[Dougw133]

It's time to move out of the sandbox of my Acer H340 and move on up. I have multiple things I would like to do with a new server.


Some of which are ;


-NAS

-Services such as Subsonic streamer, Utorrent..etc

-Video IP Camera Surveillance recording in a loop 24/7 with Blue Iris software

-Apache Server

-FTP Server

-Trans Coder for media extenders

-And several other things I cannot remember at the moment.


I am scouring the List and the Bay for some use 2U Servers. They are in my budget and vary widely in power and setup. I am coming of a 4TB Setup with the standard WHS Data Pool. I want to move my current SATA Pool setup to the new server and move on. I am not interested in raid and obviously do not need SAS. A few questions for the experts, this serves my HTPC. I know it isnt right on topic but its the best forum I could locate. I love AVS and dont trust any other forum. I have my eye on a locally sold and cheap IBM X3650 Single CPU Dual Core 3.0 GHZ Opteron, 4GB Ram.Thank you in advance.


1. Can a SATA/SAS combi controller JUST run sata and operate with the WHS "Drive Extender" method or is there some serious config required?


2. WHS vs Server 2008 vs Server 2011 (Aurora). WHS Can only support 1 Physical CPU, Aurora 2 Physical. I am leaning to WHS due to the native trans-coding available. I currently use the server in my home network as NAS mainly, and run a few services including Security cameras. It is getting boggy and my security cameras recordings are choppy due to hardware limitations,. It is my understanding that only WHS V.1 and Vail are the only OS's that can be part of the home group.


3. What with the Acer H340? Would it be wise to turn it into a NAS box and keep that independent from the new server? Or keep the new server all in one and sell the o'l H340?


4. I have my shares spread amongst the 4 Drives. Can I Install the new OS on a drive and then simply pop the other 4 in>? What happens to the shares? Do they stay together or does the data dis organize and become a hassle?

 

[tman247]

Vail will be the official WHSv2 when released. Aurora is the the internal dev name for the next release of Small Business Server. These are aimed at different markets, and have different features.


For home users, WHSv2 (Vail) will be the preferred choice. Plenty of info out there, so check out some of the dedicated WHS sites.

 

[Dougw133]

I understand the versions. The " dedicated" sites aren't very active and I've gotten 0 replies over a few days

 

[tman247]

To try and answer your questions;


If you buy a SAS/SATA controller, then it should support SAS and/or SATA drives (some support them concurrently). For home use, SATA is preferred due to price per GB. There should be no config required with WHS, as Drive Extender will run automatically on all storage drives in the pool.


Trans-coding is pretty CPU heavy, so I would recommend a single 65w quad-core CPU for this, as this will be the most cost-effective way, and will keep power usage down. As Vail will be 64-bit only, you can pretty much install as much RAM as you like, but 4GB seems a sensible start.


Standard res security streams should work fine to even 5400rpm SATA drives, but make sure you're on a Gb wired network, and Vail will be able to join Windows 7 home groups (probably the only version of 2008R2 that will be able to do this!)


I'm not familiar with the H340, but if you've no need for it, why keep it online. Alternatively, you good dedicate this box (after a rebuild) for the security camera data.


When installing WHS, you need a system disk (>120GB) for the O/S and Data partitions. Any extra drives added will be for storage or backup, and can be managed accordingly. Once in use, WHS handles all the file locations automatically, so you don't really need to do anything (I certainly don't). Just have a good backup strategy using the inbuilt tools, and/or use something like FlexRAID for partity protection if a drive fails.

 

[justinm0424]

I started out with WHS then went to 2008R2 server and never looked back. I've never had any issues or anything with it. Also students can get 2008R2 server for free from dreamspark.com. I currently now have a full domain, exchange, websites, file server and everything. We use roaming profiles at home so we can seamlessly switch from laptop to desktop and all our files sync to the server and then are accessed on the desktop. Also I use Remote desktop all the time from work and log into my server and have full access to everything. I find it a lot easier to do home stuff while at work this way. my work blocks the standard RDP port so I just changed it to an open port and have full access to my server from any computer, even my Windows Mobile phone!


3. I'd suggest moving everything to the new server then turning the old one off or turning it into a workstation or something. A NAS would add electric costs and offer no real benefit.


4. I'd suggest getting a 64-128GB SSD for your OS then just plugging in your 4 drives and see if they'll be able to read the data, unlikely if they're WHS. If not then buy an extra drive and have both servers running and transfer the data from drive1 to the new one, remove drive1 put in new server then transfer data from drive2 to drive1 and so on.

 

[Dougw133]

Thank you both for the excellent responses. I have some ssds but doubt ill use one in the server. I think the suggestion of transferring with both systems up sounds good. It'll just require me to buy an additional 2tb drive. My specs is 4gb. 2x 3ghz dual core xeons. Ill of course use strictly sata. Depending on which os I choose will depend on how many physical cpus I use..thanks again for the feedback!