Waylander Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 Network manager at work has kindly offered a server to me. All I know is it has a xeon processor in it. 4-8gb ram and will have 4 disks. Now in terms of usage I hope to chuck it in my loft and serve the following purposes: 1) act as a dlna server on the home network to stream movies to xbox360 and tvs (instead of from the desktop pc) 2) set it up so that it backs up my desktop pc to it regularly 3) my panny tv cannot handle mkv so is there any way to get it to transcode and stream? 4) a simple repository for all my music, movies, pix (instead of desktop as per #1) 5) I've read of plex servers and whatnot - what will that offer me? So I am hoping achieving all of the above is fairly straightforward? Do I need it to run WHS 12 or vm? What software do I need to achieve the tasks above? Presumably I can manage it from my desktop pc as it will be on the network? Advice appreciated - he will kindly set it up for me the OS at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 Network manager at work has kindly offered a server to me. All I know is it has a xeon processor in it. 4-8gb ram and will have 4 disks. Now in terms of usage I hope to chuck it in my loft and serve the following purposes: 1) act as a dlna server on the home network to stream movies to xbox360 and tvs (instead of from the desktop pc) 2) set it up so that it backs up my desktop pc to it regularly 3) my panny tv cannot handle mkv so is there any way to get it to transcode and stream? 4) a simple repository for all my music, movies, pix (instead of desktop as per #1) 5) I've read of plex servers and whatnot - what will that offer me? So I am hoping achieving all of the above is fairly straightforward? Do I need it to run WHS 12 or vm? What software do I need to achieve the tasks above? Presumably I can manage it from my desktop pc as it will be on the network? Advice appreciated - he will kindly set it up for me the OS at least. 1) Install Plex 2) You can get all sorts of software for this a google will show you plenty 3) Use Plex as above its a stunningly good piece of software and makes Apples effort look poor at best. 4) As above 5) Everything you need. What I will say though is that be careful of heat firstly, depending on what your loft is like in the summer it might be like an oven which won't do anything for the life of the machine and at worse can kill it. Secondly power usage, a server that is good for a datacenter isn't always great for use at home as they can use lots of power. Find out what it might use and do a calculation on the cost. Put it this way some machines like a Mac Mini with a i7 quad core processor can use less than 50watts often nearly half that when ticking over; an old pentium desktop by comparison can use 100-130watts of power. When they are on 24x7 that can add up to a good few pennies of electricity and then some. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 Good luck. Total overkill. It'll be as noisy as hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Bangle Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 Agree with mrme about overkill, you'd be much better off with 120 quid hp micro server running a free NAS software with Plex for streaming. They burn under 50w, quite and compact, when you turn that big server on your lights will dim and will sound like a vacuum cleaner lol 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 I'd agree but I think he likes free, who doesn't. I did a calculation in the past that by getting a low powered Windows Home Server instead of using my old desktop that it would pay for itself in lower electricity costs in less than 16months than the written off machine I was using at the time. That even made my accountant wife happy to boot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burble Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 A free server may end up being really quite expensive as the power consumption will be pretty nasty. You'd be better off buying a low power box and using that. I've got an HP Microserver Gen8 which does the job nicely, is very quiet and doesn't break cot much to run. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Bangle Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 I have the Gen 6 or 7 running free XPEnology, you can get the Gen 8 for £110 after HP cash back. http://www.serversplus.com/product.asp?s=SVHEW-819185421 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waylander Posted September 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 (edited) Agree with mrme about overkill, you'd be much better off with 120 quid hp micro server running a free NAS software with Plex for streaming. They burn under 50w, quite and compact, when you turn that big server on your lights will dim and will sound like a vacuum cleaner lol I'd agree but I think he likes free, who doesn't. To an extent Basically I mention the idea of getting a home server to network manager mate to says "don't, I've got you covered" so to be fair I relied as much on that aspect as the free aspect as I was all set to get the proliant microserver. At the moment my desktop pc is on 24/7 as it acts as my dlna so yes I would love for anything to reduce power consumption and I did also worry about the heat aspect in the loft. Okay so let's say I tell him I will source a microserver box (maybe one of the many N40 or less less common N54Ls on eBay) and ask him to chuck the drives and ram in there instead I go back to the earlier questions then. Plex deals wirth the streaming stuff - got it. I take it I still need an environment/OS for it to run on right? WIndows Home Server 12? FreeNAS? (he would slap WHS on so cost to me not an issue EDIT: your reply came as I was typing the above. That seems like a good price - used older Gen ones go on eBay for £80-£100 anyway Will text him over weekend and take it from there. Am I right in thinking with the HP servers I can put the