Poweredge 2950 Home Setup

Question

Hi Guys,

I was wondering if someone can help me out choosing setup for my home server (software wise).

I just upgraded my PE860 to PE2950 III. On PE860 I had Windows Server 2012 Essential but since my school is giving me all MS software for free I was thinking about going with Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard.

PE 2950 Config:

1. 2x 2.33 GHz Quad Xeon E5410
2. 16GB RAM
3. Perc 6/I with RAID 1 - 2 x 146GB 15k and RAID 5 - 4 x 750GB, 2 slot still empty

Primary I will be using server as:

- Fileserver, Media Storage

- SQL Server 2012 Business Intelligence

- Visual Studio 2013 Pro

- IIS

- in near future as CCTV NVR

1. Should I go with Essential or Standard version since it's free anyway?

2. Should I setup some virtualization, separate for each activity?

Thank you

theflash1932 · Accepted Answer

I would be inclined to say 'Standard' ... Standard includes, in the single license, the ability to run 2012 directly on the hardware for management purposes, and TWO virtual instances within that physical instance ... so, basically, you can run two servers for the price of one (just remember the license does not allow you to do anything besides Hyper-V management in the physical/host instance.

You could do your development stuff in one virtual machine and the media stuff on the other (or run only the dev VM and use the physical/host for media stuff ... or if you have multiple licenses, install as many VMs as you have licenses for and/or need).

Virtualization is the future (correction, it is already the present standard for server deployment), so if the idea is to stay abreast and versed in current trends and technologies, then do as much virtualization as possible - at least as much as is feasible, given your projects (it is also important to recognize the differences and limitations of each).

I might be inclined to recommend you put your 4x750GB disks in a RAID 10, as you will get better overall performance from a RAID 10 than a RAID 5 (RAID 5 has good read performance but bad write performance (bad for some database use and probably for recording media (NVR)) and RAID 10 has good read and write performance).

Essentials is not only more limited, it is less flexible. For example:

you MUST implement Active Directory with Essentials (with special exceptions) - it is optional with Standard (I.e. you can use a workgroup)
fewer IIS and other types of connections (although it might still be enough for your 'home' setup)
Hyper-V (for running virtual machines) is NOT available in Essentials
Essentials includes a license for only one virtual machine OR one physical machine - not both
is more "wizard-driven", so is managed differently (with fewer options) than Standard

elDude2002 · Accepted Answer

Thank you for your help

theflash1932 · Accepted Answer

I wouldn't get the Reds for the same reason as the Greens ... the power-saving features are more likely to cause you issues and headaches on an enterprise-class RAID controller.  I would only consider the Reds for use in NAS devices for which they were designed to work (Drobo, QNAP, Synology, etc. - which implement a far different type of RAID/storage than direct-attached server/enterprise storage).

elDude2002 · Answer

Thank you so much for detailed answer. Couple more questions:

1. How much hardware resources should I apply to each instance. Per your advice I will be installing two VM's: dev VM and media VM. Should I go 50/50 of available resources? Or leave some for physical/host 30/30/40?

2. I have a spare 500GB SATA drive. Can I use it as a stand alone drive for backing up system files? or that's not a good idea?

theflash1932 · Answer

1. The host, because you won't be (can't, per licensing restrictions) doing anything in the host that requires many resources (no file server, no IIS, no AD .... just Hyper-V), can be configured with the minimum required/recommended. As far as the remaining ... it depends. It depends on the usage and activity of the machine. You CAN adjust this later (number of processing cores and memory) as a setting in the virtual machine, so you don't need to figure it out right now - you can simply adjust it as needed. If you have 8 cores and 16GB available, I would assign 4GB and 2 cores to each virtual machine, then increase as needed. Adding storage isn't as easy, but consider what you are going to run on each RAID array. It might be tempting to through your host OS on the 146GB/15K drives, then configure your VHD's on the RAID 10 (or 5). However, you will be putting your fastest storage under the host OS that will not be doing much of anything, while the VM's on the VHD's on the RAID 10 (7.2K RPM SATA) are doing all the real work. You could, of course, create a VHD on the RAID 1 for faster storage, but you will be limited on size if it also has the 60-100GB OS partition. My first impression would be to install the OS to the RAID 10, configure the VHD for the dev VM on the 146GB/15K RAID 1, then the CCTV stuff on the RAID 10 ... BUT it depends on too many things for that to be a recommendation, like where you need the speed the most.

2. Yes, you can. The PERC does NOT support non-RAID, so you can't "just use" it ... you need to create a single-disk RAID 0 with it - it will then be available as a new "disk" in Disk Management.

