neural0
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- May 22, 2011
- Messages
- 483
If you're looking for the bottom line question :
Win10 free upgrade/Server 2016/Essentials 2012? What OS should I install on the newly built home server if it's primarily used for media file storage?
If you want the whole story:
I started my journey into putting together a Home Server years ago with a WHS technet license on some older hardware and dreams of backup and file serving bliss.
Luckily I never had to do a recovery and actually test my backup setup... So no problems there
Then I planned out a power-efficient always-on 24/7 mini server build using the brand-new, absolutely-perfect, Windows Small Business Server 2012 Essentials!! This new OS was perfect and never needed any revisions or improvements! I'll never have to worry about the storage problems of WHS AGAIN!! Awesome!...
In what seemed like two days, SBS R2 was released. No way to in-place upgrade. Fml.
So now we make it to present day :
SBS R1 is still running fine but it's out of storage. I was able to get a great deal on a decommissioned commercial server (shout out to burritoincognito !!). The SBS is 99% used as a NAS to hold movie files that are not transcoded. Backups of the network computers are performed automagically and never really accessed again.
Here are the specs :
Silicon Mechanics storage server
36x 2TB 7200RPM SAS hard drives (ST32000444SS)
[swapped the 36x 2TB array for a 30x 3TB array for almost no price difference]
LSI MegaRAID SAS 9261-8i RAID controller
Redundant power supplies
2x Xeon E5649 (6 physical/12 logical cores/CPU)
SuperMicro X8DT6/X8DTE
SuperMicro SC847A-R1400LPB Chassis
48GB RAM
dual GigE
dual 10gigabit Ethernet adapters
No OS
But now... What OS should I use? Do I really need the Server 2016/2012 features or should I just do a Win7 -> Win 10 free upgrade?
Where to install the OS? On the array? Should I put a used 240GB SSD in as the OS drive?
I have win 7 license, I might be able to get a Server 2016 license through work but not sure, I have the SBS Essentials 2012 R1 license currently on the old server.
Halp!
Win10 free upgrade/Server 2016/Essentials 2012? What OS should I install on the newly built home server if it's primarily used for media file storage?
If you want the whole story:
I started my journey into putting together a Home Server years ago with a WHS technet license on some older hardware and dreams of backup and file serving bliss.
Luckily I never had to do a recovery and actually test my backup setup... So no problems there
Then I planned out a power-efficient always-on 24/7 mini server build using the brand-new, absolutely-perfect, Windows Small Business Server 2012 Essentials!! This new OS was perfect and never needed any revisions or improvements! I'll never have to worry about the storage problems of WHS AGAIN!! Awesome!...
In what seemed like two days, SBS R2 was released. No way to in-place upgrade. Fml.
So now we make it to present day :
SBS R1 is still running fine but it's out of storage. I was able to get a great deal on a decommissioned commercial server (shout out to burritoincognito !!). The SBS is 99% used as a NAS to hold movie files that are not transcoded. Backups of the network computers are performed automagically and never really accessed again.
Here are the specs :
Silicon Mechanics storage server
36x 2TB 7200RPM SAS hard drives (ST32000444SS)
[swapped the 36x 2TB array for a 30x 3TB array for almost no price difference]
LSI MegaRAID SAS 9261-8i RAID controller
Redundant power supplies
2x Xeon E5649 (6 physical/12 logical cores/CPU)
SuperMicro X8DT6/X8DTE
SuperMicro SC847A-R1400LPB Chassis
48GB RAM
dual GigE
dual 10gigabit Ethernet adapters
No OS
But now... What OS should I use? Do I really need the Server 2016/2012 features or should I just do a Win7 -> Win 10 free upgrade?
Where to install the OS? On the array? Should I put a used 240GB SSD in as the OS drive?
I have win 7 license, I might be able to get a Server 2016 license through work but not sure, I have the SBS Essentials 2012 R1 license currently on the old server.
Halp!