FYI: German-PC-Magazin - Hardware-Suggestion for Servers

Hey Guys!

The german PC-Magazin "c't" is pretty famous in Germany. Sometimes they give suggestions to build more or less powerful, but quiet systems. In the new issue they are discussing server-hardware and -software.

Here some facts:
Name | CPU with Cooling | Mainboard | RAM | SSD for OS | max. HDDs | Housing | powersupply | max. noise with max. HDDs (WD red) | max. powerconsuption with WHS11 and 4 HDDs

Micro-ATX | Pentium G3220 boxed | Intel DH87RL | 4GB DDR3-1600 Kingston KVR16N11S8/4 | Sandisk mSATA X110 64 GB | 4 HDDs | Fractal Design ACR Mini Rs | be quiet! System Power 7 300 W | 0,5 Sone | 29 W
ATX/ECC | Pentium G3220 boxed | Asus P9D-X | 4 GB ECC DDR3-1600 Kingston KVR16E11S8/4 | Sandisk 64 GB (SDSSDP-064G-G25) | 6 HDD | Fractal Design ARC Midi R2 | be quiet! System Power 7 300 W | 0,6 Sone | 35 W
Mini-ITX | Pentium G3220 boxed | Asus H87I-Plus | 4GB DDR3-1600 Kingston KVR16N11S8/4 | Sandisk 64 GB (SDSSDP-064G-G25) | 4 HDD | Chenbro SR30169 | be quiet! System Power 7 300 W | 0,5 Sone | 34 W

The author discusses several other ideas (examples: Hardware-RAID, Pico-PSU, different mainboards, different CPU - see below, ECC necessary?). Many tips and hints are included.

Speedtest:
Pentium G3220 - WHS2011: RAID 5, AES256 encrypted / unencryped, 5GB-Files | write 32, 95 MB/sec | read 111, 112 MB/sec
Core i3-4130T - WHS2011: RAID 5, AES256 encrypted / unencryped, 5GB-Files | write 57, 95 MB/sec | read 112, 112 MB/sec
Core i3-4130T - FreeNAS: RAID-Z, encrypted, 5GB-Files | write 105 MB/sec | read 86 MB/sec

Another article is discussing the "right" OS. Bad news: OMV is not in that list. We discussed some possible reasons and solutions here (in German language ).

For a file-server they recommend "FreeNAS". If you want more than a file-server like groupware etc., the recommend "ClearOS". They are comparing different Win-Servers (WinServer 12, StorageServer 12, WHS 11, SBS 11) and discussing VMware vSphere Hypervisor and MS Hyper-V.

All in all:
Highly recommended to read!
Fair written. Maybe OMV will be on the next article, when we're growing in advertisement...
More powerful, less noise and less energywaste than my N40L. Great!

Last, but not least: Who has written that? C'mon guys, don't be shy! :mrgreen:

Negative, Sir! I know you understand German. Go to the other link. They told me, that I should inform them, if OMV is reaching 0.6 or stable OwnCloud. The can't watch every promising project.

They've chosen WHS 2011 just for measurement because the wanted a energy-saving system. This is a big advantage of Windows. Powermanagement is well supported. Example the Micro-ATX (without HDDs): WHS: 12,4 W | Ubuntu 13.10: 18,2 W | FreeNAS 9.1.1: 18,3 W | VMware Hypervisor: 20,2. Most SOHO-Servers are running mostly idle-speed. So that's a point.

They are not recommending WHS. Regularly upgrades on WinServer raising costs. You never know, what's happening next in Redmond. See SBS11... They are recommending a Linux (especially Debian) for long time usage in servers.

And: I've you're not an Admin, WHS is for families a good way to go for backups. It's always like the problems with personal navigation systems: If you know the area, they loose - absolutely.

Zitat von "davidh2k"

Preparing a Readerletter myself over here to question the article (still have to read it, getting the issue right now) why such a dead OS is pushed in the article.

Wrong way, David. Right way: Read, think, read again, then think again and then wright.
They are not pushing WHS. You have to read the article, then you'll see.

BTW: http://www.heise.de/forum/c-t/…rver/posting-444630/show/

Keiner der Beiträge dort ist von mir.

Yes. And the user subscribed today at heise.de.

He's asking if OMV (Debian) wouldn't be better because of Updates and drivers. The author wrote, that the advantage of a DIY-Server is clear: You can install, what you want to install.

@ David: Your feedback is missing!

The new c't (2014, Issue 3, Page 12) printed a readersletter from Gunter P.

Zitat

Im Homebereich ein ZFS-System aufzusetzen oder gar ein AD einzurichten, ist mit Kanonen auf Spatzen geschossen. Hier bieten sich Openmediavault oder das abgespaltene NAS4Free als kostenfrei Lösungen an. Wer gerne "bastelt", kann auch Openfiler (ausschlißlich Englisch) nehmen. Das Openmediavault hat nach meiner persönlichen Auffassung den Vorteil, dass es Ubuntu als Grundlage benutzt und damit alle Debian-Quellen zur Verfügung stehen. Wer FreeBSD beherrschst, ist natürlich mit NAS4Free optimal bedient. Das Openmedivavault hat auch einen Schwachpunkt. Es schreibt (pollt) ständig Systemereignisse und ist damit für SSD ungeeignet.

Translation via Bing with some corrections:

Zitat

To set up a ZFS system in the home area or to establish even an AD is shot with guns on sparrows. Here Openmediavault or the split-off NAS4Free as free solutions offered. Who like to "tinkering", can use also Openfiler (exclusively in English). The Openmediavault has in my personal opinion the advantage, that it uses Ubuntu as a basis and therefore all Debian sources available. Who's comfortable with FreeBSD, is of course optimally served by NAS4Free. The Openmedivavault has also a weakness. It writes system events (polls) constantly, making it unsuitable for SSD.

Do we use Ubuntu? Gunter - if you're here, read this: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenMediaVault
Do we have problems with SSD? I thought, just USB-Thumbdrives will get in trouble?!

Some people think, that Debian is based on Ubuntu!