Windows Home Server Part 2 - Hardware / Network / Installation Notes

Posted by HyperLithium
April 15, 2009

istar1This is the second in a series of Windows Home Server articles that will be on this site.  Right now, I’m thinking it will be a 5 part series and if you missed the first then go ahead and check out Windows Home Server Part 1 now.  Here in part 2 we are going to be discussing all the hardware that you need to get started, what to buy, networking, and some brief install notes.  I will also be giving an overview of the server I use at home with things I like and would do differently or will be upgrading.

It Starts with the Network
Windows Home Server is basically an easy to use but powerful Network Attached Storage system (NAS).  The key to this is that it’s attached to the network and accessed that way.  Well, when you have one bridge to an island that a lot of people want to get to you should make sure it’s big enough.  It is easy and fairly cheap to get your network upgraded at home so lets look at what we need.

Cables - Cat5e or Cat6.  Both are cheap so go with Cat6.  Just about any brand will do and I really wouldn’t recommend making them yourself.

tnetgreenSwitch - This is the important part.  A switch basically is the backbone of a small LAN so make it something decent.  We want 10/100/1000 (Gbit) here to max out our transfer speeds.
– Recommendation 1 - TrendNET 8 Port 10/100/1000 “Green” switch. It’s 10/100/1000, supports jumbo frames, priced excellent, and 8 port.
– Recommendation 2 - HP JP077A 8 Port 10/100/1000 - A little more high end here and I’m not sure worth the extra cash.  Should be a little faster and has a lifetime warranty

The TrendNET also has a 5 port version available if you don’t need 8 ports and want to save a few bucks.

Router - If you have a router with 10/100/1000 ports built in then you won’t need to buy a 10/100/1000 switch unless you need the extra ports.  A key element here is if you plan on using wireless to transfer a lot of data you’re definitely going to want to get yourself setup for 802.11n (draft) speeds. TrendNET has the TEW-672GR which is rated for 300 mbps wireless connect, has a 10/100/1000 integrated switch, and is wireless dual band.  At $80 bucks it’s a good buy.

If you’re not going to be using the wireless connection to pound through a lot of data your existing router should work fine with a new switch attached to it.  “But if it’s connected to the router won’t that be a bottleneck?”  Good question!  A switch is a fairly smart device and will “learn” your network as data is passed around.  What will happen is the switch will know that you have computer x on port 1 and server 1 on port 3 so the data does not pass through the router.  All of your data will then be transferred as fast as that switch can move it.  This is what allows easy expansion and upgrade of a network.  Gotta love it.

intelnicNIC/Wireless NIC - For an internal NIC I always say Intel.  At $24 the Intel 10/100/1000 PCI GT NIC just cannot be beat.  This thing should smoke your built in card and can easily be “teamed” with a second Intel 10/100/1000 card to create more bandwidth than a home user will be needing.  I’d say skip on a PCI-X version unless you don’t have any open PCI slots since disk throughput will probably be maxed out well before the network is.

For a wireless NIC it’s a little more tricky and much less tested for me. I have been using the Encore ENUWI-N USB Adapter at home with good success though I haven’t maxed out the speed on it yet.  TrendNET has their TEW-664UB Dual Band adapter on sale now for about $55.  A general rule of thumb if you are making new purchases is to compliment what you have.  If you bought Netgear Router X then look for their series of network cards to go with it.  If you have older hardware then maybe skip on that thought and just slowly replace with new stuff as you can.  I think you guys get the drift.

If you have questions on particular hardware ask in the tech section of our forums. Phew, now that we have that out of the way let’s take a look at the hardware you need for your server and what you might consider.

Yay, the server!
Ahh, now time for the actual “box” as I like to call it.  The good news is that you can run Windows Home Server on just about anything.  The bad news is, well, there really isn’t any.  Minimum server requirements are 512 MB ram, 1Ghz CPU, and a 65 GB HDD.  Could it get any better?  “Well, what about compatibility?”  Another good question, young Padawan !  Since Windows Home Server is built on Server 2003 it will support a ton of hardware.  I’ve seen Server 2003 function great on a lot of different hardware and if you meet the min requirements already listed I think you’ll be just fine.  Honestly, I think it would be possible to run a perfectly good server on an older Pentium 3 - 600 or Athlon 650 as along as you have the memory and HDD space.  Might want to make sure the installer won’t turn you away immediately with some searching but there is always a trial version to download and test with.

Prebuilt
HP’s MediaSmart servers have been getting solid reviews since their debut.  For about $600 it’s possible to get a mid-tower HP Media Smart with at least 1TB of space and room for expansion.  These servers are only running on 2ghz Celeron’s but for the most part that is more than enough.  If you don’t want to build it yourself or cannibalize old hardware this could be the way to go.  HP MediaSmart Servers.

niveusNiveus is another company making servers though they are a little more “high end.”  They come in a rackmount chassis that is designed to blend into a high end A/V center for at home.  Check them out at http://niveusmedia.com/products/cargo.html.

The only real disadvantage here is not knowing exact spec’s and some possible limited expandability.  But, for about $600 bucks for a lower end HP it’s a great way to have a good size storage silo.

D.I.Y.
Whether you are going to use old hardware or build new this guide should give everyone a good idea of what to do.  Basically, if you’re building new this will help you pick out the components or if you’re using old stuff you’ll know things to look at for possible upgrades.

