Help With New Server Build Please !

Strifx

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Apr 2, 2014
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Hello Everyone !



We need to build a new server for our business. The server will be hosting around 2 - 4 Tb worth of office information such as Quick Books , Excel , Microsoft Word and other project files. The server will be mapped to around 25 computers and also will be connected with over 10 printers. We will mostly be using it as a file server , mail server, printer server and have active directory installed.



Here is the break down. Our Budget Is $2800 for the Motherboard , Ram , Hard drives , CPU , Raid controller card. We already have the rest of the parts which we have purchased brand new.

We are looking for a Server Motherboard , 32Gb ECC Memory , 2 hard drives for raid 1 support , Quad or Hex core Intel CPU , and a raid controller card.



We don't have room for a rack mount so we have to keep this in a Full tower Atx Case if possible. We also want to purchase everything from Newegg or Amazon if possible.


We are Located In USA , Santa Monica CA. We plan to build this asap. We already have the windows server Operating System, PSU ( 750 Watts ) , Enclosure Case, Optical Drive.


As of now these are the parts we are looking at


Hard Drive

Server MotherBoard

Server Memory

Xeon Processor

Haven't looked at a controller card yet hopefully u guys can help us with that and put all these in our $2800 budget.





We're trying to set this up ASAP. Please let me know what you guys think. Any feedback or recommendations are appreciated thanks for the help !
 
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Just buy a server from Dell or HP and save the hassle. The warranty is well worth it.
 
25 users, file server , mail server, printer server and have active directory + 10 printers on a single raid 1 4tb drive array?
Are you nutz??
 
lets go back to basics tell us every bit of software that will be running on this server.
 
lets go back to basics tell us every bit of software that will be running on this server.

sorry if i didn't make my self clear.

1. The server will have 1 account on it. just the admin account.

2. The other 25 are workstations that will be mapped to the server. The server will hold all the documents , pdf and other office files. these directories will be mapped to the workstations. ( these office files which only contain pdf , excel , word , old accounting information from 10 years back are around 2 Tb in size ).

Other than the office files and project files the only program on the server itself will be outlook / quickbooks / sonicwall / antivirus / acronis backup.

Looks like we wont be using it as a mail server we have a hosting company for that. So we're mainly going to use it to store files so all the other computers on the network can access and make changes and add data. Also we're going to be using it to network the printers and have access to quickbooks for all the workstations. We are also going to assign some workstations as users and power users.


3. There are 10 printers. all of them are regular inkjet printers except one which is a office printer the Sharp MX - 4100N. We want to install these on the network to share between all the workstations.

Any Advice will be appreciated. We don't want a dell or hp server because the last dell server lasted only 13 months after a massive crash which caused many headaches and lots of $$
 
Again, I hope you have a separate server running your domain controller.
 
There will be those that tell you that you need a separate AD server, I run single server all the time out to 50 users.
Print spooling kills drive i/o with 10 printers and large and or large numbers of jobs you need to have the os on a separate drives/array to handle the print spool and you don't have the budget for an enterprise ssd that can handle the print spool.

so 2 arrays one raid 1 for the os and print spool, one raid one for data would be the min. I would consider. Small fast drives are better for the print spools so 300gb 10k drives are better for the os drive if you can swing it. Otherwise fast 1td drives arfe fine.The 10k rpm are also better for AD.

The data array is either 2 4t drives raid 1 or 4 4t drives in raid 10 if you need more space.
I would just run the system drives right off the motherboard and an entry level raid card, ibm 1015 or equivalent for the data array.

That is the min. I recommend.
 
First of all everything dies, irregardless of what you buy.

Use RAID 1/5/6 or 10 depending on what your needs regarding storage size and performance. Do keep in mind that RAID is not a backup so files should be mirrored to non user-accessible storage preferably off-site if something BAD(tm) happens.

As everyone else said, buy a branded server such as Dell, HP etc.. My preference is by far Fujitsu but they might be a bit hard to find in US/CA but you can always give them a call. Have a look at their TX100, TX140 series depending on your needs. You also get much better service regarding on-site replacements etc.

As for the printers, find decent USB cards, preferably using ASMedia or NEC. Do not go with VIA ;)
USB-hubs are going to give you headaches.

The Intel controller(s) will be more than fine for this, Fujitsu also integrates LSI controller software into theirs usually which is pretty nice.
//Danne
 
what do you guys think about the parts i listed up top thought if i wanted to build one myself ?? also what parts do you guys recommended ?

I need a server motherboard , ecc memory , hard drives , controller card , xeon processor. is the top ones i listed on the first post good or what do you guys recommend ?

Thanks for all the help so far !
 
both will work make sure and fill all the fan spots in the case, servers live on airflow.

what about the controller card / motherboard / memory ?

should i stick with the top ones or switch them around ?

also is a controller card recommended or should i stick with onboard . I'm assuming i need one though

and again thank you !
 
running quad channel ram is a little faster but for this application it don't matter.
 
run the os array off the onboard sas controller it will work with sata or sas drives, make sure you have the right breakout cable.

ibm 1015 would be fine for the data array.
There are several others that would work also.
You need a breakout cable for this also.
 
You also have to pay attention to your PS sata power connectors and get splitters as needed.
 
does that case require right angle sata connectors or is there enough room for standard?
That needs to be checked also.
 
does that case require right angle sata connectors or is there enough room for standard?
That needs to be checked also.

there is enough room for standard

what do you think about the motherboard , should i stick with the gigabyte one or go with this one Motherboard

and yes i know they're different sockets ;)
 
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Seriously, I'm pretty sure you can spec out a Dell T320 that meets your requirements for $2800 (probably less). That would probably be my choice. It comes with a 3 year warranty.
 
