Building a CHEAP home server

[BrianSimon]

I'm looking for some suggestions on building up a cheap home server. I want to keep this project under $500 total. What would you guys/gals suggest? The box will function mainly as a file server and I want to run a mirrored pair of drives say no less than 250GB and 1 to 2 GB of ram. My main concern for quality would be the power supply and hard drives, I can skimp on everything else. What kind of hardware combinations would you suggest?

 

[Slowlearner]

Even if you use low end components- 2 hds, raid 1 gb ram, its going to be very difficult to do for $500, if you include OS. If it is going to a repository (plain old filestorage) then thats quite do-able. I would recommend getting hold of an old pc with win W2k or XP pro (scrounge/ craigslist/ classifieds), blow the dust off, check/replace the power supply, add in a raid card, maybe some memory, quieter fans - that sort of thing. Ubuntu or OpenSuse is also an option as the OS.

However, if this is going to stream audio/video over the house, keep all your mp3 and photos - you will need Media center, and server quality hardware - and I would recommend HP or Dell - their low end servers w/o OS are a bargain and some of Dell's "outrageous deals" on them have tempted many serious DIYers to use them as desktops- though I havent seen many of those deals lately.

 

[jackschmittusa]

A plain vanilla file server does not need much. I set on up in an ad office a couple of years ago that still does the job fine.

Don't laugh, but it is a Duron 800 with 512mb ram and XP. It even burns their backups for off site storage automatically.

 

[nsafreak]

I agree with jack a file server really doesn't need much in the way of CPU power or RAM. I run a file server with 256MB of RDRAM on Win2K Server just fine. All that matter are the drives and my Fujitsu Ultra320 SCSI 10K RPM hard drives perform quite nicely

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: BrianSimon
I'm looking for some suggestions on building up a cheap home server. I want to keep this project under $500 total. What would you guys/gals suggest? The box will function mainly as a file server and I want to run a mirrored pair of drives say no less than 250GB and 1 to 2 GB of ram. My main concern for quality would be the power supply and hard drives, I can skimp on everything else. What kind of hardware combinations would you suggest?

The following are some sample components. I'm sure that some here could improve on each and every component, so this is just a starting point.

This poster has a few components identified. RAM could be reduced. Let's start with that.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=27&threadid=1953633&enterthread=y

MB + CPU + 1 GB RAM = $216

Onboard GbE, onboard 4x SATA RAID

Drives 2x WD RE 250 $171 http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101220-13

PSU Enermax Noisetaker 420: $70 (the other thread mentions a couple of cheaper alts, but I've only used this one)

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=270321

Case Antec SLK3000B: $60 http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=140037

Subtotal: $517

Need to add one 12cm case fan, OS, keyboard, mouse, optical, ideally separate OS drive and ideally a large external backup drive, and gigabit switch.

 

[Jones2006]

Learn to use Linux for the server OS mainly because it's free and better

 

[BrianSimon]

Thanks for the replies thus far guys. As far as the OS I have access to anything I want for the most part. However, I plan on running 2003 Server Standard Edition. There will be no additional cost for the OS, so I didn't mention it in my original post.

 

[oynaz]

Have you considered a NAS?

 

[dBTelos]

A 400W Enhance ENP is quality and can power a GPU-less system easy. If you want something that will last you a very long time (10+ years) then no other then Zippy/Emacs (although you are definitly paying for the quality). Seasonic S12 380W is another option if you want something really quiet. 400W Enermax Liberty or 450W Sunbeam Nuuo if you want modular cables.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: BrianSimon
I'm looking for some suggestions on building up a cheap home server. I want to keep this project under $500 total. What would you guys/gals suggest? The box will function mainly as a file server and I want to run a mirrored pair of drives say no less than 250GB and 1 to 2 GB of ram. My main concern for quality would be the power supply and hard drives, I can skimp on everything else. What kind of hardware combinations would you suggest?

1. Software:

FreeNAS

2. Hardware:

Antec Sonata II - $80 with case, psu, and fan
1.6ghz Duron/HSF combo - $29
Foxconn motherboard - $39 (onboard VGA)
512mb Corsair ddr333 - $39
Lite-on 16x DVD burner - $28
250gb Seagate SATA hard drive - $76 x 2 = $152
RAID card - $86 (works with FreeBSD)

$453 plus shipping. Just add a monitor, keyboard, and mouse for the initial setup and you're good to go

 

[Zepper]

For your case - Rosewill R6A series (instant savings on some of them at the Egg or ChiefValue now - as low as $30. + sh) - same as Antec 3000-B inside with more and better choices of appearance, IMO. The R560x series are equally good for a bit more. Check my Rosewill thread here.
. For hard drives I recommend the new Seagate 7200.10 series (perpendicular recording) for the best combo of space and performance - they are faster than anything else (7200rpm, SATA/PATA) of equal size (when the other guys go perp, we'll have to revisit this).
. For PSU - Enhance ENP5140/5150GH from eWiz (may get a better deal going via Froogle - but go direct first as sometimes they have free ground shipping on them which you won't get going in via Froogle). By far the best PSUs for the money - they have active PFC and auto-ranging voltage compensation.
. And don't forget the UPS - with the Enhance PSUs you can get away with a cheap, basic battery backup (no voltage regulation) - with PSUs that lack the auto-ranging voltage function, you'll want at least a line-interactive (two or three step auto voltage compensation/regulation w/o switching to battery) UPS.
. If your mobo supports ECC memory, I'd suggest using that too. It's a bit slower but offers that last little bit of reliability.

