[build log] Powermac G5 converted to home server

[Staticvi]

Hello everyone,
I am starting my first ever real custom build. By that I mean painting and modding a case not buying parts and putting a computer together. Anyway a little about me I am 26 (currently) im going to school for my CCNA but some of the other classes im taking are Cisco security, windows server and VM management. most of my classes are intro classes as of right now but after taking some of them i thought it would be a good idea if i had a home server. to practice with VM's and managing servers. not trying to do anything crazy. well i have always liked how the G5 case looked and i finally got one for free so thought id try to build a "study" computer.

Parts list: None as of now dont know what i need for what i would so please any advice is great but trying to keep it cheap and Quite. i want it to have almost no noise. i want a mobo with WIFI and Bluetooth (if possible trying to limit wires out the back)

Goal for build: host a few VM's and store some files. might stream videos later on.

Case: i was going to paint the sides dark blue with white on the middle / inside. put a full atx mobo inside.

Ty for reading this is my first post here also first time doing a build log so please bare with me.

 

[TransformedBG]

just curious where this goes... subscribed

 

[dintid]

Hello everyone,

....... i want a mobo with WIFI and Bluetooth (if possible trying to limit wires out the back).........

Edit: My post seems all negative, so I thought I'd edit it and say it is a really nice case, and I've thought about doing the same. Keep it up

Goal for build: host a few VM's and store some files. might stream videos later on.

Edit: Below sounds negative, but I intend it to act as a helping hand. To either help prevent you doing a (in my eyes) very bad judgement call or at least do it with open eyes as to the consequences of going Wireless for this sort of machine.

What you want here is mutually exclusive of each other..

Wireless:
Only use Wireless for portable devices. Never ever use it for media content based devices. Certainly never ever use Wireless for anything like servers and most certainly, deffinently not use it for a hypervisor running guests!! That is like the worst plan ever and you are sure to not end up with a satisfactory result.
A main thing you are going to regret here is that you can not use your server setup as testbed for your CCNA if you run it wirelessly.

Streaming:
You really don't want to stream anything on Wireless. Regardless of Wireless quality you are going to experience drop off which blows. Skipping back and forth in a 10GB mkv file over Wireless is a very sure way to get much less exited about your build.

Hosting VM:
Hosting VMs with Wireless access is seriously an extremely bad idea. If you experience drop outs when streaming media content, you don't want to experience how sucky it is to run a hyper-v/Vmware with a few guests over a Wireless, where each guest net is done by the same Wireless.

Server hardware?
Thoughts about what kind of hardware you want to run?
I've run a HP Microserver Gen8 with just 16gb ram. I have Server 2012r2 Hyper-V and run 3 guests servers: 2 DCs and 1 Exchange 2013 server. 2 of them are 2012r2 and one is 2012 (not r2).

It is doable, but I'd strongly recommend finding a MB with more ram slots, which should be possible since you run full size case

I'll advice against getting real server CPU. Due to heat, noise, cost and the cost of having it powered on at all.
You do NEED your hardware to be able to run virtualized stuff though.
You might not have gone so far yet in CCNA, but when you get to semester 3 or so you are going to learn about Routing and Switching. In this part you are going to learn a lot about VLANs.
You want to hook up 2 or more gigabit wired Networks and team them to provide both better performance and redundancy.

 

[perestrojka]

Good luck mate ! It's nice to see that there are more modders who are using G5 case for base of their projects.