OS on a USB stick so that I could use all 4 drive bays for storage?? Edited September 18, 2015 by Waylander Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Bangle Posted September 19, 2015 Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 Here's a good place to start. http://n40l.wikia.com/wiki/HP_MicroServer_N40L_Wiki and a very geeky forum http://xpenology.com/forum/ for XPE, and yes the OS can go on a USB. Which reminds me, I must upgrade to v5 as v4 doesn't support the latest Plex app Otherwise WHS maybe easier/a more familiar experience for you to use. I'd avoid used drives as new ones aren't exactly expensive, saying that I used a pile of odd drives I had laying around, configured in Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burble Posted September 19, 2015 Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 Am I right in thinking with the HP servers I can put the OS on a USB stick so that I could use all 4 drive bays for storage?? It depends what OS you're talking about. If you mean something like ESXi or XPEnology then yes, you can as there's minimal, if any writes to the OS volume once the OS has booted. You wouldn't want to tun Windows from a USB stick though, it'll be horribly slow. The Gen 8's also have a micro SD card slot on the motherboard, I've got an ESXi install on a USB stick and on the Micro SD card so if one failes I can still boot the box without having to take the case off. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waylander Posted September 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 Thanks guys. Feels like a wasted a year waiting for him in some respects but like I said its difficult to discuss something with a mate and then not follow through with him when it is his field. Anyway - will look at the Gen8 Going back to OS for a sec then. I know WHS has been "retired" by MS after whs11. Is windows server 12 fine for this environment or not? If I am understanding this right it might mean I am going to have to "waste" a drive for the OS if I use WS? And the main advantage of using one of the others like ESXi is lighter, free? Easier to use?? Funnily enough Burble I had the same idea re microsd/usb when I read that from Andy's link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burble Posted September 19, 2015 Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 Windows 2012 would do the job nicely but it's overkill plus it isn't exactly cheap. Windows 7/8.1/10 would do just as good a job for Plex. No, you won't waste a drive for the OS. The Gen8 has a RAID controller so it can create one single large volume encompassing all the drives which you can then partition as you require. The advantage of ESXi is that I can run multiple operating systems on the same physical server. So on my box I have ESXi, a Windows 2012 R2 server, Windows 10 client and a couple of Linux boxes. The other nice thing is that if I bought a new box and wanted to move the virtual machines over to it, it's just a case of installing ESXi and copying a bunch of fies over from the old server - no need to reinstall the operating systems. ESXi is indeed free and easy to use. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted September 19, 2015 Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 Want a server? Get a Mac Mini + Fusion. Anything you like, cheap as chips to run, won't burn a hole in your roof or you bank. ...says the man with a couple of DL385's in the loft 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waylander Posted September 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 (edited) ...says the man with a couple of DL385's in the loft Sat on breeze blocks IIRC Edited September 19, 2015 by Waylander Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveP Posted September 19, 2015 Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 I have the HP microserver, great little box. I am running ubuntu, samba, etc. Takes a lot more knowledge and fiddling (to setup) than a PC box. Good if you want to learn, painful if you just want to something to work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waylander Posted September 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 I have the Gen 6 or 7 running free XPEnology, you can get the Gen 8 for £110 after HP cash back. http://www.serversplus.com/product.asp?s=SVHEW-819185421 Just realised. This offer explains the current glut of N40s available on eBay 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waylander Posted September 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 Windows 2012 would do the job nicely but it's overkill plus it isn't exactly cheap. The Gen8 has a RAID controller so it can create one single large volume encompassing all the drives which you can then partition as you require. So on my box I have ESXi, a Windows 2012 R2 server, Windows 10 client and a couple of Linux boxes. So if windows 12 were to be provided for me I should just use that then? Re one drive - if a single drive fails when setting up like this, would you lose all the data? Finally - why have ESXi and Windows 12 server running on the same box? Don't they do the same thing?? Appreciate all the advice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waylander Posted September 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 I have the HP microserver, great little box. I am running ubuntu, samba, etc. Takes a lot more knowledge and fiddling (to setup) than a PC box. Good if you want to learn, painful if you just want to something to work. If by wanting to learn you mean reverting to "Ask TSN....." