Newbie looking to get into the server world.

[Michael Dimech]

Good morning/afternoon/evening reader, whatever applies when you're seeing this!
I've been considering building a new machine to offer a NAS service for my important data and while I feel that I have sufficient knowledge in setting up the required software, I'd also like to know what else I could do with the assembled machine if I choose to use virtualization software such as VirtualBox.

After a considerable amount of time researching, these are the server builds I could come up with. Preferably I'd chose Build 1 since it's the cheapest one, but I'd be willing to save up more money to choose between Build 2 or 3.

With regards to hardware, I'm going to avoid using rackmount hardware since I don't have a suitable room for storage, so I'm going to go with conventional tower cases. I've also opted to buy new rather than used hardware since I've had a generally bad experience with buying anything from eBay, and locally I cannot get my hands on anything server-grade.

That's pretty much all I have to write. Thanks in advance for any advice given .

Build 1:
[PCPartPicker part list](System Build - PCPartPicker Deutschland) / [Price breakdown by merchant](System Build - Price Breakdown By Merchant - PCPartPicker Deutschland)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**Motherboard**| ASUS P10S-E/4L| €225.13
**SSD** | Samsung 850 Evo Basic 250GB | €0.00
**HDD**| WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB| €94.11
**HDD**| WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB| €94.11
**HDD**| WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB| €94.11
**HDD**| WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB| €94.11
**PSU**| be quiet! System Power S7 600 Watt| €61.26
**Case**| Fractal Design Define R4 schwarz| €69.83
**RAM**| Samsung DDR4-2133MHz 16 GB ECC CL15| €68.49
**CPU**| Intel Xeon E3-1225v5| €195.71
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **€996.86**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](Pick Parts, Build Your PC, Compare and Share - PCPartPicker) 2016-09-17 13:58 CEST+0200 |

Build 2:
[PCPartPicker part list](System Build - PCPartPicker Deutschland) / [Price breakdown by merchant](System Build - Price Breakdown By Merchant - PCPartPicker Deutschland)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**RAM**| Kingston ValueRAM DDR4 Kit 64GB (4x16GB)| €282.35
**SSD** | Samsung 850 Evo Basic 250GB | €0.00
**HDD**| WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB| €93.19
**HDD**| WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB| €93.19
**HDD**| WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB| €93.19
**HDD**| WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB| €93.19
**PSU**| Corsair RM850x| €115.88
**CPU Cooler**| Corsair Hydro H45| €46.13
**Case**| NZXT H440 V2| €108.32
**Motherboard**| Asus Z10PA-U8| €241.93
**Other**| Intel Xeon E5-1630v3| €335.29
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **€1502.66**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](Pick Parts, Build Your PC, Compare and Share - PCPartPicker) 2016-09-17 14:06 CEST+0200 |

Build 3:
[PCPartPicker part list](System Build - PCPartPicker Deutschland) / [Price breakdown by merchant](System Build - Price Breakdown By Merchant - PCPartPicker Deutschland)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU**| Intel Xeon E5-2620v4| €373.95
**Motherboard**| Asus Z10PA-D8| €286.55
**RAM**| Kingston ValueRAM DDR4 Kit 64GB (4x16GB)| €282.35
**SSD** | Samsung 850 Evo Basic 250GB | €0.00
**HDD**| WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB| €93.19
**HDD**| WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB| €93.19
**HDD**| WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB| €93.19
**HDD**| WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB| €93.19
**PSU**| Corsair RM850x| €115.88
**CPU Cooler**| Corsair Hydro H45| €46.13
**CPU Cooler**| Corsair Hydro H45| €46.13
**CPU**| Intel Xeon E5-2620v4| €373.95
**Case**| NZXT H440 V2| €108.32
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **€2006.02**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](Pick Parts, Build Your PC, Compare and Share - PCPartPicker) 2016-09-17 13:59 CEST+0200 |

 

[pricklypunter]

If money was no object, I would start off with at least 4TB disks or perhaps 5/ 6TB depending on what deals are going around. I would also be using at least 6 of them, but more likely a minimum of 8 disks.

