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Buy a server or build my own.

radtechtips

radtechtips

Senior member
I want to get a server that will mostly be used to host light game servers, home file and printer sharing. I will probably be using ubuntu server. I also want to learn things like samba, and apache. I also want to learn about professional servers. I have a server rack, an definitly want rackmounted, but would it be better to build my own or buy one. I was thinkgin something like:

This for the Pre-Built
http://www.amazon.com/Dell-PowerEdge...Xeon+Quad-Core

and This for build my own.
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/weshred/saved/1jeW

Also are those good components for both? or would you recomend something else?

Thanks
 
Well if you want to learn about professional servers including the hardware your best bet is to get something along the lines of the PowerEdge that you linked. It's a bit of overkill for what you're doing but if you're interested in learning about professional servers one differentiation is that the hardware is a fair bit different. With a professional/enterprises/etc. grade server you're looking at things like IPMI, DRAC, and various other server management hardware. The "server" you put up as well will work for the duties you're looking to do as well as learning server software so if you want to put off learning about IPMI and other server management software/hardware it should be fine.
 
nsafreak said:
Well if you want to learn about professional servers including the hardware your best bet is to get something along the lines of the PowerEdge that you linked. It's a bit of overkill for what you're doing but if you're interested in learning about professional servers one differentiation is that the hardware is a fair bit different. With a professional/enterprises/etc. grade server you're looking at things like IPMI, DRAC, and various other server management hardware. The "server" you put up as well will work for the duties you're looking to do as well as learning server software so if you want to put off learning about IPMI and other server management software/hardware it should be fine.
Click to expand...

Ok it sounds like i want the PowerEdge. Is that the one you would recommend?
 
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Yes, a PowerEdge would work well although an HP GL360 series wouldn't be bad either, geeks.com has a fair number of both. They have a PowerEdge 2950 for $549 + ship. Just remember that servers, especially rackmounts, tend to be noisier than your standard desktops since they are not designed with silence in mind so I hope you have your rack somewhere in your house where the extra noise won't be a factor.
 
Yeah if one of your main goals is to learn about enterprise servers, nothing beats the real deal. Also check Ebay for good deals. Pretty much any Dell X950 or HP DLXXX Gen5 will be good for you.
 
I will probably get the 2950 from geeks because of the hard drive. Noob question but are sata and sas compatible?
 
Yes, SATA and SAS are compatible as they use the same pinout just the drive controllers on the drives work differently. The controller that comes with the 2950 supports both SATA and SAS drives.
 
Sent you a PM. Here's a couple of tips I'd give you...

Build your own: I've done that. 3 times. While I find it to be quite enjoyable, to get a "professional" feature set (redundant power supplies, good RAID controller, management card), you end up spending substantially more on building your own then buying used. Even then, it's not quite the same as a quality HP/IBM server.

Prebuilt: If you are looking for entry level servers (IE 2 sockets or less) and don't have to have the very latest model, you can get some screaming deals. A lot of organizations (especially government ones) buy HP DL3x0's and IBM x series by the truckload because if they don't spend ALL of their budget this year, they might not get it next year. A few years down the road they end up not needing them anymore. The minions charged with getting rid of them don't care and/or know what fair market value is for them, they just want them gone. So you end up with a server containing $1,000 worth of parts for $300.

If you are really going to get into it, you'll start to appreciate the little extra features you get with a quality server. Remote Management via iLo/RSA/DRAC so you don't have to be in front of the server. Ever. Hot swap drive bays that smoothly slide in and out without feeling like they are going to crumble in your hand. Toolless access for anything short of pulling out a board.

The one thing I will say build your own has going for it is noise. The prebuilt ones aren't designed to sit in your living room. They are designed to move a crap ton of air through the case. They'll blow small objects across the counter. That's fantastic from a cooling standpoint but if you are trying to watch TV/play games with in 20 feet of it, not so much.
 
For an inexpensive server it's hard to beat a used Dell 2950. HP are also good but Dells are extremely plentiful on ebay so you'll have a wider selection of options and costs.

Personally, for new serverss Dell and HP would be my go-to servers. Stay away from IBM unless you want ridiculous support costs, unmet SLA time frames and overpriced hardware.
 
I like Dells because they have the nice managability features that you expect from a server, but come with pretty standard hardware (LSI, Broadcom, Intel). HP's are nice too, but I don't like their propensity for using RAID cards that require weird drivers (damn you to hell cciss).
 
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