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Ramaddil

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I am planning on converting my old AMD 64 X2 4200 with 4Gb of DDR 2 Ram PC3200 into a Windows Home Server. I have alot of Storage space currently 11.7 TB. I want to make this computer a host for all my DVD's that i am backing up and other assorted files, along with utilizing the back up feature of WHS to back up my many computers inside my home. I want to be able to retrieve files remotely off of the LAN and back up files/computers on the LAN.

My internet connection is through COX cable and is the mid line connection plan. My Connection is Wired, I have a Linksys Router that is connected to a Switch which is connected to my Wired Devices.

My server hard drives will be a mixture of WD Green 2 TB 64MB Cache and a few 1TB WD Blue Drives as well.

My Current Rig is As Follows
Case Thermal Take Armor
Mobo ASUS - A8N32 SLI Deluxe 939
CPU AMD 64 X2 4200 (I believe thats the right name for it.... Its a Dual Core @ 2.2Gz I think)
Ram Patriot 4GB (4X1) DDR2 PC 3200




I have a few questions regarding Hardware.

1. Is Upgrading NIC card worth it, and if so which would be the best "Budget Upgrades" ?

2. I am out of sata connections inside the case, I have looked at controller cards, and at this time Raid is not a big concern I am just looking to expand my storage inside this case what is a decent Sata Controller Card (3.0 Sata II). I do have a PCI Express X16/X8 slot open. (4+ slots would be a Big Help)

3. I have some money to play with and could potentially put it into some hard ware upgrades CPU/Ram/Mobo. Is it needed for what I am doing or can I get away with what I have. If it is needed What would be some suggestions. I have a 2-300 Dollars I can play with if there are upgrades to be made,

Thanks in advance for any suggestions that are made
 
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I would do the following:

- Upgrade to an Intel NIC (I went with the Intel CT gigabit which was around $30, but any of the current models will be more reliable and consistent than onboard)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106033

- Drop in a sil3124 based SATA PCI card (Syba makes the ones that I have in my home server which provide four SATA II ports each for around $35, they have been running 24/7 for months and months without ever giving an issue.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...e=syba_sata_controller-_-16-124-008-_-Product

BTW, I have run RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays off of the Syba cards in a number of my machines and they always worked flawlessly. Currently running four RE3 250GB drives in a RAID 10 array on my work machine for backing files up and it works great.
 
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The only way it will increase your speeds is if those two onboard nics are teamed together, but your switch must support teaming and LACP (Link Aggregation) for teaming to benefit you (These features require a fairly advanced switch, most likely Level 2 Managed or better which means $$). Furthermore if your router is only supplying 100 meg ports (like my FIOS router unfortunately) then the teaming won't increase the overall speed anyway unless you were transferring files through the switch to another computer on your network that also had two teamed adapters.
 
With Windows or Windows Home Server is there anything special you would need to do other than activating both cards on board or otherwise and connecting cables to both?
 
You activate teaming through the NIC configuration settings provided by the driver installed. (Go into Network and Sharing, Adapter Settings, then right click on the adapter and select properties. Once that opens there is a button to configure the NIC settings) On Intel NICs there is a separate tab to set up the teaming feature and it gives you four modes to choose from. You could set them up as a failover team, but that wouldn't increase your overall speed, just redundancy in the event that one adapter fails.
 
gotcha... I am not opposed to spending money i was just curious i guess if the NIC you listed is more reliable and offers greater speed than i am all for it. I just wanna make sure I maximize my Data Transfer the best I can, but I guess it also depends on the speed on my Drives as well. So in reality its a balancing act per se.
 
I wouldn't bother with NIC teaming. With 100meg networking, i can stream uncompressed blu-ray rips to one PC, music to another PC, and DVD to a 3rd, all from the same server. (different arrays though)
 
Gigabit is for big ballers
If you are still on 100mbit you need to UPGRADE YO SELF
 
Since you don't state any problems, I would suggest your current machine is adequate for your needs.

When you have problems is the time to work out an upgrade plan.
 
The machine currently still has Windows 7 on it, and I am still using it for a few things, but will in the near future be converting it to WHS. I have alot of Drive space and I am probably going to get one more Drive just for good measure. I may one or more of the drives but I havent decided what to do just yet. Especially since when i upgrade to WHS it will format all my drives so i need to work out the plan ahead of time.

But I will keep the current configuration hardware wise the same, and if it needs a boost i may go that route in the near future.
 
I've gotten 60 MB/s out of my on board gbit realtek, but if you want to get the most you can then go with an intel nic.

As already mentioned, you can use link aggregation between your two nics with the proper switch. It's all a balance though. If your other machine still only has one nic then there will still be a bottleneck. From what I understand (which isn't alot) you won't see the benefits of link aggregation from one machine to another anyways. With a single connection (transferring a file for example) you will still only utilize one port. If two teamed nics on your server, with multiple clients connecting to it then it may be beneficial. I think a good gigabit nic will be plenty for your needs though.

Your cpu and ram should be plenty for a nas box.
 
You would see the benefits of Link Aggregation only if the following conditions are met:

- Both of your machines would need two nics teamed together each (either two separate physical NICs or a dual port card will work) in an LACP team as specified in the driver settings

- Your switch would need to be set up for LACP as well in the switch management console (Layer 2 switches or higher support this feature)

If you meet both of these conditions, then you would definitely see the benefits of the 2GB link between your machines during file transfers. They would be lightning fast, but even with LACP set up on all your machines and your switch, your actual connection to the internet would still be bottlenecked by your router so your upload and download speeds would most likely be the same, just possibly more consistent.
 
Thanks for The good advice on the issues I asked about. I have just one more Question about RAID.

As I mentioned in my first post I am going to have a assortment of drives in the Computer.. I Think I am more than likely going to put 4 X 2TB WD20EARS, along with 2 1TB WD Blue's and One 320GB Drive for the Operating System.

I am curious if it would or would not be a good idea to put the 4 X 2TB drives into a Raid Array and if so which would be the most beneficial. I also have thought about putting the 2 X 1 TB into an array but i am not sure.. I have never messed with building a RAID array before, i am sure i can figure it out but i am just looking for some professional advice.

Thanks
 
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