Tips on building an setting up a small linux fileserver.

[kefegg]

Hi guys,

I would like to here some tips hardware/software for my Linux fileserver (if possible also webserver) that I'm planning to build.

-Because of another server running 24h I would like to keep this sever as low powered as possible.
-The encloser that's needed must stay below 6.7inch (17cm) of thickness.
-Ubuntu server 12 or 14 will be used as samba file server.

Parts so far (not yet ordered):

-Enclosure: Antec ESK3000B-R-U3
-Motherboard: ASRock Q1900M (µATX, Celeron J1900 4core, 2*sata)
-HDD: 2* Western Digital Green, 2 TB
-Memory: GeIL 4 GB DDR3-1333
- PSU: ???

1. I choose the Q1900M motherboard for it's size and Celeron 4 cores CPU.
It's low powered and only would only be used for running Ubuntu server.
I don't think that the CPU would like streaming video and so.
2. The encloser is cheap and fits in the closet where it will be installed.
3. Two WD green 2Tb harddrives. One for the system and the shared folders.
The other disk will be used for backups. Green disks for low power usage.
4. Ram, I just took the cheapest. I really don't know If 8Gb is needed.
5. PSU: I'm not quite done with this thing. I think a PicoPSu 80 or 90 would do just fine. And using a normal ATX psu with 300Watts would be overkill and less power efficient. (Correct me if I'm wrong)
Extra hardware needed?

What it has got to do:

Running 24h, sharing doc's, pictures, AV (not streaming) in a Windows environment.
If it is possible, I would like to access the server from outside the home network, but it has to be as safe as possible. (any tips on this one?)
Any tips on automate backups in Linux.

thanks

 

[nsafreak]

Well, we need some info to figure out the best way to go although a 2TB HDD seems kindof small for a file server if you ask me, then again I'm the guy that has all of my blu rays ripped. We need to know which shops (online hopefully) that are available in your area so that we could possibly present some other options that will do the job. We also need to know what your budget for the build is. Insofar as remote access goes I would probably say VPN would be the best way to go. There's a tutorial on how to setup OpenVPN here.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Looks like a good build overall.

Regarding power supplies, I think your server should have a little elbow room for additional hard drives. After all, it's a server, and very few people ever have less data than they used to. Because of that, I think most of the PicoPSUs are a bit underpowered. (Until you get to the ~$50+ 120/150w PicoPSU units, but then you need to turn around and spend even more money on a matching power adapter.)

Although the 300w ATX units are overkill, they're also pretty affordable. You should be able to find a decent 80+ unit and be okay on efficiency, too.

For file access, you might consider looking into a package called OwnCloud. It's pretty cool.

For backups, I'd just use rsync. Here's a nice writeup:

http://www.howtogeek.com/135533/how-to-use-rsync-to-backup-your-data-on-linux/

Personally, I don't think you need more than 4GB of RAM. But if you decide you want to try using the server for other things, that may change. (Consider yourself warned!)

Thing is, you want the build to cost less than an off-the-shelf 2-bay NAS enclosure (~$150 + hard drives), or there's not a lot of point to it. You're right on the edge now, I think.

 

[Cerb]

You might want to choose something other than the Green drives.

For PSU, a PicoPSU may be more efficient. Definitely get one of the lower power bricks (the PicoPSU itself is likely wasting much less heat than the brick feeding it). They aren't expensive, at low wattages, so the gaping hole where the back of the ATX supply goes is the biggest negative, I think. TBH, though, if the PSU is running inefficiently at a low load like yours, it's still feeding a low load, so I'm not sure the PicoPSU would pay for itself.

The new Atom should be fine, as should 4GB RAM. Even if more expensive than a turn-key NAS, it will be a much faster file server than any of the cheap ones out there.

Streaming is a very poor word choice, though. It can mean any number of things. If it just means serving up video files, though, that is not at all CPU-intensive.

 

[kefegg]

Here are the costs for a NAS enclosure with poor 1Gb ram and a Marvell dual-core 1.3 Ghz processor and space for 2 drives around 350 dollar.
So I thought building something myself would be more powerful (if needed) and expandable.

For now we are using a WD myBook USB2 connected to the router. With 300Gb free space left over, I thought 2 TB would be plenty enough.
By the way, why looking for something else than de WD greens?
Suggestions?

I would like to keep the costs below 570 dollars. And there are not much online stores available, here in Belgium. I prefer Alternate.be, bytesatwork.be and Azerty.nl.

About the PSU:
-Be Quit! SFX Power 2, 300Watts, recommended by Hardware.info website.
Would this be decent and not to much?

I was thinking about buying an extra PCi card with sata controllers for additional Hard drives and maybe upgrading the Ram from 4 to 8 Gb.
Playing around with Vbox, running from a server, sounds interesting.
But would the cpu handle those things.

Streaming: I thought streaming is watching a movie stored on a server or PC and viewed with a smart TV or an other device.
Well my I5 2500K is unable to 'stream' a HD movie to my LG smart tv without stutter. I must admit that the TV uses the Wlan.

@Dave, thanks for the rsync tip.

 

[Carson Dyle]

If you have a second server that is running 24/7, why not back up to it instead? IMO, it's better to back up to a second system than to a drive on the same computer.

There are many miniITX J1900 boards available, so you could further cut down on the size of the system. Keep in mind that J1900 boards typically have only two SATA headers.

 

[Cerb]

I was thinking about buying an extra PCi card with sata controllers for additional Hard drives and maybe upgrading the Ram from 4 to 8 Gb.
Playing around with Vbox, running from a server, sounds interesting.
But would the cpu handle those things.

Yes, just more slowly than something more expensive and faster. Think of the J1900 as a quad Athlon64, for a general idea of performance. One possibly useful thing you might get from moving up to faster CPUs, though, would be 6 SATA ports being included on the board.

Streaming: I thought streaming is watching a movie stored on a server or PC and viewed with a smart TV or an other device.
Well my I5 2500K is unable to 'stream' a HD movie to my LG smart tv without stutter. I must admit that the TV uses the Wlan.

That is one use of it. The 2500K is not the problem, whatever the problem is.

WD Greens may want to park and spin down a lot, regardless of your settings, when you have no need for that. Any of the 5400 or 5900 RPM, "NAS drives," such as the WD Red, would be suitable, yet not whine so much they need to be stashed away from humans.

 

[kefegg]

@Carson:
The other server isn't running yet. It's also a project.
I would try to setup a small Domain server (ubuntu), first instance was a Windows server and some Win7pro clients but the kids here, they love Ubuntu Desktop. So one server would be a domain controller and another one would be the fileserver.
Main purpose of the fileserver is pictures that my wife took and had them sorted out. They have to be on a secure place, and backup, backup and again.

A few years ago we had some issues with a portable Hdd en a PC that crashed. 40% of the pictures on both devices damages and recoverable with black bands and crossed images.
So I really want that not to happen again. I almost got divorced or killed because of that 'small' problem.

@Cerb:
I thought that there was an application that make it possible to set the parking time of the WD greens to max (like the red ones).
The perform almost the same, except expected lifetime and the parking issue.
I do understand that it will perform a lot slower that I am used to with my WIndows setup, but that's the choice I make cost/performance, I guess.
And it stays a hobby