Server, NAS, or Pre-Built? Low Budget Non-profit media/file/program use
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- NAS / RAID
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Servers
Last response: in Systems
techstud
September 16, 2014 8:08:07 PM
Hello all, I'm calling on your collective expertise to help solve a conundrum we have about replacing an old Dell Optiplex server that died on us a while back.
Basically my question comes down to this: We need something to provide media streaming, file hosting, and the backend of a financial software. In the past, we used a server with domain joining, but moved away from that to all mapped drives. So either configuration will work, but I want to know what is the most cost effective, redundant, & simple to work option: to build a server or NAS, or buy a one of them prebuilt (used Dell Poweredge 2950?)?
Ideally, I'd like to spend no more than $800 & the cheaper the better.
Here are some more details:
I work with a church and have grown the technology side of what we do leaps & bounds in the past 5 years. We currently use 8-10 PC's around our building on a weekly basis; 2 to present video & song lyrics on projection screens in two different large rooms, 2 to record 24-channel multitrack audio & control digital sound mixers, and 5 in our offices. I built this rig last year (http://pcpartpicker.com/user/techstud/saved/3h9WGX) and when our server went down, I migrated all our drives into it to run them as mapped drives over the network. So we're wearing down a spendy computer for no reason.
We currently have: a 2TB Seagate holding all of our media-graphics-video-audio files that we use for presentation purposes, a 1TB File Server drive that office computers host their files on, a 2TB with miscellaneous files that DIED a few weeks ago, and a 3TB iOSAFE fireproof external & 4TB Samsung external for backups. I include these in case they're useful in the build process. We probably have 5-6TB of independent data spread across all of our computers & we add 15+ GB of HD Video every week from our service captures.
A friend is recommending we build a server with 3-4 3TB or 4TB WD Red drives in RAID for plenty of capacity and redundancy.
I'd appreciate any input you guys can offer!
Basically my question comes down to this: We need something to provide media streaming, file hosting, and the backend of a financial software. In the past, we used a server with domain joining, but moved away from that to all mapped drives. So either configuration will work, but I want to know what is the most cost effective, redundant, & simple to work option: to build a server or NAS, or buy a one of them prebuilt (used Dell Poweredge 2950?)?
Ideally, I'd like to spend no more than $800 & the cheaper the better.
Here are some more details:
I work with a church and have grown the technology side of what we do leaps & bounds in the past 5 years. We currently use 8-10 PC's around our building on a weekly basis; 2 to present video & song lyrics on projection screens in two different large rooms, 2 to record 24-channel multitrack audio & control digital sound mixers, and 5 in our offices. I built this rig last year (http://pcpartpicker.com/user/techstud/saved/3h9WGX) and when our server went down, I migrated all our drives into it to run them as mapped drives over the network. So we're wearing down a spendy computer for no reason.
We currently have: a 2TB Seagate holding all of our media-graphics-video-audio files that we use for presentation purposes, a 1TB File Server drive that office computers host their files on, a 2TB with miscellaneous files that DIED a few weeks ago, and a 3TB iOSAFE fireproof external & 4TB Samsung external for backups. I include these in case they're useful in the build process. We probably have 5-6TB of independent data spread across all of our computers & we add 15+ GB of HD Video every week from our service captures.
A friend is recommending we build a server with 3-4 3TB or 4TB WD Red drives in RAID for plenty of capacity and redundancy.
I'd appreciate any input you guys can offer!
More about : server nas pre built low budget profit media file program
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Reply to techstud
ronintexas
September 16, 2014 8:17:14 PM
How many people would be accessing the file server's drives at once?
What is the data pool (total size of drive space needed)?
Can the server be rack mounted or do you need a tower?
What is the operating system that is most common (previous server OS and workstation OS)?
Will the old server's OS be used on the new build?
How tight do you need security?
What is the data pool (total size of drive space needed)?
Can the server be rack mounted or do you need a tower?
What is the operating system that is most common (previous server OS and workstation OS)?
Will the old server's OS be used on the new build?
How tight do you need security?
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techstud
September 16, 2014 8:42:42 PM
I'll answer your questions in bold below
Up to 6-7 machines within the building could access at a time, but more than likely, it won't be more than 3 at a time
What is the data pool (total size of drive space needed)?
5-6TB for current files, but more if it also stood as a backup for files on all the computers. Unfortunately, not all of our systems are backed up to network drives or host files on them, and only about half of them have worked consistently with our Crashplan cloud Backup
Can the server be rack mounted or do you need a tower?
We have 50 cubic foot room devoted to phone/ethernet lines & server space, so rackmount is fine if need be, as long as it doesn't kill the costs (we don't currently have a rack). Also, power consumption & heat is a consideration as that room isn't necessarily well ventilated.
What is the operating system that is most common (previous server OS and workstation OS)?
We were running Windows Server 2003 before, but as a non-profit, we have cheap access to newer Microsoft OSs. My knowledge base basically ends outside of Windows. On workstations, Windows 7 Home Premium is our most prevalent OS, with a couple on Win8 & some with Win7Pro
Will the old server's OS be used on the new build?
