Possible server option at the Egg

[BonzaiDuck]

Like everyone, I get frequent e-mail ads from the Egg.

More than one poster here in "Mem & Storage" was interested in creating or building a small server system -- probably for home or hobby usage.

This morning's e-mail from the Egg featured this unit:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...m-_-59-106-530

I think the "promo-code" accompanying my e-mail showed a price-tag of about $369. The system uses a Xeon processor. The PSU in the box seems sort of limp: something like 270W.

If it were me, I'd scour my parts-locker, choose a reliable but old workstation in the house not getting much use, and build my server that way. But this Xeon system may offer someone a viable option.

You're going to spend money on this sort of thing, whether it's a NAS unit, external multi-HDD box with port-multiplier, etc. If I counted the parts, their prices and my expenditures since 2007 relevant to the server I built two years ago and the upgrades I made in the last month, it was well over $1,300.

But some of those parts are dated and used -- even if only in brief or light terms. The four 2TB hard drives, single SSD, extra RAM and SATA controllers I purchased recently probably added up to $700 over the last couple months. More than I wished to spend, probably . . .

 

[Carson Dyle]

Pretty typical entry-level business server. Add RAM, hard drives and operating system. These have been available as far back as I can remember. The server chipset will support ECC and the 280W PSU should be more than enough to handle a system with four HDDs and no graphics card. You generally wouldn't build a NAS with a 3MHz+ quad-core CPU. Not unless it's also going to function as an application server of some kind.

Not a bad deal, but it's not aimed at the home user, either.

 

[aigomorla]

You generally wouldn't build a NAS with a 3MHz+ quad-core CPU. Not unless it's also going to function as an application server of some kind.

can u even run windows on 3Mhz+? :biggrin:
i think that was slower then my 486DX...

*just poking fun at ya*


Bonzai, id honestly rather pickup a used Dell CS24-TY on ebay over that machine if i needed a server.

You can find them ranging from 200-500 dollars, they have low voltage Xeon processors x 2, tri channel ram... the more expensive packages are loaded with 72gigs of EEC ram.

The only downside is its a 1U, so on a hot day / room, they can get kinda loud.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

can u even run windows on 3Mhz+? :biggrin:
i think that was slower then my 486DX...

*just poking fun at ya*


Bonzai, id honestly rather pickup a used Dell CS24-TY on ebay over that machine if i needed a server.

You can find them ranging from 200-500 dollars, they have low voltage Xeon processors x 2, tri channel ram... the more expensive packages are loaded with 72gigs of EEC ram.

The only downside is its a 1U, so on a hot day / room, they can get kinda loud.

Well, like I said, somebody in the forum was interested in options. Personally, I wouldn't buy a specialized system -- even like this one -- for my server needs. There's always a workstation C2D or C2Q ripe for conversion to the purpose.

Just the other day, some mainstreamer friends quoted some recent sales data on "desktops vs mobile devices" to assert that our desktops will become obsolete. Maybe it would happen if DESKS become obsolete. But you need at least a hybrid or laptop to generate text and perform other "office" operations. Where am I going with that?

More and more folks are leaning toward "mobile" computing and "the cloud." I don't want all my business and personal documents, correspondence, etc. stored on "the cloud," and I don't want to pay for a subscription backup service.

I've got three people here who sit at desks (and therefore use desktops.) I want regular automated backup of those systems to do "bare-metal" restoration when some piece of hardware goes south. Shared files, a place to store software downloads and driver updates, media streaming and media archives.

Of course, I look at my large coffee-table in this room, and count about six bare hard-drives waiting for allocation or storage for a time when needed. Cables. Tools. Installation discs. Anti-stat wraps. a CD-"barrel" filled with screws and other paraphernalia. Some PCI/-e cards, a RAM kit waiting for RMA.

Call it "a hobby." I wish I'd made a hobby out of souping up an Indian motorcycle, like Burt Munro ["The World's Fastest Indian"]. But then, my room would look like his room, and my room already looks like that . . . 😵

 

[Cerb]

You can typically find them for $300-350 on Amazon, with i3s. They're nice little boxes. Depending on wants or needs, the HP Microservers might be better though, being more compact, having hot-swap bays, and a remote admin port.

 

[aigomorla]

I want regular automated backup of those systems to do "bare-metal" restoration when some piece of hardware goes south. Shared files, a place to store software downloads and driver updates, media streaming and media archives.

lol that is why in my house i have a dedicated network in place.

I have a 4x3TB R0 config which is setup as a network drive on a dedicated controller which handles storage across the entire house.
This way i can just have 1 SSD installed on the other machines, and then MAP the drive to the said machines.

Then i have my standard Media NAS on FreeNAS, which houses all my Media like movies, anime, TV Shows, every blue ray i own... lol..

Then all important files / SSD images on client PC's are backuped again on another NAS which has 6x4TB in Raid-Z config... then that array is backed up again on another machine, which is in JBOD, and my really sensitive data are then backup'd on dual layer blue ray disks...

lol... yes im a bit paranoid with my data... and i have the Delete-Phobia, where i cant delete... to me delete means archive...

 

[Carson Dyle]

The last home server that I built, I built from similar entry-level server components:

Tyan S5211G2NR i3210W server board
Xeon E3120 3.16GHz dual-core CPU (65W)
4GB DDR2 ECC
Cooler Master RC-590 case
3x Supermicro 5-in-3 Mobile Racks
Supemicro PCI-X 8 port SATA controller

But it does function as an application server, running various web, database and media servers, as well as being a file server with 13 HDDs. I think I built it in '08 or '09 and it's still going strong. The only downside today is that expanding the RAM using ECC would be expensive.

I don't think I'll be quite so ambitious next time. I do know that if I were to upgrade it, all I'd do is swap the motherboard/CPU/RAM and the controller. I love the case and the hot swap bays.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

The last home server that I built, I built from similar entry-level server components:

Tyan S5211G2NR i3210W server board
Xeon E3120 3.16GHz dual-core CPU (65W)
4GB DDR2 ECC
Cooler Master RC-590 case
3x Supermicro 5-in-3 Mobile Racks
Supemicro PCI-X 8 port SATA controller

But it does function as an application server, running various web, database and media servers, as well as being a file server with 13 HDDs. I think I built it in '08 or '09 and it's still going strong. The only downside today is that expanding the RAM using ECC would be expensive.

I don't think I'll be quite so ambitious next time. I do know that if I were to upgrade it, all I'd do is swap the motherboard/CPU/RAM and the controller. I love the case and the hot swap bays.

Well, that demonstrates a "different" approach. Back in the '90s, when I'd build new workstations, I'd have some perfectly good computer left over, not eager to just donate it to some non-profit, school or other entity. So I started the practice of making the spare a networked file server -- regardless of whichever OS I put on it. I think at one time, I put NT 4.0 server on a 486 system, but was more frequently using plain XP on the "server box" after a system I had using Win 2000 Server showed a motherboard-gone-bad.

So . . . it's been a "habit." Seldom considered buying "more appropriate" hardware for the purpose. But the price of some of these units, such as the one I linked, is food for thought -- they're pretty cheap.

I can think of ways I might have started a business after I retired. I might have started a service for digitizing medical records -- doctors in the sunset of their careers have told me about their gripes over newer requirements in that regard. OR -- I might have gone into "computer recycling."

But given the enthusiast-clutter around here and what I'd seen of small-potatoes "store-front computer-store / store-back recycling efforts" -- I'm glad I didn't . . .

Does anyone know if the cable-TV show "Hoarders" ever had a program about folks like us? :biggrin: