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Boss asked me to build him a video storage server, never built a server before..

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B

Bryce

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Joined
Jul 21, 2007
So, my boss has asked me to build him a video storage server and I've got no clue about building servers. Should I go with server motherboards or just build a regular computer and set it up as a server? Also, any advice on what kind of hard drives or ssd's to get as he'll be needing at least 10tb or more of storage.

Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130181
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115057
GFX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130394
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227364
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284 x6
CASE: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160

Total: $1,162.48

Any cheaper case that could hold up to 10 or more internal drives? There won't be any cd/dvd drives as I'll just install off a USB drive. I just need a motherboard that supports more than 4 sata ports and has onboard video.

Also, should I setup RAID 1 or RAID 5 or a video storage server? He will be writing/reading from it constantly so needs to keep it fast. He doesn't really want to spend a whole lot on the hardware except for hard drives, as he needs a ton of them.

EDIT: That should do it. Anyone think they could get it any cheaper for just video storage and fast access times to the video?
 
Does it have to be intel? You could probably get a Phenom II based system up and running on the cheap. If you have the dough to spend then obviously a server based mobo and cpu are the way to go, but aren't a necesity as this "server" isn't being a server as much as simply a video vault. Which any computer can do now.
 
How cheap could you get it by going AMD =). Used to be a fan of AMD, still sortof am, but I'm using a C2D in my rig.

I'll see if he wants a dedicated server machine to host his website, etc, etc as well as the video storage. He'll probably want just a normal PC as it's cheaper.
 
Well, I see no reason not to save $60 on the cpu and go to a PII 720. Then You could spend a tad more on the mobo and get one of these being as they all support he am3 socket cpu and all have 6 3gb/s sata pports.
 
You aren't going to need that proc that you listed. A server doesn't have to do huge computational things at all. You could get an older system than what is currently out there and be fine. My old opteron setup for instance would work great because it has a total of 8 sata ports. So I dont think your proc choice would be cost effective.

As far as storage size goes you said you needed at least 10tb? You only have 6tb of drives listed and you are saying you might want to do a raid 5 or 1? With those drives and a raid 1 setup you would be looking at only 3 tb of actual storage space. If you want to keep performance and some redundancy raid 5 would be the best.

edit: my processor comment only applies if he is not doing video encoding. If he is going to do that as well I retract my statement. And if he is not doing encoding even a amd 720 is overkill. I have a dual core brisbane running at 1.9ghz as my server and it in no way leaves anything to be desired (for my purposes).
 
Well, you can get them, but they are tad more expensive... It might be cheaper just to get a hardware raid card. Although I can point you to some nice (expensive) amd based board with 10 sata ports.

Edit: time warp post :thup: and actually there is only one 10 sata port board. Too bad it is $180, it might be offset by the money you saved on the 720 though.
 
Really, you shouldn't have to buy that many new parts... any old parts and the right software would work perfectly.
 
^^ true, I haven't encoded too many videos, but I can say for how speedily I like things done, it doesn't really keep up... :bang head: , but remember I always want faster times, higher scores and quicker things in general... To be truthful, I would get a 720 to a c2d, for a gaming computer, but a E8500 would be nice in an encoding rig.
 
He did not say it was an encoding rig. Just a file server.

You do not need much computer at all.

Just a large case, a good power supply, and some sata controller cards.

If he wants fast file service, redundant file service or a mix of both. Get a couple of raid controller cards and build accordingly.

Raid1 for redundancy, raid0 for speed. Raid5 for a good mix of both.

Always best to test the file server out as much as possible before using it in production.

Remember that cooling hard drives is importrant, but overcooling them is worse than over heating them.

(Google reports that drives kept at room temperature had a higher failure rate than any others. Also, after initial break in period, temps made no differnce in longevity).
 
Can you support this if it dies? will you be the tech to handle all repairs and problems, if not, go buy an HP or Dell server.


If so, then great build yourself, if your doing raid 5, do not use onboard raid, and if this is only for storing files i would say a 3 or 4 drive raid 1 or even a raid 6 would be better for redundancy, and as we all know, raid is NOT a backup, so make sure you have a way to backup the data incase the systems takes a crap on you one day.

you could use an old PIII 1Ghz for a file server, file servers only require fast harddrive sub system if it is only storing files.


Wasnt that google harddrive study shown to be more or less, fake, or not really based on enough info to be true?
 
Mr.Guvernment said:
Wasnt that google harddrive study shown to be more or less, fake, or not really based on enough info to be true?
Click to expand...

No there were two studies. On was google one, I forget the other one, was a University I beleive.

they both studied over 100,000 drives over a period of a few years, so MTBF became a real statistic, not liek a single person running a dozen drives.

If do not believe it was fake but you never know.
 
Here's an updated list. I like the price of the motherboard, but there's hardly any PCI slots. Can anyone help me find another board for about the same price with onboard vga and some more PCI slots? With two sata cards and 2 onboard sata, that's only 6 sata ports. I need a lot more.

CASE: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160
MOBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131370
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103240
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227178
SATA CARDS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816124018 x2
HDDS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284 x6
P.SUPPLY: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153102

Also, I like the price of that, would that make a decent browsing/document pc? My family needs a new one. Just minus the sata cards and add a cd/dvd drive and I think it would do for a decent surfing/document pc.
 
bryce,
how much are going to be spending on this file server?

cause i priced out one, with no HD's yet other then OS drive. had 15 hotswap bays for a raid5/6 setup, was under $1k.......
 
If you are going to run Linux (which I strongly recommend if and only if you are familiar with it), software RAID may be an option. I heard it's actually better (in terms of perf and CPU usage) than cheap RAID cards. Much more flexible, too (you can put partitions into RAID, not just whole disks).
 
Evilsizer said:
bryce,
how much are going to be spending on this file server?

cause i priced out one, with no HD's yet other then OS drive. had 15 hotswap bays for a raid5/6 setup, was under $1k.......
Click to expand...

I was trying to keep it as cheap as I could keep it while not skimping on hard drive quality. He doesn't care how much he spends on the hard drives, but doesn't want to spend a whole lot on the other parts. The one I finally ended up selecting came to like $1200ish or something and just sent for him to check out.
 
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