replacement server

[jonsaddles]

Hi folks, my server just died and am looking for suggestions of what to replace it with.
I was using an old gaming system with a few extra drives installed, so had lots of processor, video & network capability. Obviously the simplest thing would be to stuff a new power supply in (£75) & carry on as normal but to be honest it's always been problematic and packs in at least every 6 months or so.
So,
1, patch up existing system and wait for the next break down.
2, buy a raspberry pi, put the drives in usb caddies and build a rack to house it all.
3, buy a used home office server
4, ?

If I went for 2, the raspberry pi option, I quite fancy the idea of building some sort of hybrid system. I have 3 old desktops to scavenge parts from so dvd drive, power supply for the drives etc is all available but how to connect 3 sata & 3 ide drives to the rasp pi?

[GJ51]

It's a bit hard to make any suggestions without a budget. Also, knowing things like whether or not you're going to host video, what type of audio, transcoding needed, storage capacity, number of simutaneous users, and as many other details as you can think of would go a long way in helping you get some meaningful suggestions.

I have Subsonic installed on everything from a Raspberry Pi to a dual quad core Xeon accessing raid array storage. The performance and range of capabilities varies widely depending on the hardware used - not to mention if other applications and functions need to be running on the server.

The more details you provide, the better answers you can get from the community.

Here's a good place to start:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6490/holi ... yers-guide

[jonsaddles]

Hi Gary,
Thanks for that, budget is minimal don't really want to spend more than I must as I've only just spent money on the old server hence the rasp being appealing at £30.
It's a home setup so no more than 3 users and more than likely only ever 1 at a time.
I guess I know the answer is going to be repair but I am getting really fed up of bolting it back together all the time, that coupled with the fact it has never been "right" from the day my wife bought it.
How have you got your hard drives hooked up to your pi, are they all in usb enclosures?
Is there such a thing as a sata to usb adaptor?

[GJ51]

We only did minor initial testing on the Pi using a large micro SD card. It's still a beta project that we haven't put a lot of time into, more of just a proff of concept project, and I wouldn't recommend it for everyday use yet. My guess is that if I was to try putting it into production with a sizeable library (probably music only - and mp3 at that) that I would use a powered usb hub to connect to an external hard drive if I needed more than 32 GB of storage. We used a 64 GB mSD card, but those aren't cheap, so any more than that and I'd look to connect to either network storage or a connected usb drive.

I've written a lot of previous posts regarding cheap setups, but cheap is always relative to one's own budget.

My best sense of starting fresh cheap is to watch for a good deal on a cheap refurb or build kit from Tiger Direct. They often market quad core AMD build kits with 4GB ram and 500GB hard drives for $200. I recommend adding WHS 2011 for $49 from Newegg before they disappear so you end up with reasonably powered hardware, an expandable chasis that you can add more drives to later, and solid server foundation software to run it all on.

This gives you far more power and flexibility than most other options for $250.

We have many users that swear by low powered NAS units that they've hacked into and installed SS, but it never made sense to me when you can get more processing power in a build kit that can be expanded, plus server software based on Server 08R2, and the ability to add as many or more drives as the typical low cost NAS unit can hold.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... ebone-Kits

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... u=B69-1508

The links above give you an idea of what I'm talking about and I only glanced at all the available options. The kit listed in the second link gives you the following for $219:

GIGABYTE GA-H61M-DS2 Intel H61 Motherboard and Intel Core i3-2100 3.10 GHz Dual Core Processor and Kingston HyperX Red 4GB Memory Module and HEC Orion 485W Power Supply and Ultra X-Blaster Mid- Bundle

That's mid tower case, power supply, mobo, 4GB ram, corei3 CPU for 219 - add WHS2011 for 50 and you've got a nice little rig for well under 300. Of course there are other variants available - this is just one example.

I've been building for 30 years and have installed SS hundreds of times on a wide range of platforms. This would definitely be my first option if I wanted to do a low cost build. Look for a cheap kit with hardware you like and you can't beat WHS2011 for OS - far less headaches than Linux unless you're a Linux pro, plus it gives you the ability to back up your other computers on your network and set up all kinds of other applications on the server as well as using it for setting up general network storage shares.

HTH

Here's another AMD quad core for $179:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... &CatId=332

GIGABYTE GA-78LMT-S2P AMD 760 AM3+ Motherbo Bundle

This Bundle Includes:
•GIGABYTE GA-78LMT-S2P AMD 760 Motherboard - Micro ATX, Socket AM3+, AMD 760G Chipset, 1333MHz DDR3, SATA II (3Gb/s), RAID, 7.1-CH Audio, Gigabit LAN, USB 2.0
•AMD HDT45TWFGRBOX Phenom II X6 1045T Processor - Six Core, 6MB L3 Cache, 3MB L2 Cache, 2.70GHz, Socket AM3, 95W, Fan, Retail
•Corsair CMX4GX3M1A1333C9 XMS3 4GB DDR3 RAM - PC10666, 1333MHz, 4096MB
•Corsair CMX4GX3M1A1333C9 XMS3 4GB DDR3 RAM - PC10666, 1333MHz, 4096MB
•Diablotek CPA-9611B Mid-Tower Case - ATX, µATX, 2 x USB 2.0, 4 x 5.25" Drive Bays, 7 x 3.5" Drive Bays, Black

Just add you favorite hard drive and OS. then you just leave the unit headless on your network. The case has room for 6 hard drives - 3TB drives are most cost effective - times 6 for up to 24TB of storage you can add over time. Cheap to start with plenty of room to grow.

[jonsaddles]

Wow thanks Gary, I think that is what's called a comprehensive reply
Still really fancy the pi idea but have never used Linux and have no programming knowledge so guess that's gonna be a none starter.
Think I'll prob look out for a UK supplier with something like you suggest.
Many thanks