Server 2003 x64 better for file server/NAS duty than Server 2003 x32?

[MichaelD]

I'm building a PC to function as a NAS. Box will have a SATA RAID card running the HD subsystem. I have copies of both 2K3_32 and 2K3_64. This is not a high-volume NAS; it's for home use. Don't need more than 4GB RAM. Is there anything inherently better about the 64-bit version that would make it better suited to file server/NAS use? Thanks.

 

[dpodblood]

It shouldn't really matter. Personally I would go with the 32 bit version of 2003. Simply because I don't trust Windows 64-bit until you get into Vista/7/Server 2008. The older 64-bit OS's (XP, and 2003) were known for being buggy.

 

[MichaelD]

True, I forgot about the bugginess of 2K3_64. I had probs with it back when it came out; it's been awhile since I used 2K3 at all so I forgot about the issue I had.
I guess it's decided then, unless someone comes up with a compelling reason for 64. Thanks, dpodblood.

 

[dpodblood]

No prob.

 

[JackMDS]

Functionally it does not make a difference.

Since you are going to use it for Home and thus do not have much broader over consideration consideration x32 would do fine.

 

[Emulex]

if you have any large files you will definitely not want 32 bit.

hell on earth is trying to deal with large backup files (160gb+) on a 32 bit o/s - it has to do with the way the o/s handles (handles) buffered i/o.

trust me on this one. do not use 32bit if you have any choice. as storage becomes insanely cheap you will start to deal with massive files. about 120-140gb the anomalies in all 32bit o/s (maybe win7 even) will start to show up. random failures. you can watch in the task manager as the memory creeps down to zero.

this does not exist in windows storage server 2008 or windows 2008 64 bit or 2008 R2 64bit or vista 64bit or win7 64bit.

You will be very sorry when you have to forklift 100+ shares and 4-6 tb of data off to another server to rebuild it to 64bit my friend..

been there done that.

 

[rudder]

if you have any large files you will definitely not want 32 bit.

hell on earth is trying to deal with large backup files (160gb+) on a 32 bit o/s - it has to do with the way the o/s handles (handles) buffered i/o.

trust me on this one. do not use 32bit if you have any choice. as storage becomes insanely cheap you will start to deal with massive files. about 120-140gb the anomalies in all 32bit o/s (maybe win7 even) will start to show up. random failures. you can watch in the task manager as the memory creeps down to zero.

t.

How many home users are dealing with files that are 160 gb?

32 bit is fine for home use. I wouldn't use it if I had to pay for the license but it is still a good OS.

 

[Fardringle]

if you have any large files you will definitely not want 32 bit.

hell on earth is trying to deal with large backup files (160gb+) on a 32 bit o/s - it has to do with the way the o/s handles (handles) buffered i/o.

trust me on this one. do not use 32bit if you have any choice. as storage becomes insanely cheap you will start to deal with massive files. about 120-140gb the anomalies in all 32bit o/s (maybe win7 even) will start to show up. random failures. you can watch in the task manager as the memory creeps down to zero.

this does not exist in windows storage server 2008 or windows 2008 64 bit or 2008 R2 64bit or vista 64bit or win7 64bit.

You will be very sorry when you have to forklift 100+ shares and 4-6 tb of data off to another server to rebuild it to 64bit my friend..

been there done that.

Interesting. I back up around 500GB every night on a 32-bit 2003 small business server, have been doing it for about 6 years in that office, and the ONLY time I've ever had a corrupted backup was when a backup tape physically failed (before I went to removable hard drives instead of tapes). This server does pretty much everything for the 20 users in the office (AD, file server, DNS, roaming profiles, application server, VPN, backups, etc.) I also never have memory problems on the server even though it only has 3GB of RAM. Did I mention that it hasn't been rebooted in about six months (the last time Microsoft pushed an update that required a reboot)?

I'm not saying that the scenario you described is impossible, but if you really do have those kind of problems there's an issue with your server, and not with the OS itself.

 

[dpodblood]

Yeah probably the only time files that large will be used is either for backups, or databases.

 

[MichaelD]

A single file that is 160GB in size? Wow, that's one hell of a database, man! Sounds like an Exchange database or something like that. I have no single file at home that big. I do have approximately 800GB of mixed data; everything from thousands of 5MB pictures to images of every piece of software I own. I appreciate you sharing your personal experience, Emulex, but I don't have as much data as you to back up. At least not at home, which is where this box will be. 800GB is not a lot of data for a business, but at HOME, it's basically the digital repository of my life. All my email dating back to 1996 or so. Letters I wrote to family and friends, etc. It's priceless to me.

My only OS choices (not doing Linux...don't know enough about it to ensure my data is safe) are XP32, W2K3_32R2 or W2K3_64R2. I own legal copies of them. I own a copy of W764, but it's in use on my gaming/main computer.

I'm very familiar w/both XP and W2K3. If it were a daily use/do all computer it would be XP hands down. But this will be a headless box filling a true file server/backup role, managed via Remote Desktop. After the initial setup/patching, I don't want to do anything with it. I.E. a few months b/t reboots is what I'm looking for. W2K3 is where it's at.

 

[RebateMonger]

A single file that is 160GB in size?

I see a lot in that size range...usually NTBackup .BKF files. I haven't had any problems with them when they are written to a local disk. I've seen a couple of corrupted backups when making very large NTBackups (100 GB to 500 GB) across a network.

 

[mtnd3vil]

I would go for 2003 32bit. 64bit OSs USE more ram than 32 bit OSs and since it sounds like you have 4GB with no real plans to upgrade, you'd we well served by 03 32bit's smaller mem footprint. My LAN server is also only 4GB and I would use 32bit if I could, but R2 is 64bit only.

As a home user, unless you're planning to rip and consolidate the Band of Brothers BD-ROM box set down to a single .M2TS file, you're not going to be dealing with whatever file size sketchiness others are talking about anyways.

Also of note, if you're using 03 enterprise, advanced, or datacenter server, you can extend beyond 4GB of ram by using PAE. I have a Power Edge 2650 decommissioned under my couch with 8GB and it was using PAE since it's s478 P4s don't even support X64 instructions.

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks, mtnd3vil. I will be building the box this weekend. I do have 4GB of RAM (2x2GB) that I'll be using. I wont' be running any VMs or anything really mem-intensive, so I don't see the need to add more RAM. In regards to PAE: Doesn't the motherboard/BIOS have to support PAE in order for the OS to use it? I remember reading something like that over in the 2CPU forums. I think I may have a copy of W2K3_x32_R2 standard...I have to look around. If not, it'll be plain-jane W2K3_x32. I'm excited about this build! Looking forward to getting rid of my DLink DNS-343 NAS appliance; it's never worked correctly.

 

[mtnd3vil]

Thanks, mtnd3vil. I will be building the box this weekend. I do have 4GB of RAM (2x2GB) that I'll be using. I wont' be running any VMs or anything really mem-intensive, so I don't see the need to add more RAM. In regards to PAE: Doesn't the motherboard/BIOS have to support PAE in order for the OS to use it? I remember reading something like that over in the 2CPU forums. I think I may have a copy of W2K3_x32_R2 standard...I have to look around. If not, it'll be plain-jane W2K3_x32. I'm excited about this build! Looking forward to getting rid of my DLink DNS-343 NAS appliance; it's never worked correctly.

Whats your CPU and Chipset going to be? PAE usage will be dictated by the MCH.

 

[Genx87]

32bit is fine.