Why a Home Server?
I decided to setup my own server for a couple different reasons. I wanted to have a dedicated machine that could act as a media-server, Network-attached Storage device, and act as a host for potential home automation projects. Additionally, the practical experience will allow for me to use my technical knowledge and will most likely test my troubleshooting skills…
The Server
My server of choice was a second-hand Dell Poweredge R630 that was purchased through a vendor on Ebay (what could go wrong?). This model certainly does not represent top-end performance however, it should be more than adequate for my home lab.
As purchased the Dell has the following hardware configuration:
- x2 Intel Xeon E5-2690 v3 2.6GHz 12 Core Processors
- 32GB DDR4 ECC Ram
- 8 EMPTY SFF 2.5inch HDD bays
- Dell PERC H730 RAID Controller
- x2 750W PSUs
I immediately added an additional 32GB of RAM to the system to give me some over-head in case my projects get out of hand. I will say, for a server that has supposedly been around fora while, the overall condition and cleanliness surprised me.
The Rack
An economical 19-inch rack, power distribution unit, a patch panel, and a low-end managed switch make up the rest of my setup. Nothing too fancy to talk about here but I will mention that the switch I chose will still allow me to experiment with VLANs, SNMPv3, Port Security, and much more. In the future, I plan to add a UPS to increase the availability of my systems and also a dedicated POE switch with NVR capabilities for a home security cameras system.
I managed to somehow buy a 9-inch patch panel instead of a 19-inch patch panel…