I am new to the world of servers and have some general/basic questions

[jkemp]

As the title says, I am new to the idea of servers. I have spent the last two weeks researching, and while I have found many interesting hardware and software ideas, my basic questions have not been answered. I suspect this is due to the unconventional ideas I have.

I am comfortable with tinkering with computer hardware, but have yet to touch a server of any kind.

Two server variants I am looking into are the HP Proliant DL385 G7 and the Dell Poweredge R410.

Would I be able to install a typical desktop OS (Win7Pro, Win10Pro, Ubuntu, etc) onto server hardware? I know that servers are not intended to use typical desktop OSes or software, but I would like to be able to. In the situation that I cannot use a desktop OS, will Server 2012/2016 offer me a desktop experience?

I have no networking skills. How difficult would it be to set these up to access them from another machine? Hosting VMs on them, remote restart, a form of a NAS, etc. I am currently viewing a Hyper-V tutorial on YouTube, and this looks preferential but I want to make sure.

I am not afraid to cut them apart and add my own "mods." These are cheap systems and I am trying to learn more than make something pretty. How difficult would it be to make these accept SATA drives? Could I add SATA PCI cards and "jury rig" a HDD cage onto the top of the server? Basically, can I add storage capabilities that are not stock.

I have looked through this site several times, and there is obviously a lot of information here. Are there any guides/threads that you would point me towards initially? There is so much here that it is easy to get lost and lose track of what is and isn't important to someone with no experience.

Currently I do not have a server to play around with. Would it be sufficient to test things on a VM running Windows Server? Or will I run into problems related to VMs within VMs?

Thanks for any and all help!

 

[Patrick]

If you stay with 2x CPUs you will be OK for most desktop OSes. Server 2016, for example, can be installed with or without a GUI. The experience is close but there are some drivers that specifically look for desktop Windows. It is a pain.

Remote access, extremely easy. With Windows, remote desktop + PowerShell.

On the storage, frankly, you are better off with a slightly newer system if possible. Using Dell/ HP will be harder than white box style systems that are specifically made to add components.

Generally, if you are looking for feedback:

• Describe what you are trying to accomplish. For example, you have a 10TB video collection and you want to be able to watch movies remotely
• Describe a budget
• Describe a set of environmental constraints (e.g. power consumption/ noise)
• Describe if there are any special pieces of software or cornerstone technologies (e.g. it needs to be Windows)

That will help you get the best answers.