Case
istar1I think having enough room for at least 4 hard drives is a good place to start.  If not, I would suggest getting a full tower case or do yourself a real favor and get a rack mount style case with hot swap bays.  Sounds like overkill and pricey, right?  Well, not really.  Most full tower cases are about $100 now and are really rather large.  For $160 i-Star has their B350PL with 5 hot swap bays in red or blue. For another $50 the D400 is available with 6 hot swap bays.  Don’t worry, you don’t need a place to actually mount the case but this is a huge advantage when working on the machine. Rack mount cases have tops that come off for quick and easy access to things and the hot-swap bays make swapping out drives as easy as it gets.  Also, these two cases make expansion easy with having the extra 5.25″ slots.  Just purchase more hot swap bays like the BPN-350, hook them up, and throw some drives in.

PSU
Not really a spot to go too cheap but there’s no need for craziness.  Since this computer is going to be on all the time I’m going to definitely recommend 80+ certified and 500 watts or more. PSU’s pushing 500+ watts for a build like this should be more than enough and allow for expansion.  Rosewill currently has their RG-5302 on sale for $55 at Newegg.  If you want to go crazy pickup a redundant PSU set but I just can’t recommend that for a home server build.

Mobo/CPU/Ram/Vid
These items really don’t have to be anything special.  For the motherboard, if you’re picking one out, look for something with extra PCI slots or a large amount of SATA II connectors.  Really, it’s all about how many hard drives can be connected to it.  Anything above a 1 Ghz CPU is just fine and even slower CPU’s should work okay.  For those wanting “more power” look at Xeon motherboards and CPU’s.  The 3.0Ghz+ CPU’s are dirt cheap on eBay.  Some people don’t like to buy used hardware but most computer components will last for a long long time under normal usage.  It could be a great way to build a higher end server for low buck.  Generally speaking, due to moving the data around to the hard drives, the faster the CPU the faster your data will flow.  There is a law of diminishing returns here that I’m not about to calculate it so I will just say use this rule of thumb;  If you have a 1ghz plus CPU then use it and if you’re buying something spend well within your means.  No reason to go nuts here.  Again, for the memory 512 is minimum but if 2 GB is available go with that.

Optical Drives
Unless you do an install over the network (not in the scope of this article) you’ll need a DVD drive to do the install.  Chances are it won’t be needed after that.

Hard Drives/Controllers
Ah, the real heart of this beast.  First, decide on how much storage or how many drives are needed.  I would recommend going with 1 terabyte drives.  1 TB drives are cheap, huge, and widely available now.  To save electricity Western Digital has the Caviar Green for $100 or for better performance pick up the Caviar Black for $110. If you only have the money for a couple of hard drives now that is just fine since they are easily added later on.  If 1 TB is out of reach just look for 32 MB cache and SATA II.  For now, as well, stay away from Seagate drives since they have had a slew of failures in the recent months.

Speaking of SATA II, there is a good chance an older motherboard either doesn’t support SATA II or doesn’t have enough connectors.  No need to fear, PCI expansion cards are here!  Don’t worry about getting a card with RAID since it won’t be used.  For 4 SATA II connectors Promise has the SATA 300 TX4 for $70 though there are a couple of other brands for less money.  Promise has been in the game for a long time so I will recommend them first.  If there are plans to expand externally do yourself another favor and pick up an eSata adapter to max out your hard drive speed.

Cooling/Misc
It shouldn’t take too much to keep this rig cool so stick with more quiet fans but make sure there is solid air flow.  Heat is what really kills hard drives but it doesn’t have to be 20C all the time either.  If your server has a good CPU cooler combined with intake and exhaust fans it should be able to keep itself cool.

Install Notes

Hyper’s Server
Okay, as promised I will “show off” my server.  There is nothing special about my box and it was more of a scrap together job than anything else.  Honestly, it’s been surprising to me how well it’s performed which should show some of you what can be done with just some old dormant hardware with a couple new parts.

Spec’s

As you can see here this hardware is nothing special. I don’t even remember how I came across the CPU and Motherboard if I’m being honest. The video card was junked from a friends PC and the WD 120 GB HDD is probably 7 years old at this point. The real money in this project was the 400 GB HDD’s since I bought them about 3 or 4 years ago. Some pictures follow but, again, nothing special. I purchased the full tower case at the time because it was cost effective and held a fair amount of HDD’s. When/if I rebuild I will definitely be using one of the rack mounts like I recommended above.

caseout600casein

Part 3 - Build Recommendations Low End/High End, Initial Install Setup, Getting your computers linked up

Next week I will layout two builds using Newegg for, probably, $500 or less and $800 or more.  I will also talk about Windows Networking so that you can get the computers talking to each other effectively.

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3 Responses to “Windows Home Server Part 2 - Hardware / Network / Installation Notes”

  1. Telos Says:
    April 15th, 2009 at 7:44 pm

    You say that the installer will wipe all drives attached to the server. What if I install with one drive attached, then plug in some other drives that have data on them? It won’t wipe those too, will it?

  2. HyperLithium Says:
    April 15th, 2009 at 8:49 pm

    I will have to look that one up. I really don’t know.

  3. nick Says:
    April 19th, 2009 at 1:55 am

    That picture makes your server look like the leaning tower of NAS.

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