Energy Efficient File Server suggestions

W

Wolfmyst

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 10, 2005
Messages
126
I want to build a file server based on Linux on a machine that will be running 24/7. This will be for home use only, so a rackable server is not wanted/needed.

Basically I'm looking for suggestions on hardware. I'll be installing a linux based system to host either a samba, ftp or nfs share. Openfiler or Ubuntu Server seem like a good options.
I want hardware that is cheap, but also very efficient. It doesn't need to be powerful either. I currently have a P3 800mhz machine with 768 of memory, but I believe this will cause a bottleneck in performance, and has no native SATA or raid controller. I have a gigabit network, and every machine is 1000 capable. I will be using RAID 1 or 5 and multiple hard drives, so efficient hard drive recommendations are welcome to. My initial thoughts are going to a low wattage A64 on some cheap MB with integrate gig NIC, and integrated video plus a RAID card and a low wattage 80% plus efficiency PSU (Seasonic).
So low power, cheap, performs ok.

What are your thoughts?
 
Wolfmyst said:
I want to build a file server based on Linux on a machine that will be running 24/7. This will be for home use only, so a rackable server is not wanted/needed.

Basically I'm looking for suggestions on hardware. I'll be installing a linux based system to host either a samba, ftp or nfs share. Openfiler or Ubuntu Server seem like a good options.
I want hardware that is cheap, but also very efficient. It doesn't need to be powerful either. I currently have a P3 800mhz machine with 768 of memory, but I believe this will cause a bottleneck in performance, and has no native SATA or raid controller. I have a gigabit network, and every machine is 1000 capable. I will be using RAID 1 or 5 and multiple hard drives, so efficient hard drive recommendations are welcome to. My initial thoughts are going to a low wattage A64 on some cheap MB with integrate gig NIC, and integrated video plus a RAID card and a low wattage 80% plus efficiency PSU (Seasonic).
So low power, cheap, performs ok.

What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...

My thoughts are whats wrong with the P3 800mhz for a file server?

I run a P3 450mhz for my file server with no problems at all. Still get great Gigabit speeds and have no problems streaming video from it either. You do not need much of anything to be a file server if there are few users connecting to it.

I have since gone to a dual P3 550mhz setup, but only because I run some other more intensive applications on there for other uses besides file serving.
 
If you need low power sever i would recommend buying Intel E series Dual Core Processor. They are excellent, and will take less power than P3, or AMD X2 65nm processor.
 
Assuming I put a SATA card in the P3 800, would there be any limitation? It would be just me utilizing the machine 95% of the time.

As for the E series, do you really thing that is the most power efficient/cost efficient way to go? This is just a simple file/backup server.
 
Have you looked into the consumer based NAS devices? Even Western Digital has a 1TB external drive with gigabit ethernet. It can run shares and includes some kind of external access/remote data access as well.
 
can u underclock the PIII 800? my media file server is a lowly PIII 667mhz with 384mb ram, 1TB of video/music and nightly scripted my documents/picture backups, i have over 175 dvd iso's and 40gb music accessed by 2 xbox's running XBMC and 3 client pc's ,never even a hiccup
 
Wolfmyst said:
Assuming I put a SATA card in the P3 800, would there be any limitation? It would be just me utilizing the machine 95% of the time.

As for the E series, do you really thing that is the most power efficient/cost efficient way to go? This is just a simple file/backup server.
Click to expand...

A 800mhz would be plenty. It will not bottleneck your speeds for just a few users.

shaft said:
can u underclock the PIII 800? my media file server is a lowly PIII 667mhz with 384mb ram, 1TB of video/music and nightly scripted my documents/picture backups, i have over 175 dvd iso's and 40gb music accessed by 2 xbox's running XBMC and 3 client pc's ,never even a hiccup
Click to expand...

Agreed :) Never a hiccup with my P3 server either and it has tons of stuff on it.
 
Maybe a Little Valley board from Intel if you only plan on one expansion slot.
 
+1 for the Pentium III setup. Just replace the PSU with an 80+ PSU like the Corsair 450VX and you should be set.

My PIII server only uses up about 46W (Taken via Kill-A-Watt) give or take few watts. Specs are:
Intel 866Mhz Pentium III
512MB PC133 RAM
1 x 8GB Samsung HDD
1 x 200GB Western Digital HDD
250W PSU
Ubuntu Server Edition

It's my file, print, FTP, and torrent download server. The PIII handles everything pretty well.

Though not as heavy a setup like planned setup, that should give you an idea of how much power a P3 setup will use. Though when I do get the money, I will be upgrading the server as well. Probably be replacing the PSU with a good 80+ one and adding another controller card. And a gigabit network card as well.

But if you want to build new, go for the 45W Sempron along with some cheap AMD mobo with gigbit since it is low-power and should be enough for simple file-serving:
AMD Sempron LE-1100 Sparta 45W CPU - $40

The Little Valley maybe a good option as well
 
Grentz said:
I run a P3 450mhz for my file server with no problems at all. Still get great Gigabit speeds and have no problems streaming video from it either.
Click to expand...