RAM should always be specified as ECC for any server based application.

The issue I would have with the first Mainboard you list, is a lack of expansion slots. The second board looks much better to me.

I like both cases, but the Fractal R4/ 5 would be the likely winner for me, if I had to choose between them.

If your plan is to simply provide some storage space for your data, maybe a small file server or media server type thing, you will easily achieve that and a lot more besides, using an Intel E3 based system. If you think you will require some grunt for more serious applications, a E5-26xx based system might represent better value for money, particularly if you were to go for some of the 2670 deals going around.

I hear you regarding ebay, all of us have had a bad deal at some point or other, but I would say if you are careful, even allowing for the odd bad seller on ebay, you would do well to use them to source some of your parts. Also, don't be afraid of re-manufactured/ refurbished disks etc providing you are buying from a well known seller. You should be able to easily achieve an appreciably higher spec system for a lot less money

 

[Michael Dimech]

If money was no object, I would start off with at least 4TB disks or perhaps 5/ 6TB depending on what deals are going around. I would also be using at least 6 of them, but more likely a minimum of 8 disks.

RAM should always be specified as ECC for any server based application.

The issue I would have with the first Mainboard you list, is a lack of expansion slots. The second board looks much better to me.

I like both cases, but the Fractal R4/ 5 would be the likely winner for me, if I had to choose between them.

If your plan is to simply provide some storage space for your data, maybe a small file server or media server type thing, you will easily achieve that and a lot more besides, using an Intel E3 based system. If you think you will require some grunt for more serious applications, a E5-26xx based system might represent better value for money, particularly if you were to go for some of the 2670 deals going around.

I hear you regarding ebay, all of us have had a bad deal at some point or other, but I would say if you are careful, even allowing for the odd bad seller on ebay, you would do well to use them to source some of your parts. Also, don't be afraid of re-manufactured/ refurbished disks etc providing you are buying from a well known seller. You should be able to easily achieve an appreciably higher spec system for a lot less money

I decided to go for 3TB disks since I usually find them to be the best price/storage drives, but going for 4TB disks very much a possibility I could consider.

The Xeon E3 system was done with intention for it to only serve as a NAS, with anything else that I could do with it being a bonus, which is why I didn't worry much for lack of expansion slots, since the only thing I could populate those with are either RAID or network cards.

The Xeon E5 system was intended for having multiple features, but as of right now I don't know much about virtualization and having multiple OSs. Certainly the more interesting overall systems, especially since it has more room for expansion.

I was thinking of having one machine acting as a NAS, router and web server using VirtualBox. I'm still looking for some good guides on using VirtualBox but that's a problem I'll be rectifying soon.

As for buying from eBay, I have tried again. I did find an interesting Intel Xeon E5-2670 v3 ES LGA2011-3 12C Compatible with X99 i7-5820K 5930K 5960X offer. It is an engineering sample, but that shouldn't affect it from working. I've looked for other components, but the harddrives seemed to be equally priced and same goes for the motherboards, but the SSDs, RAID cards and 1Gb/10Gb network cards do seem to be quite a lot cheaper.

 

[MiniKnight]

Make sure to validate ES works on your motherboard/ BIOS. BIOS updates can block microcode and some ES chips are only single CPU capable.

Your power supplies are way too big. For 2620's you can use quiet air coolers that are cheaper/ quieter than watercooled.

Build 1 I'd say you can do in 250-300w without issue.

Build 3 600w would be overkill.

I'd skip virtualbox. Instead, use KVM, ESXi, or Bhyve even Hyper-V. Check out Proxmox as that would be great learning.

An E3 CPU power wise has way more than you need for a 4 drive NAS. Get as much RAM as you can and you can run VMs on the same system.

 

[Michael Dimech]

Make sure to validate ES works on your motherboard/ BIOS. BIOS updates can block microcode and some ES chips are only single CPU capable.

