WHS 2011 or SBS 2011?

kambot2000

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Sep 16, 2011
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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!
 

kambot2000

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Sep 16, 2011
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nikorr,
Specs for the workstation and server are as follows (product links aren't much use but they're down there too):

Dell Precision 690 specs - 2 x dual core Xeon 5160 (4 cores @ 3.0ghz), 16gb (8x2gb) DDR2-PC2-4200F 533mhz dual ranked FBDIMM, 3x73gb 15k RPM SAS HDDs in Raid 0 (max 4 internal + a 3x3.5 in 2x5.25 hot-swap enclosure - if I go this route), Dual Nvidia Quadro FX4500's bridged in SLI, mobo 0MY171 & 1x1gb NIC. Also have a SYBA PCI-X 4 port SATA RAID controller that I'd throw in there if this ends up being the 'server'. Currently running Win 7 Ultimate x64, but will run just about any MS product out there. Also have an Ubuntu build on an extra 80gb HDD I had laying around that I sometimes dual boot. http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ws690/en/ug/index.htm

Dell Poweredge 2900 III - 2 x quad core Xeon 5405s (8 cores @ 2.0ghz), 12gb (12x1gb) DDR2 PC2-5300F 667mhz single ranked FBDIMM (BIOS power saving mode under-clocked to 533mhz), 3x250gb 7200 RPM SATAII HDDs in RAID 5 via dell perc 6/i controller (server holds up to 8 internal HDDs), dual 1GB NICs, redundant 930w PSUs. Currently have Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 installed (though I haven't configured it yet).
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/pe2900/en/index.htm

Linksys NSS4000 - 3x1tb 7200 RPM SATA II HDDs in RAID 5
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:71XzwsseUYAJ:www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/storage/nass/csbcdp/nss/nss4000_nss6000/getting_started/guide/linksys_gs_feb0708.pdf+linksys+nss4000&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjgOlr41GIO_fzoBb85HjZ5baINkY5W1JQNtdqmnPLJtTcnG83ecfkUCPyikaVDFWdVnokYb6SAmCwU8UtJapafO-m5wtLw3nRuXgGSFFcmbkFJZcmtRO85J-D5kK-86-vfSb27&sig=AHIEtbSt7pysOaRaiz5Avg6cbNSTYPC_lA

I could pull the 8x2gb from the workstation and drop it into the server (leaving 8gb in the Workstation and 20 gb in the server) but I'd like to leave the WS with enough stones to do the job (without having to buy more RAM).

I have the NSS4000 up and running now b/c it's a good place to put all the install .iso files & it's cheaper to run until I get this all sorted, but it's slow and not DLNA compliant (it was expected though), so I don't think it's the long term solution.

As for the software alternatives;
http://blogs.technet.com/b/uspartner_ts2team/archive/2011/03/31/sbs-2011-essentials-vs-sever-2008-r2-foundation.aspx

http://titlerequired.com/2011/06/10/sbs-2011-essentials-vs-whs-2011-whats-the-difference/

Thanks!