Building my new network... Need help on configuring... everything!

G

Gen.Ben

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
411
Hey guys,

I am soon moving to a new house. This house has a great storage room which I already claimed as my own for a server closest. What I want is some suggestions which would be the best route to do all what I want for the most sensible way. I am willing to spend what is required to get the job done right. I am expecting multiple servers to do all I want. There was a couple sections I could of put this in but this seemed to suit it the best because it was all around networking and servers.

Everything will be on a gigabit network.

  • UltraVNC Server
I need this to connect remotely to customers, family and friends computers to help them with their computer problems. UltraVNC only runs on Windows. Also want remote PC back to my computers at my house.

  • Simple Mirrored File Server or NAS
I was thinking something like a NAS for holding customers backups and images of their harddrives, preferably not running windows so cusomters viruses and malware doesn't infect the server itself. Seperate

from everything else to avoid infection as I will be dealing with customers infected backups.

  • Print server
Something that is simple and will work with my 5 printers. Possibly windows due to driver and multi-function support? A couple of the printers have a scanner on them, can you do over the network scanning?

HP D7360 Photosmart Printer
HP LaserJet 1018
Epson Stylus Photo R280
Canon MF4150
Dell 922

  • File/Personal backup server

This server will be the main storage for my new home. All my files will be on here.

I am thinking 4.5TB mirrored? 6x1.5TB drives Or maybe something like 1.5 TB mirrored backup drive for myself and my family and 6TB non mirrored storage (movies, music) that aren't that important and can be obtained again. This server will be serving up 1080P HD videos to my HTPC.

  • Counter-Strike: Source server
Just a small server for me and my friends to dick around on. 16-man max running the dos srcds.exe

  • FTP Server
I want to be able to access all my files over the internet. Has to have solid security.

I have a reasonably fast internet connection
20mbit down and 1mbit up.. will be upgrading as soon as there is something better available.

I want everything rack-mounted because for 1) it keeps things organized and for 2) it's super awesome and geek-pron and for 3) I am suprised on just how many expensive server racks/cabinets that are free or sold just to get rid of them on craigslist.

Let's get my project rolling.
Thanks.
 
1. Figure out your wiring.
Sounds like you want everything centralized into that area, you will definitely want to make sure that you wire up all the network/telecom connections all proper in your home. Generally two cat5e per wall jack (one for network and one for phone) and then how many wall jacks you want to place per room is usually good enough. Also see about trying to get telephone wiring/cable wiring into that room as well.

2. Plan out what goes where outside of the "server room" After you figure out your wiring, you gotta be able to put the devices where it'll be convenient but practical.

3. Put on paper what your dream/complete setup would be. (This is the one mistake most people make.) If you plan too small, then upgrading will be a pain in the arse, too big then it will be a pain in the wallet.

4. Take lots of pictures!
 
How much money total are you willing to spend right now on that many servers?

You can combine the Print Server, File/Personal backup server, and FTP server all together since those tasks added won't take that much processing power. If you have a fast enough server, you can also add the Ultra VNC server and CSS server in addition to the three other serving duties.

So basically you would only need just two servers: One simple file server/NAS for client data and the second server that'll handle print-serving, file/personal backup, FTP, Ultra VNC and CSS serving.

And I just want to throw this out there: This Norco case is probably one of the best bang for the buck server cases I've ever seen:
$290 - NORCO RPC-4020 4U Rackmount Server Case

It has 20 hot-swap bays, one HDD bay for the OS drive, and one slim optical drive bay all for $290. That's a great deal considering that the average 5in3 hot-swap bay costs around $100.
 
I'd buy a beefy boxen and virtualize as much it as you can.
 
agree with the virtualize it comment. run ESXi on a decent box, saves on power, space, and administrative overhead. use openfiler for your nas solution, something like those norco cases is great, i personally just use a enermax 4U rackmount case for mine without a hot swap backplane, but my uptime requirements aren't that stringent on my home stuff, if I need to swap out a drive, I can power down without worrying too much.

if you feel like spending the money, an ideal setup would be somethig like a dell poweredge 1950 III running ESXi and an openfiler NAS in one of those Norco cases with a decent SAS card. In terms of a router and switch, my intention personally is to buy a Cisco 1841 and catalyst 3650 for network gear. all of that, buying wisely, should come in at under $5000.

Again, don't know what your budget is, but that would be a nice little setup.
 
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