Your power supplies are way too big. For 2620's you can use quiet air coolers that are cheaper/ quieter than watercooled.

Build 1 I'd say you can do in 250-300w without issue.

Build 3 600w would be overkill.

I'd skip virtualbox. Instead, use KVM, ESXi, or Bhyve even Hyper-V. Check out Proxmox as that would be great learning.

An E3 CPU power wise has way more than you need for a 4 drive NAS. Get as much RAM as you can and you can run VMs on the same system.

I went for those power supplies due to how many SATA drives they can power. I thought I'd stick with a safe bet of having a high-watt power supply with the right amount of SATA connectors since I don't know any other way of powering SATA drives.

With regards to the E3 system, should I get 64GB of RAM along with an e3-1245v5 (since it has hyperthreading) if I were to run VMs on it?

 

[Patrick]

@Michael Dimech - If I were building a hyper-converged E3 platform, I would use 64GB RAM. If you are going to use IPMI for remote management, I would look at the E3-1230 V5, E3-1240 V5 or E3-1270 V5. If they are the same price, than the E3-12x5 chips are ok as well, you just will not use the onboard GPU.

Power wise, with 4 drives that is less of an issue. Then again, if you are willing to trade higher up-front costs and higher ongoing costs (lower efficiency) for the ability to add 24+ drives that is fine.

More important is that I would suggest getting the ASWM8-iKVM with that motherboard as the spec page says:

Optional ASMB8-iKVM for KVM-over-Internet

That is what will let you manage the system (BIOS changes, OS installs, remote troubleshooting) remotely without having to hook up a keyboard, monitor and mouse every time. It is a feature most Supermicro, ASRock Rack, Gigabyte, Tyan and etc. motherboards have built-in. ASUS sells it separately to lower the motherboard cost without the feature. I am not a proponent of that strategy as it is a must-have feature and adding the ASMB8-iKVM costs more than getting the feature unlocked on a competitor's motherboard.

 

[Michael Dimech]

@Michael Dimech - If I were building a hyper-converged E3 platform, I would use 64GB RAM. If you are going to use IPMI for remote management, I would look at the E3-1230 V5, E3-1240 V5 or E3-1270 V5. If they are the same price, than the E3-12x5 chips are ok as well, you just will not use the onboard GPU.

Power wise, with 4 drives that is less of an issue. Then again, if you are willing to trade higher up-front costs and higher ongoing costs (lower efficiency) for the ability to add 24+ drives that is fine.

More important is that I would suggest getting the ASWM8-iKVM with that motherboard as the spec page says:


That is what will let you manage the system (BIOS changes, OS installs, remote troubleshooting) remotely without having to hook up a keyboard, monitor and mouse every time. It is a feature most Supermicro, ASRock Rack, Gigabyte, Tyan and etc. motherboards have built-in. ASUS sells it separately to lower the motherboard cost without the feature. I am not a proponent of that strategy as it is a must-have feature and adding the ASMB8-iKVM costs more than getting the feature unlocked on a competitor's motherboard.

Never knew that the ASMB8-iKVM was required for Asus motherboards - I presumed you just needed to use the IPMI port on the back I/O and go from there. It doesn't seem like that they bundle that module with any of their motherboards, at least the ones I was looking at, and sadly it does look like it costs quite a lot for a stand-alone module.

Initially, I went with E3-12x5 chips since they had the iGPU. I know that the motherboard has the Aspeed graphics module, but I'm not familiar with the way it works so I decided to play it safe.

With regards to the motherboards from other manufacturers, I didn't quite understand what you meant by "unlocking" the IPMI feature. Knowing this however, I plan to take a look at other motherboards to use. However, since the server will be in my room and I already have a dedicated set of monitor and peripherals for it, should I bother at all with IPMI? It's not that I wouldn't be willing to change motherboards or to unlock the IPMI feature so as much as knowing all of the possibilities with regards to managing the server.