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Bangle Posted September 19, 2015 Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 (edited) Just realised. This offer explains the current glut of N40s available on eBayIf you miss this offer just wait a few weeks and they'll be another, don't bother with expensive upgrades, they work fine out of the box. I stream 1080p over both wifi and 100/1000 with only 2gb ram from my n40 without and problems I'm very tempted to upgrade mine, but the shipping to Sweden kills the deal. Edited September 19, 2015 by Andy_Bangle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waylander Posted September 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 (edited) If you miss this offer just wait a few weeks and they'll be another, don't bother with expensive upgrades, they work fine out of the box. I stream 1080p over both wifi and 100/1000 with only 2gb ram from my n40 without and problems I'm very tempted to upgrade mine, but the shipping to Sweden kills the deal. Thanks re offer tip. No point considering an n40 or n54 from ebay if available for £50ish? Obviously once they get yo £80+ one may as get a new for £110 Edited September 19, 2015 by Waylander Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Bangle Posted September 19, 2015 Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 no, buy new and it will give you years of worry free use, stick in a 2 or 3 Western Digital Reds and you're sorted. Just hope your attic isn't to hot/cold/damp/dusty. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burble Posted September 19, 2015 Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 (edited) So if windows 12 were to be provided for me I should just use that then? Re one drive - if a single drive fails when setting up like this, would you lose all the data? Finally - why have ESXi and Windows 12 server running on the same box? Don't they do the same thing?? Appreciate all the advice If 2012 were provided then yeah, you might as well use it. Depending how you setup the RAID array you could potentially lose the data if one drive goes tits up. It's all down to the RAID level you choose. If you chose RAID 0 (hint - don't) and you had 2 x 1Tb drives then you would get 2Tb of usable capacity which is great in terms of maximising the usable space but not at all good if you want some redundancy should a drive die. If you went for RAID 1 and had 2 x 1Tb drives you would end up with 1Tb of usable capacity as effectively the data exists on both drives - it's mirrored. Lose a drive and the other half of the mirror still has everything so no data loss. In my case I'm using RAID 1 with 2 x 2Tb drives. Not much capacity but this 2Tb is only holding the operating systems - the data is held on a Synology NAS. One common misconception about RAID is that it's a backup substitute. It isn't, it's for things like hardware redundancy and performance gains. If you delete something from a RAID array then it's just as gone as it would be if you deleted it from a normal hard drive setup. Windows 2012 and ESXi are different things. ESXi is what's called a hypervisor, it's the software that runs virtual machines. I have Windows 2012 installed as a virtual machine. Why? Well I need to run multiple servers and using ESXi I can do that all on one physical server. Edited September 19, 2015 by burble 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted September 20, 2015 Report Share Posted September 20, 2015 I can't wait to see this thread updated when the next quarter electricity bill comes in. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waylander Posted September 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2015 My electricity bill is utterly ridiculous as it is. Underfloor heating x 2, pc on all the time, house full of halogens with the womenfolk reluctant or incapable of turning any off.....i think my monthly bill in this house is trlge same as my quarterly bill at old place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waylander Posted September 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2015 no, buy new and it will give you years of worry free use, stick in a 2 or 3 Western Digital Reds and you're sorted. Just hope your attic isn't to hot/cold/damp/dusty. Fair enough, cheers. Granted it isn't much but within the space of a week the pc needs replacing the dryer and a couple of other things so gone from zero to over £1k therefore the free to £few hundred was a little inducing If 2012 were provided then yeah, you might as well use it. Depending how you setup the RAID array you could potentially lose the data if one drive goes tits up. It's all down to the RAID level you choose. If you chose RAID 0 (hint - don't) and you had 2 x 1Tb drives then you would get 2Tb of usable capacity which is great in terms of maximising the usable space but not at all good if you want some redundancy should a drive die. If you went for RAID 1 and had 2 x 1Tb drives you would end up with 1Tb of usable capacity as effectively the data exists on both drives - it's mirrored. Lose a drive and the other half of the mirror still has everything so no data loss. In my case I'm using RAID 1 with 2 x 2Tb drives. Not much capacity but this 2Tb is only holding the operating systems - the data is held on a Synology NAS. One common misconception about RAID is that it's a backup substitute. It isn't, it's for things like hardware redundancy and performance gains. If you delete something from a RAID array then it's just as gone as it would be if you deleted it from a normal hard drive setup. Windows 2012 and ESXi are different things. ESXi is what's called a hypervisor, it's the software that runs virtual machines. I have Windows 2012 installed as a virtual machine. Why? Well I need to run multiple servers and using ESXi I can do that all on one physical server. Aha. I just could not for the life of me work the ESXI bit out Okay so if I have 4 hdds, one would be the 250gb it ships with and OS (windows Server 12 or Windows Server essentials?) would go on that and any apps (Plex, Sickbeard/sickrage etc?) I was thinking I would use one to put images and backups on and 2 for pure media/data etc Sound reasonable - if not how do you suggest I do it? Raid 5 sounded like a good idea but too slow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now