Hello,
Noob here (sorry about that)...I wanted a NAS and decided a build would be better for me, so I went shopping for a Dell PERC 5/i for the Precision 690 I planned to use as the server. I stumbled across a Poweredge 2900 iii w/ 3x250gb in Raid 5, for less than the 5/i card alone.
SOOO, then I needed some drives and lucked into a Linksys NSS4000 NAS that had 3x1 TB drives in it. The logic was I'd pull the drives and put them in the Poweredge and run WHS 2011.
I kept myself busy by installing Hyper-V server core on the Poweredge, and VMWare ESXi on the Precision...for fun. Both worked well but I'm ready to 'finish' this and move on to the next project.
The Mrs. came through for the b-day and got me a technet subscription, so now I'm at a crossroad...do I go with bare metal with WHS 2011 or SBS 2011 / Server 2008R2? Could I also virtualize the WHS 2011, or do I just punt and keep the NAS until drive prices come back down?
It's for the home, and I haven't used SBS/2008r2 before (beyond hyper-v), but I'm willing to learn enough to get er done. Here's what I'm going for -
Needs:
1. Centralized storage
2. Secure Remote Access
3. DLNA compliant media server for home movies, DVDs, iTunes, other music
4. Possibly secure RDP to the PCs at home
Things that would be nice:
5. Centralized automatic backup of +-5 PCs
6. Eventually some type of home automation server, controllable from a smart phone
7. Maybe a domain controller (to stop my in-laws from screwing things up)
8. Maybe a DNS server (quicker for surfing, not really necessary though)
9. Maybe an email server, but gmail is working for now, and it's free
10. Possibly a networked DVR, but this is low on the list.
So, what do you think the cleanest / most efficient approach would be that gets me most of what I, still leaves me some room to grow, but does not require me to basically become an IT pro to get there?
Thanks!
Noob here (sorry about that)...I wanted a NAS and decided a build would be better for me, so I went shopping for a Dell PERC 5/i for the Precision 690 I planned to use as the server. I stumbled across a Poweredge 2900 iii w/ 3x250gb in Raid 5, for less than the 5/i card alone.
SOOO, then I needed some drives and lucked into a Linksys NSS4000 NAS that had 3x1 TB drives in it. The logic was I'd pull the drives and put them in the Poweredge and run WHS 2011.
I kept myself busy by installing Hyper-V server core on the Poweredge, and VMWare ESXi on the Precision...for fun. Both worked well but I'm ready to 'finish' this and move on to the next project.
The Mrs. came through for the b-day and got me a technet subscription, so now I'm at a crossroad...do I go with bare metal with WHS 2011 or SBS 2011 / Server 2008R2? Could I also virtualize the WHS 2011, or do I just punt and keep the NAS until drive prices come back down?
It's for the home, and I haven't used SBS/2008r2 before (beyond hyper-v), but I'm willing to learn enough to get er done. Here's what I'm going for -
Needs:
1. Centralized storage
2. Secure Remote Access
3. DLNA compliant media server for home movies, DVDs, iTunes, other music
4. Possibly secure RDP to the PCs at home
Things that would be nice:
5. Centralized automatic backup of +-5 PCs
6. Eventually some type of home automation server, controllable from a smart phone
7. Maybe a domain controller (to stop my in-laws from screwing things up)
8. Maybe a DNS server (quicker for surfing, not really necessary though)
9. Maybe an email server, but gmail is working for now, and it's free
10. Possibly a networked DVR, but this is low on the list.
So, what do you think the cleanest / most efficient approach would be that gets me most of what I, still leaves me some room to grow, but does not require me to basically become an IT pro to get there?
Thanks!