Need Server Suggestions

O

Oswald_

Weaksauce
Joined
Apr 21, 2005
Messages
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I'm looking to purchase a home server to virtualize my current environment. I have 7 servers serving specific roles such as a dedicated MySQL server acting as backend for a Apache/PHP server, a OpenBSD box configured with Dansguardian and Squid for content filtering and routing and a mixture of FreeBSD/Linux boxes performing various operations.

I need a pretty beefy server but I want something quiet. Noise is a BIG concern for me. I plan on sticking this server in my closet where my current rack is setup. I'm also trying to do all this on a shoe string budget of under $2k.

I have some servers in mind, I'd just like to see what others would recommend in this instance.
 
Dell Poweredge 840 and the SC are pretty quiet. Even teh Dell 2900 is quiet cept for startup.
 
does it have to be 'server' grade hardware? i've recently built an e4500 core2duo setup with 4 gigs of ram and several sata2 hard drives all based around a m-atx motherboard with on-board graphics. it's running 2003 server x64 with the freebie vmware server as the host and it is currently serving the following guests: an ipcop linux router, an sbs2003 standard server, and several clients. it's not even breaking a sweat and i can barely hear the thing! future upgrade plans are an additional 4 gigs of ram and a couple more hard drives just to improve i/o. i'm not overclocking it so it is rock solid stability wise. i'm well chuffed with it! :)
 
The HP ML370 g5 series are pretty quiet after they finish startup. They have 3x 120mm fans with an option for another 3x for redundancy. Its a full tower chassis with the option to convert to 5U rackmount if you want. I think it will take 64GB of RAM max and you can install an additional HDD cage for a max 16x 2.5" SAS HDDs. Can take dual quad-core Xeons as well. Hows that for beefy? :D
 
Captain Colonoscopy said:
The HP ML370 g5 series are pretty quiet after they finish startup. They have 3x 120mm fans with an option for another 3x for redundancy. Its a full tower chassis with the option to convert to 5U rackmount if you want. I think it will take 64GB of RAM max and you can install an additional HDD cage for a max 16x 2.5" SAS HDDs. Can take dual quad-core Xeons as well. Hows that for beefy? :D
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Yeah I was checking these out earlier today, this may be the route I go.
 
They are a VERY nice server. The last one we sold to a client I almost stole and took home with me. It really is a thing of beauty. The engineering is just fantastic, too. :D
 
marley1 said:
Dell Poweredge 840 and the SC are pretty quiet. Even teh Dell 2900 is quiet cept for startup.
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I wouldn't really call a 2900 quiet but they are not as loud as many servers are. Now if it is replacing 7 desktops then yea it might not be so bad.

For refrence I have a 2900 with a build date of 4/20/08 sitting right next to me at home right now. As soon as are rep fixes the licensing for it on are eopen site I'll be pulling down the license keys to start its setup.

The 2900 is a great server though. The 1900 is its little brother but from my experience I can generaly get a 2900 for 200 bucks or so more and that gives you the dual power supplies and dual nics that the 1900 doesn't. Still this is really an enterprise based box that is really overkill for home use.

Right now you can get a 2900 3 with 8 gigs of ram and 2 quad core 2.0 ghz chips and the raid controller for 2006 bucks plus shipping and whatnot. This is with 2 160 gig sata drives but it has slots for 6 more. You would just need to find some trays which can be had on ebay or through dell spare parts. That way you can add your own sata drives down the road.




The hp 370 is a good box but with specials and what not you can prob find the dell cheaper.

The 840 is pretty quite from what I remember. We have 2 of them or so at clients.
 
You can build a beast of a server with ESX for under 2K.

Here's what I would do:
Quad Core CPU
8 GB of RAM
680i Motherboard (needs to be compatible with below)
Dell Perc 5/i off ebay (rebranded $500 LSI card)
1 or 2 SAS disks off ebay.
A slew of SATA disks.
A couple Intel NICs.


All of this will be compatbile with ESX, which you can get for pretty cheap. Then you have the freedom to run any multitude of servers you would like.
 
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