New Server Build Help Please

[UltraLinx]

Hi,

Wish to build myself a new server for experience with MS Server 2012, RAID and Citrix ect. Could also use it for storage. (Something future-proof)

I am a complete newbie to Desktop/Server building so any and all help/advice would be greatly appreciated.


UltraLinx

[DanceswithUnix]

My home server uses a quad core AMD APU, it is frankly utter overkill for most home server uses.

I only replaced my old dual core server because it was getting old, not because it was too slow.

[UltraLinx]

What were you using the server for though?
A couple of people have said that Dual Core wouldn't be enough for VM's to run smoothly - they have advised something more than Dual Core

[Bagnaj97]

My home server is running an A4-4000. It's hosting a minecraft server, webserver and fileserver. The A4 hasn't struggled with anything so far. If you are concerned about performance you could consider the new A10-6700T whenever it appears. Quad core 45w chip.

[DanceswithUnix]

Well the old dual core box was a firewall, public facing email server for two domains with SPAM filtering, basic network management (DNS server, DHCP etc), web proxy, intrusion detection system, SMB file server for windows backups and NFS file server for Unix home directories. It literally runs the network, and all household internet traffic goes through it. It is quite happy keeping up with gigabit ethernet for serving files.

The new box has 8GB of ram and quad core so that I can virtualise some of the services like email, as operating system major updates (like Centos 5 to Centos 6) whilst thankfully rare are rather a chore when so many services have to be re-instated. Admittedly the only VM it runs so far is Minecraft

I do run Centos Linux on it rather than Windows, which might help. But I have to ask, just what do you want to play with that requires 4 cores?

I went 4 cores partly in case I have to re-purpose the hardware for one of the family, and partly because I am really impatient

[herulach]

My microserver (admittedly upped to 4GB of RAM) works perfectly well doing double duty as HTPC and home server (domain controller, SMB server, DLNA, NFS).

The system is designed to sit in small offices and do exactly that. The only thing you need to worry about with lots of VMs (with no load I assume) is RAM.

Although you might end up installing lots of crap on it, none of it will get any load, so processing power really shouldn't be a problem.

[UltraLinx]

Thanks for the replies, I want something that I can build/buy now and stick with for a good few years so I'd happily go for the Quad Core.

Any recommendations on components or pre-built servers? (After something small/compact)

Thanks

[mikolaj87]

Hey, I would suggest amd solution. You should go with 8 core FX processor. It will consume more energy but for the money it's a great cpu for virtualisation and heavily threaded applications. Regarding the rest of the build I'll try to update it tomorrow

[scaryjim]

Hi OP, I've merged your two threads and left the resultant thread in the main hardware forum.

If you ever think one of your threads is in the wrong section, you can always post in the trhead, report it using the report feature askling for it to be moved, or PM a mod/admin (mods have red name, admins have orange names) asking for the thread to be moved. Each forum has a list of the responsible mods/admins at the bottom of the thread list.

If you duplicate threads it can get very messy trying to work out what reply is from who and whether you've already replied to the OP or not ... we prefer to keep things neat round here

[mikolaj87]

Thanks for the replies, I want something that I can build/buy now and stick with for a good few years so I'd happily go for the Quad Core.

Any recommendations on components or pre-built servers? (After something small/compact)

Thanks

What is your budget?

[UltraLinx]

Hi OP, I've merged your two threads and left the resultant thread in the main hardware forum.

If you ever think one of your threads is in the wrong section, you can always post in the trhead, report it using the report feature askling for it to be moved, or PM a mod/admin (mods have red name, admins have orange names) asking for the thread to be moved. Each forum has a list of the responsible mods/admins at the bottom of the thread list.

If you duplicate threads it can get very messy trying to work out what reply is from who and whether you've already replied to the OP or not ... we prefer to keep things neat round here

Brilliant, thanks scaryjim.

I did try looking for an option that allowed me to archive/close the thread but couldn't see one - I know for next time now

UltraLinx

[UltraLinx]

Budget would be around the £350 mark, may pay a little more if needed though.

