I started my life in IT as self-learning and side-projects, with a Dell R710 being a crown jewel of my lab at the time. When I moved I sold the server and downsized to a small PC as a server and a Drobo for RAID storage. But the itch has returned - and even working in a data center hasn't scratched the itch!
If you look at a couple of my previous posts, I was hoping to start this build as something "simple" and "unobtrusive"... which went out the window quickly when I realized the motherboard I bought is ATX sized... but 90 degrees rotated from normal. My goal to have everything in something like a Node 804 went out the window which meant I now said "well I might as well go all-out now!"
The specs of the server now sit as:
For storage I still have 5x Seagate Constellation ES 4TB drives however two are showing "warning" status in the Drobo. I am hoping the Drobo is just overreacting, and I plan on grabbing 3 more drives to fill all 8 bays. The goal is to eventually move to larger drives as the library grows. For caching I grabbed two Intel S3510 240GB drives that should be enough for some write cache once everything is bulk-transferred off the old system and for the VMs/Docker containers. But with two bays left I can always add more.
The Processor, RAM, and GPU were chosen for Plex transcoding and streaming for a handful of friends while running the usual suite of Plex services. I have settled on UNraid because I wanted something that "just works" especially when dealing with vCloud and Hyper-V at work all day long. This server will be hosted at a friend's house since he had the space and the need for a pfSense router replacement - while my house is limited on space and needs my (soon to be) lab for learning.
The SC835 was my compromise because I wanted a tower setup but this came at the right price. Over all though I ended up with WAY more equipment since I now have a X8DT6-F with dual Xeon X5650 processors sitting around, along with a Dell Precision T1700 i7 and a Drobo 5D that will all be taken out of service soon enough... hence the "simple" that has now spiraled out of control!
I am happy to be getting back into the home server show though! The next build should hopefully be even more exciting.
If you look at a couple of my previous posts, I was hoping to start this build as something "simple" and "unobtrusive"... which went out the window quickly when I realized the motherboard I bought is ATX sized... but 90 degrees rotated from normal. My goal to have everything in something like a Node 804 went out the window which meant I now said "well I might as well go all-out now!"
The specs of the server now sit as:
- Supermicro X10SLH-LN6TF
- Xeon E3-1241v3
- 32GB PC3-12800E RAM (8x4GB)
- Supermicro SC835 chassis
- Supermicro CSE-M14-B 4x2.5" Drive Rack
- NVIDIA Quadro P620
- LSI 9280-8i SAS controller (Was PERC H200)
For storage I still have 5x Seagate Constellation ES 4TB drives however two are showing "warning" status in the Drobo. I am hoping the Drobo is just overreacting, and I plan on grabbing 3 more drives to fill all 8 bays. The goal is to eventually move to larger drives as the library grows. For caching I grabbed two Intel S3510 240GB drives that should be enough for some write cache once everything is bulk-transferred off the old system and for the VMs/Docker containers. But with two bays left I can always add more.
The Processor, RAM, and GPU were chosen for Plex transcoding and streaming for a handful of friends while running the usual suite of Plex services. I have settled on UNraid because I wanted something that "just works" especially when dealing with vCloud and Hyper-V at work all day long. This server will be hosted at a friend's house since he had the space and the need for a pfSense router replacement - while my house is limited on space and needs my (soon to be) lab for learning.
The SC835 was my compromise because I wanted a tower setup but this came at the right price. Over all though I ended up with WAY more equipment since I now have a X8DT6-F with dual Xeon X5650 processors sitting around, along with a Dell Precision T1700 i7 and a Drobo 5D that will all be taken out of service soon enough... hence the "simple" that has now spiraled out of control!
I am happy to be getting back into the home server show though! The next build should hopefully be even more exciting.