I will take this opportunity to strongly recommend AGAINST using cheap/desktop/consumer SATA drives. They are unsuitable for use on enterprise RAID controllers, like the PERC. You will likely have no end of issues with them.

elDude2002 · Answer

All makes sense, I will give another thought to my drive setup. What about consumer drives designated for NAS, f.e. WD Red and Black series? I have two SAS 500GB 7.2k at home but was thinking about replacing them with WD Black series.

theflash1932 · Answer

'What about consumer drives designated for NAS, f.e. WD Red and Black series?' I wouldn't.  Take a look at the RE4's (RE = RAID Edition) ... WD has tested/validated them for the PERC.  WD has validated the Reds only for use in NAS devices (not enterprise RAID/storage systems), and WD discourages the use of Blacks in [enterprise] RAID. 'I have two SAS 500GB 7.2k' 500GB is more likely a SATA drive.

theflash1932 · Answer

It's up to you. If you have issues, there won't be much anyone can do to help you, and you can probably safely assume that any storage-related issues are because of the drives. Just make sure that all your firmware (system and drives) is up to date so everything is operating the best it knows how, and be religious (Mormon style, not catholic style) with your backups. You said 2x500GB in RAID 1 is "not enough" ... are you planning to put them in a RAID 0? If so, then double your backup efforts/frequency.

The drive you mentioned (MM0500FBFVQ) is a "near-line" SAS drive ... not much better than a SATA drive with a SAS interface. It would be cheaper to do SATA without sacrificing much performance/reliability (comparing with enterprise, not consumer, SATA). Food for thought:

500GB Black SATA (7200RPM) - $70:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236345

500GB RE4 SATA (7200RPM) - $87:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G1740181

1TB RE4 SATA (7200RPM) - $125:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G15S7205

In comparison, here is a 500GB Near-Line SAS (7200RPM) drive - $170:
http://www.yobitech.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=T349H&click=1098

If you wanted to get serious about performance, without going the SSD route , this is what you would be looking for:

600GB (15000RPM) - $275:
http://www.serverhdd.com/hard-drive/sas/sas-6gbits/600gb-15000rpm/t335r

To me, going with an RE4 is a no-brainer ... $17 extra for a drive that WD says will work on your controller, vs. saving $17 on a drive that WD recommends you NOT use on your controller.

elDude2002 · Answer

BTW Thank you very much for help.

elDude2002 · Answer

I dbl checked those drives - MM0500FBFVQ, so they are SAS. 500GB in RAID1 is not enough and the SAS prices are quite high for my home use.

So the problem I'm having is either getting new consumer SATA drives or used SAS drives of ebay. I'm leaning towards new vs used.

elDude2002 · Answer

I agree RE4 1TB looks pretty good, however I forgot to mention I have 8 x 2.5'' backplane, which complicates things a bit. There is no 2.5'' RE4.

To be honest I do not really care about performance more about reliability 7200-10000rpm should be sufficient for my needs. I have DLink NAS DNS-321 that is old, slow and tired. I would like to get rid of him too. Plan was that PE2950 III will substitute both: PE860 and DNS-321.

What would you recommend as far as 2.5 inch drive?

theflash1932 · Answer

Or ... There is always your consumer/desktop/laptop drives, but, again, I wouldn't recommend them (neither would their manufacturers :)):http://www.adorama.com/WDSB500GBID.html

elDude2002 · Answer

Originally I was looking at that model: WD Black 750GB - WD7500BPKX http://wdc.com/en/products/catalog/

theflash1932 · Answer

I wondered about which backplane you had and was afraid it would end up being the 2.5" version :)

Well, I don't know if any 2.5" drives whose manufacturers have designed/tested their drives to work on Dell controllers, so I don't have any "good" recommendations.

This is an example of a "certified" 2.5-inch 500GB SATA drive, which would be guaranteed to work - $180:
http://www.xbyte.com/ProductDesc.aspx?code=CAT_1297_9

Here is an example of a retail/generic 2.5-inch 500GB SATA drive, which would not be guaranteed to work - $170:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148711

theflash1932 · Answer

This is from WD's page for the Black:Recommended Use:WD Black hard drives are tested and recommended for use in PCs, high-performance workstations, all-in-one PC's, gaming PC's, game consoles, home media PC's and notebook computers.*Desktop drives are not recommended for use in RAID environments, please consider using WD Red hard drives for home and small office, 1 to 5 bay NAS systems and WD Datacenter hard drives for 6 bay and greater NAS systems. You might search the forums to see if you can find a consensus of what to expect from using them ... using un-validated drives (an other hardware) is very much a game of hit/miss and trial/error.

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