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