 

[pricklypunter]

Keep your eyes open in the trading/ deals forums here, there are some good deals to be had on hardware from the guys here, might be a better place for you to start collecting your parts. At least you'll end up with properly tested hardware at fair money

 

[ttabbal]

IPMI tends to be used to describe a couple of things. First is basic power control and status. The second is KVM, allowing remote console control as if you are sitting at the machine. It's very nice to have available. One of those things that you don't want to live without once you've had it. Most of them allow you to remote mount a ISO or push your CD/DVD drive over the network to it.

 

[Patrick]

@Michael Dimech In these systems, the iGPU will go unused. The ASPEED will provide video. It saves space and power not to have the dedicated setup.

On the IPMI, some vendors like Dell, Lenovo and HPE require unlocking their full iKVM features with a module or key (like ASUS but the Dell/ HPE/ Lenovo versions are much better.)

Vendors like Supermicro, Gigabyte, ASRock Rack and Tyan include their full IPMI suites with iKVM as part of the base package on their motherboards. No need to add a hardware add-on or software key. That is one of the reasons that these are popular motherboards for build-it-yourself folks, people at startups and etc.

 

[Michael Dimech]

@Michael Dimech In these systems, the iGPU will go unused. The ASPEED will provide video. It saves space and power not to have the dedicated setup.

On the IPMI, some vendors like Dell, Lenovo and HPE require unlocking their full iKVM features with a module or key (like ASUS but the Dell/ HPE/ Lenovo versions are much better.)

Vendors like Supermicro, Gigabyte, ASRock Rack and Tyan include their full IPMI suites with iKVM as part of the base package on their motherboards. No need to add a hardware add-on or software key. That is one of the reasons that these are popular motherboards for build-it-yourself folks, people at startups and etc.

Then I am definitely better off saving some money by having no iGPU. I put the e3-1230v5 in that build and decided to look for different motherboards.

I didn't find many motherboards I liked with the consumer-oriented 115x socket so I kept the original one for build 1. For build 2 however, I found the Supermicro X10DRi which for the price seemed to be more feature-filled. I also opted to get a pair of e5-2683v3 from eBay and while I am still generally skeptical with buying from eBay, this does seem to be a good seller. I left both proposed builds with 64GB of RAM so they're both capable of running VMs.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

HDD: WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB (€93.19)
HDD: WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB (€93.19)
HDD: WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB (€93.19)
HDD: WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB (€93.19)
Motherboard: ASUS P10S-E/4L (€220.92)
PSU: Thermaltake Paris 650Watt (€75.55)
RAM: Kingston ValueRAM DDR4 Kit 64GB (4x16GB) (€282.35)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 white w/window (€92.35)
Management Module: ASMB8-iKVM (€51.60)
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230v5 (€224.29)
Total: €1319.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-19 14:06 CEST+0200

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

RAM: Kingston ValueRAM DDR4 Kit 64GB (4x16GB) (€282.35)
HDD: WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB (€93.19)
HDD: WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB (€93.19)
HDD: WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB (€93.19)
HDD: WD Red WD30EFRX 3TB (€93.19)
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro H45 (€46.13)
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro H45 (€46.13)
PSU: Thermaltake Paris 650Watt (€75.55)
Motherboard: Supermicro X10DRi (€365.55)
Case: Corsair Obsidian 750D (€116.72)
CPU: Intel Xeon E5 2683 V3 OEM (€322.39)
CPU: Intel Xeon E5 2683 V3 OEM (€322.39)
Total: €1949.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-19 14:43 CEST+0200

 

[Patrick]

With Supermicro motherboard I would suggest Samsung, SK.Hynix or Micron RAM. Also, any plans for a SSD?

Regards,
Patrick

 

[Michael Dimech]

With Supermicro motherboard I would suggest Samsung, SK.Hynix or Micron RAM. Also, any plans for a SSD?

Regards,
Patrick

Definitely. I'll probably get one of the new Intel 600p SSDs. I'll amend the choice of RAM for the 2nd build accordingly.