So first some background...
I've been running a very basic i3 Ivy Bridge (2 core + 2 HT) consumer grade Xenserver for the past 6 months or so. Its running an Ubuntu Plex server, a Debian Ubiquiti Controller server, and a Debian 'general purpose' download server. I've also got the initial install of a Windows 2012 Essentials server going which I'd like to turn into a DC when I get the time. These are all running 24/7 but dont really seem to tax the existing processor all that much which is great I suppose.
However - I've got some bigger plans that might include the following...
1 x Linux server to run some security analytics tools (e.g. ELK, Splunk w/ Free license, etc)
1 x Ubiquiti NVR server (Linux)
1 x Linux for reverse engineering/research
1 x Windows VDI for reverse engineering efforts/research
1 x Linux server for running proxy service(s) (testing only...wouldn't be up 24/7 necessarily)
1 x Windows VDI for hosting a Steam install and some emulators. I have some Steam Link devices that would be greatly utilized for my wife who loves retro games where I could centrally have the emulators and just stream the play through the network from a VDI instance. This would require a dedicated GPU I assume so IOMMU/PCI Passthrough would be required. This item isn't a deal breaker (in other words if having this raises the price ridiculously then I'll just drop it and rely on a cheap Ras.Pi)
I've got some other needs when doing home testing of OVA's or other virtual images that vendors provide me that I'd also like to leave some space for but those are my ideas right now.
As I write this, it doesn't actually seem like alot but if Im going to go through the process of purchasing new hardware (specifically the CPU/Mobo) then I'd like to do it right and not limit my future options...at least for a few years
My only other 'nice-to-have' would be that the mobo be a mATX or ITX board...this seems to severely limit my options so I guess perhaps I'll concede if there IS no other option. Its just that I bought a nice cube case that fits on my desk for this server a little while ago and it only fits up to mATX.
I've looked at AMD FX's but, while nice and readily available, Im hesitant about AMD for some reason. Yes they are cheaper but does the sacrifice in single core performance hinder my plans at all? I've also looked at the often referenced E5-2670's that are ~$100 on eBay but I dont believe there is a small form factor mobo for those that is available. Looking at other Xeon series chips, I just get a bit lost on how many cores should I need for running those workloads...what about HT...what mobo's are better if I am looking at doing IOMMU...there are a boatload of factors it seems and as a noob I get a bit lost.
So long story short...what do ya'll recommend? Power consumption isn't a HUGE deal but I'd like to still try and be a little economical
I've been running a very basic i3 Ivy Bridge (2 core + 2 HT) consumer grade Xenserver for the past 6 months or so. Its running an Ubuntu Plex server, a Debian Ubiquiti Controller server, and a Debian 'general purpose' download server. I've also got the initial install of a Windows 2012 Essentials server going which I'd like to turn into a DC when I get the time. These are all running 24/7 but dont really seem to tax the existing processor all that much which is great I suppose.
However - I've got some bigger plans that might include the following...
1 x Linux server to run some security analytics tools (e.g. ELK, Splunk w/ Free license, etc)
1 x Ubiquiti NVR server (Linux)
1 x Linux for reverse engineering/research
1 x Windows VDI for reverse engineering efforts/research
1 x Linux server for running proxy service(s) (testing only...wouldn't be up 24/7 necessarily)
1 x Windows VDI for hosting a Steam install and some emulators. I have some Steam Link devices that would be greatly utilized for my wife who loves retro games where I could centrally have the emulators and just stream the play through the network from a VDI instance. This would require a dedicated GPU I assume so IOMMU/PCI Passthrough would be required. This item isn't a deal breaker (in other words if having this raises the price ridiculously then I'll just drop it and rely on a cheap Ras.Pi)
I've got some other needs when doing home testing of OVA's or other virtual images that vendors provide me that I'd also like to leave some space for but those are my ideas right now.
As I write this, it doesn't actually seem like alot but if Im going to go through the process of purchasing new hardware (specifically the CPU/Mobo) then I'd like to do it right and not limit my future options...at least for a few years
My only other 'nice-to-have' would be that the mobo be a mATX or ITX board...this seems to severely limit my options so I guess perhaps I'll concede if there IS no other option. Its just that I bought a nice cube case that fits on my desk for this server a little while ago and it only fits up to mATX.
I've looked at AMD FX's but, while nice and readily available, Im hesitant about AMD for some reason. Yes they are cheaper but does the sacrifice in single core performance hinder my plans at all? I've also looked at the often referenced E5-2670's that are ~$100 on eBay but I dont believe there is a small form factor mobo for those that is available. Looking at other Xeon series chips, I just get a bit lost on how many cores should I need for running those workloads...what about HT...what mobo's are better if I am looking at doing IOMMU...there are a boatload of factors it seems and as a noob I get a bit lost.
So long story short...what do ya'll recommend? Power consumption isn't a HUGE deal but I'd like to still try and be a little economical