Building a Server - Requesting Advice

Danja

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
195
Hello,

I'm building a file server for the laboratory that I work in. I've built multiple PCs including the one in my sig so I know how it's done in general, but I've never built a server before. I'm wondering what major differences there are between building a server and a gaming PC. I'm aware of the following design points:

  • Use a cheap or integrated GPU; spend the money on HDDs or CPU
  • Make sure the case provides good airflow over the HDDs
  • Lots of RAM

Aside from that, what features should I be designing for? Should a file server (won't be used for hosting any web material) have SAS drives, or would SATA be fine? Will I see any real-world performance increase by putting the OS on an SSD? Is it worth using a NAS instead of a desktop server?

Here are my answers to the questionnaire:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

File server for a lab of 10-30 people. Each person should have 150 GB storage space (If the storage configuration is extensible, I can start with the assumption that 10 people will be using it and expand as necessary). There should also be at least 500 GB of scratch space for large temporary projects.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

$1500 total would be good. Can go up to $2000 if it's justified.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

Los Angeles, CA, USA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

Case, CPU, RAM, HDDs, Optical Drive, Motherboard, PSU

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

None except possibly a monitor.

6) Will you be overclocking?

Nope

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

N/A.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

Within a couple weeks

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.

Probably onboard video, hot-swap support, and any other features to support the required storage configuration

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

I have access to a variety of Windows Server OSs via my institution. Also any free linux server (although most of the lab runs Windows, so Win Server might be preferable).

The only other concern is that the file server must be accessible by both PCs and Macs, preferably via both a web browser and by allowing each user to mount his or her folder on the server as a virtual drive on their individual PC or Mac.

Thanks for any advice!
 
Depending on how critical the workload and the amount of users, a "server" is pretty much a regular pc.

You can move to server grade hardware: xeon cpu / server grade chipset / and ECC ram. This can often times be recommended depending on what your doing, and other times may be unnecessary.

My only 2 cents for you at the moment is to not use the onboard realtek network card, or make sure the onboard network card is an intel (which if you go server/enterprise grade, it most likely would be intel or broadcom already).
 
You mention a lab. Are there any special environmental considerations (e.g. EMI, chemical, temperature) that might be relevant?
 
Depending on how critical the workload and the amount of users, a "server" is pretty much a regular pc.

You can move to server grade hardware: xeon cpu / server grade chipset / and ECC ram. This can often times be recommended depending on what your doing, and other times may be unnecessary.

My only 2 cents for you at the moment is to not use the onboard realtek network card, or make sure the onboard network card is an intel (which if you go server/enterprise grade, it most likely would be intel or broadcom already).

That gets to the crux of my question. In terms of benchmarks I don't see much of a difference between Xeons and consumer grade hardware. What's the advantage of going sever grade?

You mention a lab. Are there any special environmental considerations (e.g. EMI, chemical, temperature) that might be relevant?

Not really, the server will be tucked away in a corner away from any chemicals.
 
Basically, the most popular enterprise feature is the ECC ram. One simple scenario is if your running an "mission critical" large 100TB ZFS storage, you dont want to risk corrupting it if your memory gets a random bit-flip. This is a debatable topic, but dont buy overclocked gaming ram if your going to be using it for 24/7 server duties.

Consumer grade motherboards also may include features that induce instabilities. For example some of my motherboards have additional SATA ports via marvel on chip, USB 3.0 via NEC on chip, Killer NIC network card, these consumer grade features may not have had proper 24/7 enterprise grade level validation you get from a solid server chipset. Gaming oriented motherboards always are plagued with rushed out bioses that may have problems.
 
The drive question would best be answered if you can explain the server/client application being used. Database, images, etc. Generally you go with SAS when you're dealing with a database with high I/O load. If its simple document/image storage that may be overkill.

OS on a SSD (as long as it's a proven model) is always a win win. RAID 1 for sure.

Are you factoring in redundant storage, external backup, and battery backup?
 
Shouldn't the IT personnel for your lab be handling this? Or is it just you who has technical computer knowledge?

Also, figure out what OS and how exactly you're going to setup the file storage system first before you go off buying hardware. In other words, when it comes to servers, the software comes FIRST then you can go ahead and buy the hardware.

Here's a good starting point for what file system/OS type you should be looking at:
http://arstechnica.com/information-...-and-atomic-cows-inside-next-gen-filesystems/

Oh and SATA drives should be fine. Also note that since this isn't some home-server or some really home business server, you really should be looking at server-grade hardware 9i.e Supermicro mobos and Kingston ECC RAM). In addition, if the uptime and hardware support are critically needed (i.e the lab gus can't afford to be without the data for longer than a day at most), don't build the server: Buy it from a vendor like Dell Business.

So you might want to prepare to up the budget by another $500 at least. Server-grade hardware isn't exactly cheap. Especially if you're buying from Dell.
 
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