.bh.

 

[RebateMonger]

You'll probably find that even 512MB of RAM would do fine for a Windows Server 2003 for home use. We've used a Windows SBS 2003 Server with 512MB of RAM since 2003 and it's worked fine for us, with 3-4 users. And that's running Exchange, ISA 2004, providing VPN services for 2 users, hosting seven web sites, and lots of other stuff that you probably won't be doing. This is on an older Dell 400SC server.

For hard drives, Newegg.com has both WD and Seagate 250GB "Server-Series" SATA drives for about $80 each.

It's conceivable you could find a Dell SC440 on sale that could give you a new Dell server for less than $500. The SC440, unlike the previous SC430, offers onboard RAID1 capability. I've used an SC420, which also had the onboard RAID1, as my home SBS 2003 server for about two years now. I got it for about $300 with 512MB of Micron ECC RAM and added a pair of 200GB SATA drives, for a total of about $500 at the time.

 

[BrianSimon]

Yea,

I've also been looking at Dell's entry level SC server to use and just upgrade the drives. I'll have to see if the price gets any better next Thursday or if some coupons surface.

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
The SC440, unlike the previous SC430, offers onboard RAID1 capability.

Are you sure about that? The specs only show a optional RAID controller, and specifically say "No RAID" for the onboard controller. Of course the OP could use Win2003's RAID 1, but that's not what "onboard RAID1" would imply.

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: Kaido
1.6ghz Duron/HSF combo - $29
Foxconn motherboard - $39 (onboard VGA)
RAID card - $86 (works with FreeBSD)

Socket A, 10/100 NIC, PCI storage controller. Come on, you can do better than that!

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Madwand1

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
The SC440, unlike the previous SC430, offers onboard RAID1 capability.

Are you sure about that?

Well, last time I looked at it, I was pretty sure. It appeared that Dell had re-added the onboard RAID controller. As I recall, I even spec'ed out a Dell onboard RAID solution for one of the posters here on AT. But now, at first glance, it seems like Dell isn't showing that option anymore.

I'll look deeper.

 

[pkrush]

A cheap Sempron with that Gigabyte board that has 4 SATA's would work perfectly. You don't even need 1 gig of RAM, but it will be nice to have if you plan on using the system for anything else.

 

[smthmlk]

buy an old used pentium2 or pentium3 on craigslist or from a friend/family (old dells/gateways are great), toss in an ide or sata controller card, dump a bunch of hd's in it, throw slackware on it and enjoy. Add in a gigabit ethernet card if facilities exist. Bonus points for finding an old dell/gateway/hp/vaio that can use a standard ATX psu; if you find one, replace it with a seasonic s12-330 or 380 or some other good quality psu from a reputable company. Don't go buy a new mobo/cpu/ram/case just for a lowly fileserver.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
As I recall, I even spec'ed out a Dell onboard RAID solution for one of the posters here on AT. But now, at first glance, it seems like Dell isn't showing that option anymore.

I'll look deeper.

Hmmmm....I'd swear that Dell had shown onboard RAID capability a month ago. Anyway, You can get the Dell SC440 with 1GB of ECC RAM, a Dual Core processor, and a pair of 160GB SATA drives on Dell's SAS/SATA controller, all for $620. Close....but you'll probably need some sort of floppy drive (internal ($30) or USB) for the RAID driver installation.

 

[Atheus]

I say forget about the cheap band-new parts and go for old server class components from Ebay. Mine is a dual PIII-S with ECC memory and SCSI RAID on a proper server board, and it cost next to nothing, because it doesn't have the power to be a modern business server anymore. But I don't need power - it never goes above like 5 or 10% CPU usage. I just want the reliability - the machine can take a processor failure, memory failure, and hard disk failure before crashing.

 

[benplaut]

Server 2003 is serious overkill for a fileserver... i agree with the above suggestion for FreeNAS

 

[BrianSimon]

It may not always just be a file server though.... I'm still trying to decide if I just want to throw a little more money into components and load ESX server on it instead.... this way I have a nice test/production box.

 

[darkplayer]

I'm glad I found this topic, was trying to figure what I need for basic file serving and a setup for my cisco home lab.

Would a 2u server, like a Dell poweredge 2450/2550 for about $200, be more than adequate??