Seriously, I'm pretty sure you can spec out a Dell T320 that meets your requirements for $2800 (probably less). That would probably be my choice. It comes with a 3 year warranty.

Except the OP is hell bent to do it his way. The only place I build out servers is at home, otherwise I would pick an OEM and go.
 
As others have mentioned, buy from a reputable OEM such as Dell. You will want warranty. Buy memory separately to save on cost.

Save the homegrown solution for the home.
 
i build servers, but only using supermicro boards/chassis... speccing out servers from the big box places is hell for me... like if i want expanded storage options i gotta upgrade to the dual socket systems? uhh, no thanks...


but OP, building one of these things out of PCP&C PSUs and corsair full towers is kind of amateur hour...

also, i'd suggest enterprise grade drives for this application...
 
After skimming the thread and looking at the hardware, IMO you will be fine with 8gb of ram for what you are doing. You are basically doing file server duty and print server duty. You did not mention if the printers are network attached or not. You did not mention how you will manage files/permissions. I did not see mention of active directory.

With that being said...
I would do:
Raid 1 array for the OS, which the motherboard can handle. 2x500gb drives will be enough.
Raid 6 array for storage, you will need a card for this (IBM M1015) 6x 4tb will give you room to grow, and can handle 2 drive failure.
Use at least enterprise grade drives, I would look at the WD RE series. These will cost you some bucks but will last and be significantly more reliable.

Find a cheaper CPU, for a file/print server you do not need a lot of fire power. A quad core will get by fine, and 4x 2gb(8gb total) or 4x4gb dimms(16gb total) will be ample.

Since you are hell bent to do it on your own, grab the IBM M1015 from ebay, generally you can find pulls from those building up a server, and generally a pull is basicaly new with little/no run time.

So these drives:
6x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236350
2x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236526

This chip:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117271

This board:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128644

This ram:
2x http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=BC2158B2A5CA7304
-or-
2x http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=B4938B9FA5CA7304


I don't see anything that stands out in your application to require big iron in terms of memory or cpu. Arguably, for what you are doing, you could get by with a NAS(synology), which would also integrate into AD as well, if needed...

My 2 cents.
 
and have active directory installed.

After skimming the thread and looking at the hardware, IMO you will be fine with 8gb of ram for what you are doing. You are basically doing file server duty and print server duty. You did not mention if the printers are network attached or not. You did not mention how you will manage files/permissions. I did not see mention of active directory.
.

Kinda wondering what happen to the last server that "died" after 13 months. We have 6 year old 2950s humming away happily, and don't see a reason to retire them yet.
 
I would by far look at the Toshiba ACA-HDDs over the WD ones, have a look over at the storage forum.
//Danne
 
Also OP, what are you using for backup and battery backup?
 
Except the OP is hell bent to do it his way. The only place I build out servers is at home, otherwise I would pick an OEM and go.

My supervisor is the one who wants it this way. I told her to buy a brand name but she refuses and wants a custom build. Shes the one who pays me and i made her put it in writing that i will accept no responsibility after the server is built and configured from any failures or faulty hardware.

i build servers, but only using supermicro boards/chassis... speccing out servers from the big box places is hell for me... like if i want expanded storage options i gotta upgrade to the dual socket systems? uhh, no thanks...


but OP, building one of these things out of PCP&C PSUs and corsair full towers is kind of amateur hour...

also, i'd suggest enterprise grade drives for this application...

Sadly we just don't have the space for a rack mount we only have 12 inches in width and 42 inches in height



Also OP, what are you using for backup and battery backup?

The backup battery we're using this UPS


This is the NAS we have NAS

Also i'm curious why everyone is recommending a IBM M1015 used card. Aren't there any better new ones for a good price below $350 ?
 
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I am not recommending a used card get a new one.
A decent raid card is going to be in the same ball park $$ as the m1015
 
The M1015 will not do RAID 6 at all, only RAID 1, 0 0+1 without the feature key (which only adds RAID 5).
//Danne
 
what good raid card do you guys recommend for under $400 that does raid 1/5/10
 
what good raid card do you guys recommend for under $400 that does raid 1/5/10
The reality is if you want to do raid 5 or 6 you need a card with its own memory and a battery to back up the memory which is well over $400

Which is why I recommended raid 1 or 10 and a entry level hardware raid card.
.
 
Doomed to failure this is.

Lots of files, no external drive unit, all in one, hand built system, no warranty... lol. OP you will be in for it when it has any issues at all.
 
I would by far look at the Toshiba ACA-HDDs over the WD ones, have a look over at the storage forum.
//Danne

Everyone has their brand loyalties. Over the years my personal experience has shown WD to be very reliable. I have a boat load of toshibas, samsungs, and seagates atm. One batch of toshibas I had one DOA.

My supervisor is the one who wants it this way. I told her to buy a brand name but she refuses and wants a custom build. Shes the one who pays me and i made her put it in writing that i will accept no responsibility after the server is built and configured from any failures or faulty hardware.

Good luck...have a gooood backup.

The M1015 will not do RAID 6 at all, only RAID 1, 0 0+1 without the feature key (which only adds RAID 5).
//Danne

Shit you're right, I was looking at the wrong card:eek:

I am using mine in HBA w/ zfs.:cool:
 
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