How do you define "great Gigabit speeds"? What are the sustained sequential read / write figures?
 
torrent download server? Does the server do the downloading, or do you use a program on your computer and save it across the network?
 
Wolfmyst said:
I want to build a file server based on Linux on a machine that will be running 24/7.
Click to expand...

Is there a real reason for running 24/7? The most effective way to save power is to shut it off, and you can come close to that while still keeping it convenient with automatic sleep and remote wake-up.
 
ICE_9 said:
torrent download server? Does the server do the downloading, or do you use a program on your computer and save it across the network?
Click to expand...

The server does the downloading. I'm using a web based torrent client called Torrentflux-b4rt to download my torrents. Link to it:
http://tf-b4rt.berlios.de/

It works pretty well. I can access the server from anywhere in the world, login, and check up on my downloads, or add more if I find any. The Torrentflux-b4rt also works well as a downloads server as well. So say I'm at school and find a big file I want to download that'll take an hour or so to download. But I can't download it at school because either my next class is in 10 minutes or the wireless network is particularly slow that day. I just access the server, login, paste the link to my download, and press Go. When I get back home, that download will be finished and waiting for my eager consumption. :)

However one caveat is that it does take quite a bit of configuring in order to get it to work right.
 
I use a thin client. namely, a Wyse Winterm 3455XL. It's based on a via Epia so I just tossed in a HDD and was off to the races.
 
Danny Bui said:
The server does the downloading. I'm using a web based torrent client called Torrentflux-b4rt to download my torrents. Link to it:
http://tf-b4rt.berlios.de/

It works pretty well. I can access the server from anywhere in the world, login, and check up on my downloads, or add more if I find any. The Torrentflux-b4rt also works well as a downloads server as well. So say I'm at school and find a big file I want to download that'll take an hour or so to download. But I can't download it at school because either my next class is in 10 minutes or the wireless network is particularly slow that day. I just access the server, login, paste the link to my download, and press Go. When I get back home, that download will be finished and waiting for my eager consumption. :)

However one caveat is that it does take quite a bit of configuring in order to get it to work right.
Click to expand...


An easier to setup solution is the HTML WebUI plugin for Azureus. Works great and achieves the same thing. You can upload torrents directly and monitor all your downloads/uploads.
 
Grentz said:
An easier to setup solution is the HTML WebUI plugin for Azureus. Works great and achieves the same thing. You can upload torrents directly and monitor all your downloads/uploads.
Click to expand...

True but apparently Azureus requires a desktop environment. In the interest of keeping my system lean and mean, I didn't install KDE, XFCE or Gnome. Just straight up terminal.

Besides, I found it fun configuring Torrentflux-b4rt. :)
 
45W sempron looks nice. I wonder if it has an advantage over the 1.6 celeron with it's on die memory controller. It certainly would make the MB cheaper. I do want multiple slots though you never know.... Also do you think that would be similar in power consumption to a PIII?

You said your PIII system uses up about 46W. Is that the max, or just running. What about idle?


Danny Bui said:
+1 for the Pentium III setup. Just replace the PSU with an 80+ PSU like the Corsair 450VX and you should be set.

My PIII server only uses up about 46W (Taken via Kill-A-Watt) give or take few watts. Specs are:
Intel 866Mhz Pentium III
512MB PC133 RAM
1 x 8GB Samsung HDD
1 x 200GB Western Digital HDD
250W PSU
Ubuntu Server Edition

It's my file, print, FTP, and torrent download server. The PIII handles everything pretty well.

Though not as heavy a setup like planned setup, that should give you an idea of how much power a P3 setup will use. Though when I do get the money, I will be upgrading the server as well. Probably be replacing the PSU with a good 80+ one and adding another controller card. And a gigabit network card as well.

But if you want to build new, go for the 45W Sempron along with some cheap AMD mobo with gigbit since it is low-power and should be enough for simple file-serving:
AMD Sempron LE-1100 Sparta 45W CPU - $40

The Little Valley maybe a good option as well
Click to expand...

Madwand, I want it to be 24/7 so I don't have to worry about turning it on or off in case I'm up in the middle of the night when it's shut off. I want the network drives to be dependable, something I don't have to think about when accessing. But since I'm also concerned with power consumption, I think a computer that is as minimal and efficient as possible is the way to go.
 
Wolfmyst said:
You said your PIII system uses up about 46W. Is that the max, or just running. What about idle?
Click to expand...

I took some updated readings in order to get the right info:
64W at bootup
42W at idle
44W during regular file downloads
48W during torrent downloads
58W when downloading files straight from the server
53W when downloading files via Shared Documents/My Network Places
 
annaconda said:
If you need low power sever i would recommend buying Intel E series Dual Core Processor. They are excellent, and will take less power than P3, or AMD X2 65nm processor.
Click to expand...

Where do you get your numbers from? AMD has 45w offerings.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top