Home Network and server set up and questions

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

Calmseas6

New Member
Mar 15, 2019
4
0
1
Hello all. New to the forum but have been know to lurk. Have fairly limited IT knowledge but have always built my own gaming and work PCs. Some years ago I retired an old 2gen i5 and set it up with WHS2011. It has since been upgraded to WS2016 Essentials. Either the power supply or mother board has given up after about 10 years and it turns off intermittently. Time for an upgrade.


Found a decent deal on a Dell T30 with the E3 1220 v5 and 8gb ram. Going to add a 240 gb SSD for the OS and VMs along with any applications. Then plan to set up a Raid 5 for data back up, etc. Utimately will probably add a PCI Sata card to allow for more drives, and migrate into a different case or add a NAS. The roll of this server is PDC, file and print server, VPN unless I decide to use Netgear router for this, RDP gateway, client backup, and media server (mainly music at this time).


After buying the server I stumbled on a deal on some FLIR IP cameras and ended up buy 5 of them. Now I am wondering if I can use the same server to monitor and save the video from the cameras. I purchased a Brocade icx 6430 that I plan to use to connect and power the cameras as well as my server, desktop, and wireless clients connecting to my router. I am thinking I will need to set up a VLAN for the cameras which I am not sure if this will create a problem because the server has a single NIC and will need to serve both networks. I have an HP Pro Curve 3500yl as a backup, but it uses more power and is louder than the Brocade so I think I am going to give the Brocade a try.


So my main concern is whether this server will handle all these roles? Also I am open to any suggestion as to how to structure the network. I think my Netgear router is my DCHP server but I may have to put it in AP mode and add that role to the server.

I also have a 1u Dell Enterprise grade that is older but has dual processors and NICs but I don't have a place to set it up where noise and heat won't be an issue.

Any hardware or other suggestions are greatly appreciated. This should be a great learning experience! Thanks!
 

pricklypunter

Well-Known Member
Nov 10, 2015
1,708
515
113
Canada
Welcome to the madhouse :D

You will find things sorely lacking with only 8MB of RAM to play with, so look to max that out if you can. You will want more NIC's too, so an Intel add-in card will be highly beneficial. If you can find a 4 port one at good money, then great, you could get away with 2 ports, but you will likely trade off some possible options open to you further up the road. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. RAID is not a back-up solution, don't treat it as such. It's function is to provide redundancy in the event of a failure, this only minimises down time and provides something of a safety net to allow you to manipulate your data in such manner as to mitigate the problem. RAID5 is also not a great plan if your data is important, and this only becomes much more important the larger the storage disks become. If you plan on using large, modern spinning disks, consider starting with RAID6.

Don't allow yourself to get overwhelmed, break it all down into manageable chunks. Think modular and remember, there's loads of folks here that have the experience and knowledge to share when you get stuck with something, so don't be afraid to do a bit of research and ask questions!

Best of luck with the build, don't forget to get a build thread going in the DIY forum so we can all get a peek at your progress :)
 

Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
6,626
1,767
113
Hope this is not only adding to the confusion but it sounds as if you could use XPEnology (Synology based NAS OS) to perform most of your duties (with the mentioned additional ram/nics). You'd have to check if the cameras are compatible and or if 5 work without additional licenses but that might be a fairly simple solution. Only thing I am not sure about is whether it could be used as RDP gateway (without deploying another vm on top of the basic os which needs more ram).
 

Calmseas6

New Member
Mar 15, 2019
4
0
1
Welcome to the madhouse :D

You will find things sorely lacking with only 8MB of RAM to play with, so look to max that out if you can. You will want more NIC's too, so an Intel add-in card will be highly beneficial. If you can find a 4 port one at good money, then great, you could get away with 2 ports, but you will likely trade off some possible options open to you further up the road. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. RAID is not a back-up solution, don't treat it as such. It's function is to provide redundancy in the event of a failure, this only minimises down time and provides something of a safety net to allow you to manipulate your data in such manner as to mitigate the problem. RAID5 is also not a great plan if your data is important, and this only becomes much more important the larger the storage disks become. If you plan on using large, modern spinning disks, consider starting with RAID6.

Don't allow yourself to get overwhelmed, break it all down into manageable chunks. Think modular and remember, there's loads of folks here that have the experience and knowledge to share when you get stuck with something, so don't be afraid to do a bit of research and ask questions!

Best of luck with the build, don't forget to get a build thread going in the DIY forum so we can all get a peek at your progress :)
Thank you for the response! I was worried about the RAM. Originally I was thinking about getting another 8gb dimm but now I am thinking 16gb is still going to be short, especially with multiple roles and potentially a VM or two running.

I will probably have to hold off on setting up the raid until I get an additional card since the T30 seems to only support 4 drives natively. Since one is gone to the SSD for the OS. I am starting to lean more towards migrating the hardware into a different case with a different PSU that has the additional connections for more drives. I have a large external drive for backup right now that I will probably continue to use as a backup solution until a better option comes along.

I am searching for a deal on the 4 nic card now and will probably start a DIY thread. Thanks for the welcome!
 

Calmseas6

New Member
Mar 15, 2019
4
0
1
Hope this is not only adding to the confusion but it sounds as if you could use XPEnology (Synology based NAS OS) to perform most of your duties (with the mentioned additional ram/nics). You'd have to check if the cameras are compatible and or if 5 work without additional licenses but that might be a fairly simple solution. Only thing I am not sure about is whether it could be used as RDP gateway (without deploying another vm on top of the basic os which needs more ram).
I will definitely look into this option, thanks for the tip! I have always used Windows because that is what I am most familiar with. Ultimately I will probably have to get away from it due to the cost of the licenses. I have used Hyper V for VMs in my home lab previously, so I would have to find something else for VMs. I use VM Ware on my desktop PCS to run Ubuntu VMs when I need a set up that I can start fresh if it gets corrupted. I think it is a very limited free license though.

The 5 cameras are made by FLIR. They were on closeout so hopefully I am not about to discover the reason why. I searched around and didn't find anything bad about them. I will dig in and see if they would be compatible. They look like they have fairly broad support for different platforms.
 

pricklypunter

Well-Known Member
Nov 10, 2015
1,708
515
113
Canada
A good route to take for VMWare licenses, if VMWare is the way you want to go, is their VMUG offering. There are lots of open source hypervisors available to you as well, if you want to roll up your sleeves and get into playing with some Linux or other OS's. They all look pretty complicated to begin with, especially if M$ is what you know, but an hour or two having a play and following a couple of 'tube tutorials and you'll be off and running. Once you get the bug, you'll never look back :D
 

Calmseas6

New Member
Mar 15, 2019
4
0
1
A good route to take for VMWare licenses, if VMWare is the way you want to go, is their VMUG offering. There are lots of open source hypervisors available to you as well, if you want to roll up your sleeves and get into playing with some Linux or other OS's. They all look pretty complicated to begin with, especially if M$ is what you know, but an hour or two having a play and following a couple of 'tube tutorials and you'll be off and running. Once you get the bug, you'll never look back :D
Thanks. I am definitely going to start playing with some other OS. I think there is a lot out there to explore and learn about. I did pick up an Intel Pro/1000 VT quad today for $15. Couldn't find an i350 write as low and it seems like the Pro will suit my needs. Keeping an eye on some H700 and 710s but I think some of my other needs are more important. I would like to improve my backup solution soon as that is probably more important than redundancy right now. I need more and bigger drives too. Watching for memory you, the ECC stuff is pricey. Looks like at least $300 to get to 64gb.

I'm excited to get started, appreciate all the feedback already! This site seems like a great resource with lots of knowledge!