I'd prefer to upgrade to a newer option
How tight do you need security?
Security is important, but the likelihood of intrusions locally is minuscule. Financial software files are encrypted, but personal information is in many of the files & anyone with network drive access can view anyone else's files at this point (I haven't had the time or patience to setup extra permissions & domain joining). Our guest-wifi network has no access to our network drives. Another consideration for us is some kind of filtering program like OpenDNS that we would like to have on our network. That and other programs make a Server seem like a more logical choice
ronintexas said:
How many people would be accessing the file server's drives at once?Up to 6-7 machines within the building could access at a time, but more than likely, it won't be more than 3 at a time
What is the data pool (total size of drive space needed)?
5-6TB for current files, but more if it also stood as a backup for files on all the computers. Unfortunately, not all of our systems are backed up to network drives or host files on them, and only about half of them have worked consistently with our Crashplan cloud Backup
Can the server be rack mounted or do you need a tower?
We have 50 cubic foot room devoted to phone/ethernet lines & server space, so rackmount is fine if need be, as long as it doesn't kill the costs (we don't currently have a rack). Also, power consumption & heat is a consideration as that room isn't necessarily well ventilated.
What is the operating system that is most common (previous server OS and workstation OS)?
We were running Windows Server 2003 before, but as a non-profit, we have cheap access to newer Microsoft OSs. My knowledge base basically ends outside of Windows. On workstations, Windows 7 Home Premium is our most prevalent OS, with a couple on Win8 & some with Win7Pro
Will the old server's OS be used on the new build?
I'd prefer to upgrade to a newer option
How tight do you need security?
Security is important, but the likelihood of intrusions locally is minuscule. Financial software files are encrypted, but personal information is in many of the files & anyone with network drive access can view anyone else's files at this point (I haven't had the time or patience to setup extra permissions & domain joining). Our guest-wifi network has no access to our network drives. Another consideration for us is some kind of filtering program like OpenDNS that we would like to have on our network. That and other programs make a Server seem like a more logical choice
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ronintexas
September 16, 2014 8:55:09 PM
Windows Server 2008/2012 would be good choices to build a system - eBay often has Dell/HP servers (some of them have the Server OS license) - I would suggest getting one with 8GB (minimum - up to 32GB is great), and if they have a drive array in them - that would be better. Typically, you can find them used for $500 - $1000 depending upon configuration (if you are looking for a large SAS array - it can get very expensive).
Depending upon the server model - they will have 8-12 drive bays - either 3.5" or 2.5" (you might have to order caddies for the drives - about $10-$20 each). Get one drive for the OS (if not included), then build a drive array based on the total storage requirements. For the amount of users you have, I would suggest using 1TB or 2TB drives in RAID 0 (one for the primary storage - one for the backup drives - the backup should be larger so you can backup workstations). Use SynchBack Free to backup the files nightly (it will do an incremental backup for you).
You can place a rackmount on a tabletop if you want (you can't stack them) or get a tower. The rackmount systems require the caddies usually - where the tower will not. It may take 1-2 weeks to find a good buy on a server - but eBay is usually loaded with them.
Depending upon the server model - they will have 8-12 drive bays - either 3.5" or 2.5" (you might have to order caddies for the drives - about $10-$20 each). Get one drive for the OS (if not included), then build a drive array based on the total storage requirements. For the amount of users you have, I would suggest using 1TB or 2TB drives in RAID 0 (one for the primary storage - one for the backup drives - the backup should be larger so you can backup workstations). Use SynchBack Free to backup the files nightly (it will do an incremental backup for you).
You can place a rackmount on a tabletop if you want (you can't stack them) or get a tower. The rackmount systems require the caddies usually - where the tower will not. It may take 1-2 weeks to find a good buy on a server - but eBay is usually loaded with them.
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techstud
September 16, 2014 9:06:07 PM
Thanks Ron, that's helpful. I was really hoping to keep the cost of the server itself under $500 since we were looking at $300-500 in just drives cost. Then again, if you think we could get by with smaller drives, that might be a good option. What do you think about the Dell PowerEdge servers like the 2850 or 2950? They often sell on ebay with caddies & no drive used for under $200. I just have no experience with rackmount servers.
Also, with memory prices where they're at, it looks like it would cost me more than that just to get 32GB of memory.
Also, with memory prices where they're at, it looks like it would cost me more than that just to get 32GB of memory.
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ronintexas
September 16, 2014 9:10:58 PM
I have quite a few around the office - I use them for simple file servers and virtual machines for remote desktop users. I have come across some really good deals on eBay with them. As long as you have generic use, this is a great way to buy them (you don't want to do a high end database server or application server this way).
I usually put smaller drives and use RAID 0 to stripe them (4 X 2TB drives = 8TB drive space). I also have a backup server that backs up all of the workstations and has my virtual machine builds on them as well (for quick restore).
I usually put smaller drives and use RAID 0 to stripe them (4 X 2TB drives = 8TB drive space). I also have a backup server that backs up all of the workstations and has my virtual machine builds on them as well (for quick restore).
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