cheap PowerEdge T20 home server (freenas)

Knavish

Senior member
May 17, 2002
910
3
81
Hi all

I'm thinking of replacing my old i7-920 / Ubuntu file server (no RAID, but with CrashPlan) with a slightly more modern setup using a PowerEdge T20, Freenas, RAIDZ2, and CrashPlan. I don't have a hard budget, but I don't want to waste $$$ either.

I want this to be a file server, backup repository, and Plex server. I will probably add things like support for security cameras in the future.

This setup is based on the current Dell T20 deal & some reading on various home server forums. Let me know what you think:
  • Dell T20 Xeon E3-1225 v3 (quad core) 3.2GHz, $279
  • Dell KC230 dual drive cage (eBay), ~$10
  • Dell drive caddy x2, (eBay), ~$10
  • 16GB Unbuffered ECC DDR3-1600, (2x8GB Crucial set @Newegg),$93
  • Existing 256GB SSD
  • IBM M1015 HBA (eBay) ~$99
  • SFF-8787 to 4xSATA cable x2 (monoprice) $31
  • 6X SATA drives, probably 3TB or 4TB, (probably < $500)
Note: the Dell case only has room for 4x 3.5" drives, but a few people have added a drive cage (like here) that allows you to install two more drives. The T20's power supply is 290W, so it should be able to handle the E3-1225 and 6x drives + SSD pretty easily.

Any suggestions? The T20 with Xeon, ECC-capable motherboard, and power supply seems like it's probably half the price of what I could put together myself, right?

Thanks in advance for any comments!
 

XavierMace

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2013
4,307
450
126
My first question is what are you wanting this upgrade to do that your current system won't? If you have an X58 board, replacing the i7 920 with a Xeon L5640 will get you two more cores and half the TDP.
 

Knavish

Senior member
May 17, 2002
910
3
81
My first question is what are you wanting this upgrade to do that your current system won't? If you have an X58 board, replacing the i7 920 with a Xeon L5640 will get you two more cores and half the TDP.

That's a good question -- I suspect my ancient EVGA X58 board doesn't support ECC memory. Perhaps ECC is overrated, though it seems to be a matter debated frequently. I'll have to look up the model number of that board when I get home.

If I do keep the X58, I should get a a more efficient PSU and video card. (I've been so lazy that I never replaced the GTX260, so it's burning power in my server for no reason. :))
 
Feb 25, 2011
16,776
1,466
126
Well...

1) A "server" made with consumer-grade hardware is not as reliable as it could be, but your data isn't any less safe on it than it is on the presumably consumer-grade laptop/desktop you use every day.

2) Consumer hardware does tend to go stupid and need a reboot every now and then.

3) Your clients don't care what type of drive pooling / RAID or file system is in use on the server side. There are a number of different solutions you can use here, from the old standby of mdadm (software raid) and ext4 (file system) to btrfs, to zfs, to infinity and beyond. People have their favorites, but they all work for the majority of use cases.

4) Configuring Crashplan and Plex to run in a FreeNAS jail can be done, but it's a pain in the butt, and I've had mixed luck. I would much rather use a standard-issue Linux distro like Ubuntu to accomplish the same thing (manage ZFS drive pools, Samba shares, and a couple of applications - crashplan and plex - running as services.)

So...:

1) If ECC is causing budget problems the simple answer is; don't use ECC. (This works for home use, anyway. Corporate/Enterprise doesn't get that choice.)

2) If ZFS requires ECC (I'm not getting into that) then simple answer is; don't use ZFS.

3) What's important is the protocols you support for the end user: nobody cares how the sausage is made.

4) If a particular OS is causing you a headache, switch to one of a hundred similar OSes that do the same things in slightly different ways.
 

XavierMace

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2013
4,307
450
126
ZFS is the only time I really care about ECC memory (for home use) and even then as Dave said, it's debatable. I'm never one against buying a server, in this particular case though, the one you are looking at doesn't seem to be gaining all that much over what you have. If efficiency is the driving factor, neither of those are great in that category. I'd be looking at a low end Xeon-D system if you can work it into your budget if efficiency is the driving factor. For example a board like this:

https://www.neweggbusiness.com/Prod...B-13-182-973&gclid=CJu41oXg7M8CFUtNfgodY-IBgQ

In a case like this:

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=452&area=en

That gives you room for the drives you specified, plus a few more in a nice sleek case that doesn't look out of place. A 45W TDP instead of your current 130W or 84W of your proposed build. You've still got ECC support if you want to go that route. A newer Atom SoC (C2758 for example) may be worth looking into as well. Not as much grunt as a Xeon-D but even less power usage and a cheaper price tag.