[mikolaj87]

In this case I would consider either phenom II x6 or fx6xxx, am3 mobo, 8gb ddr3 ram (more if you can afford), minimum 2 hard drives for raid 0 to boost performance and a cheap case + cheap branded power supply (you don't need more than 400 watts).

Now brand wise, I would simply go with whats cheapest. cpu will cost you arround 90-100£, matx mobo 40-50£, ram 50£+, hdd arround 50-70£, case + psu about 50£.

check stores like scan, aria, overclockers, novatech

good luck

[herulach]

In this case I would consider either phenom II x6 or fx6xxx, am3 mobo, 8gb ddr3 ram (more if you can afford), minimum 2 hard drives for raid 0 to boost performance and a cheap case + cheap branded power supply (you don't need more than 400 watts).

Now brand wise, I would simply go with whats cheapest. cpu will cost you arround 90-100£, matx mobo 40-50£, ram 50£+, hdd arround 50-70£, case + psu about 50£.

check stores like scan, aria, overclockers, novatech

good luck

Where are you getting a decent case & psu for 50 from, let alone a motherboard with a decent raid controller for that money?

Op, I'd suggest you check out something like the servers plus esxi test bed bundles. They're designed to do more or less exactly what you want, and have the advantage of proper enterprise hardware and chassis.

If you want to build your own you can use them as a guide for specs. Generally you want to be focussing on ram over cpu speed/core count. Since its not going into production and you appear to want to try a lot of stuff multiple slightly slower vms are probably more appropriate than faster ones with less ram.

[mikolaj87]

Where are you getting a decent case & psu for 50 from, let alone a motherboard with a decent raid controller for that money?

Op, I'd suggest you check out something like the servers plus esxi test bed bundles. They're designed to do more or less exactly what you want, and have the advantage of proper enterprise hardware and chassis.

If you want to build your own you can use them as a guide for specs. Generally you want to be focussing on ram over cpu speed/core count. Since its not going into production and you appear to want to try a lot of stuff multiple slightly slower vms are probably more appropriate than faster ones with less ram.

I would like to see 350£ esxi test bed bundle .
And please don't send me a link to hp microserver as I've tried few hypervisors on it and it's not fast enough.
Also you mention about ram but you never mention about hard drives which are main bootlenecks if we talk about virtualization. You can run linux server without gui and it will happily run utilizing 256 ram but try to run 10 instances at the same time and simulate some load... single harddrive will never cope with it.

Regarding the power supply: http://www.ebuyer.com/442064-coolerm...k350-kwp500-n2

Finaly about the mobo and controller... tbh with you look at the budget, also bare in mind that he wants it for windows server experiance.

I've been running both ESXi and Citrix Xen Server on similar build with pehenom 2x4 and asrock mobo and guess what, it worked fine, surly it wouldn't be sufficient for business use but it is more than enough for learning/file server.

[herulach]

I would like to see 350£ esxi test bed bundle .
And please don't send me a link to hp microserver as I've tried few hypervisors on it and it's not fast enough.
Also you mention about ram but you never mention about hard drives which are main bootlenecks if we talk about virtualization. You can run linux server without gui and it will happily run utilizing 256 ram but try to run 10 instances at the same time and simulate some load... single harddrive will never cope with it.

Regarding the power supply: http://www.ebuyer.com/442064-coolerm...k350-kwp500-n2

Finaly about the mobo and controller... tbh with you look at the budget, also bare in mind that he wants it for windows server experiance.

I've been running both ESXi and Citrix Xen Server on similar build with pehenom 2x4 and asrock mobo and guess what, it worked fine, surly it wouldn't be sufficient for business use but it is more than enough for learning/file server.

£282 gets you this i3 based 4Gb Ml310, with £70 left over for a second NIC, a memory key to run ESXi off and probably some more ram (although you could instead go for more disk). I'd argue thats probably a better starting point for what most people are looking for.

All of this is assuming OP is wanting to use Linux of course, since server 2012 is what £500 on its own?