full image - Repost: Seriously considering building a proper server. (from Reddit.com, Seriously considering building a proper server.)
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Ok, maybe not proper as in spending 50k on server grade hardware but definitely get some rack case going with single decent PSU, a UPS for protection, etc. What I want to focus on mostly is reliable array of drives that won't fail me because of me being a noob and security better than one found in common NAS devices.So far my backups have been quite primitive, I use usb docking stations, bit fancier for more drives (current ones does 8 drives over 10gigabit usb c) and I just backup data to them so I have 2 copies but what I don't like about this is that.a) I do backups manually and have to turn on and off the DAS every timeb) if one drive fails I only have one more left... which may fail when copying data to new drivec) no protection against bitrot, I could be backing up already corrupted data to my backup drives without knowing, there is no integrity checks on data I back up and one that is already backed up.d) even if I did set up raid it would be software one on the PC since it's DAS and not a NAS/server with it's own hardware to handle raid for me. Also pretty sure this enclosure won't work with RAID, not that I would want to rely on my main PC to handle that and it being over USB.What I do like is that this solution is fairly secure, if my PC gets infected then only unless DAS was online I cannot infect it and wreck my only copy of all data... but the risk still persists, also it's very simple to maintain.Happily I've not had a single drive fail me so far but had some corrupted files recently so I'd like to build my server that way it can keep my data safe from bitrot but also remain secure even tho it would be on network (but I don't want it remotely accessible, only locally, perhaps I could still access the data over USB or some other way like directly connect both machines but not have the server ever actually hook up to the network).My understanding is that there are some ways to build an array and use specific file systems that would always be checking integrity of the files stored on the server using various hashing algorithms but aside from that I have no other idea what would be the best option. Right now I'm storing about 40TB of data, not all has to be backed up but most does and I have 2nd 40TB worth of drives (approximately) backing it up, some data one one drive, some more important is present on two drives.The options I'm considering if I was to go the easy route and just build a windows server based machine would be to hook up several drives to motherboard and get extra PCIE cards with more SATA ports and do a software RAID on that machine and go for something like RAID 6 but obviously I'd be using more than 4 drives so I do wonder if there is anything better that is maybe even more resiliant to multiple drive failures, bitrot, easier and faster to rebuild and in general just more reliable. I'm not sure even if software RAID is the way to go, I'm aware of some hardware solutions but I'd like if possible to stay away from anything enterprise level (if I could afford that I'd be running those sweet LTO tapes for offline backup but damn are those tape drives expensive) and stick with plain old SATA drives.The total capacity of the server I'd be looking at would be around 48TB so I'd need 8 8TB drives but that only gives me 2 drive failures possible (and I'm not sure if that would mean any 2 drives or 2 specific drives), but I'd like the option to maybe start of smaller (like 5-6 drives and expand later).Also as I mentioned security is very important for me and I have 0 plans to ever needing to access this server remotely or even on actual local network, most of my PCs have dual ethernet, some are 2.5/5gbit, one has 10gbit, if I could get a 10 gig switch and hook up this server directly to 2nd ethernet ports on my PCs and have the server only visible to those PCs and not to the internet that would be the best option, USB would still be better as I can utilize 10gbit or faster generations but I'm not aware of any ways to connect a PC acting as server to a another PC and see it's contents as an external drive (that would be great since I already use USB switches and KVMs to switch between different PCs, I could use one of these USB switching devices to alter between a PC that needs to access the data to copy it to local smaller storage of the PC to work on it and then switch it off) but if it is possible to set it securely over network I'm willing to do it as long as it's a separate network from my local one (so in case something infects my network the server remains secure and not visible to anything except for my PCs, I do understand that infected PC currently connected to server would pose a risk so I'd like to know if there are any ways to protect a server in that case too).I'd like to build it in rack case using standard desktop compontents, I might invest in ECC memory and CPU/motherboard that supports it but I'd like to keep the budget low since the drives would end up costing me the most, I might build it in standard case if it means I can get cheaper components.What do you guys recommend as far as hardware, how to handle raid, what type, software or hardware raid and what kind of operating system and file system? I suspect most people will be against Windows Server and recommend something like FreeNAS but all I know about it is that it exists.Sorry for long post.
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