for pass through to VM's. I've been running it for a while on my home server and have been very happy thus far.

You might consider moving to a 6 drive raid Z2 array. And personally I would do a pair of mirrored SSD's for your boot drive and VM storage.