Spare Optiplex 760 into NAS?

[mejmo06]

I'll preface this by stating that I am only a moderate user at best and am a near novice when it comes to networking and servers. However, I have a spare Dell Optiplex 760 with an E8500 Core 2 Duo processor that is begging to be used. I acquired four of these systems from a university surplus auction and have turned one into an HTPC, sold one, and set up the other one as a desktop for my in-laws. That leaves me with an extra system just laying around.

I have recently moved and am going to be receiving some OTA TV and need a good storage solution for DVR capabilities. I am also going to be converting VHS tapes to DVD's. One other intriguing possibility I have come across is to set up a VPN with this system (thanks to this: http://lifehacker.com/turn-an-old-pc-into-a-nas-vpn-media-streamer-and-mor-1516484110). Gotta like the idea of having my media always ready at the go and of private browsing anywhere.

Here are my concerns/questions:
What are my storage limitations? (2 sata ports + 1 optical sata + 1 eSata)
This system has been plagued with power supply failure. (though my htpc has been going 2 years strong now)
What will the power consumption be with having a server on 24/7? (processor is 65W I believe)
What is the maintenance level of such a system?
What kind of security measures do I need to implement? (Simply behind router? Wireless? Switch?)


I'll probably think of more but for now that is all I've got!

 

[kanewolf]

You might want to purchase a SATA or RAID card for the Dell. That would provide additional ports for disks, but would put additional strain on the power supply.

Security depends on what type of access you want. Do you want to be able to access this from the internet?

I wouldn't recommend using wireless access for a NAS. There are too many performance problems with wireless. Use wired access and then you could have devices (tablets, etc) connect wirelessly.

 

[mejmo06]

You might want to purchase a SATA or RAID card for the Dell. That would provide additional ports for disks, but would put additional strain on the power supply.

Security depends on what type of access you want. Do you want to be able to access this from the internet?

I wouldn't recommend using wireless access for a NAS. There are too many performance problems with wireless. Use wired access and then you could have devices (tablets, etc) connect wirelessly.

Storage
The power supply really does concern me. This system is 7 years old and I would venture a guess that the 305w capacity of the power supply is questionable at this point. I would like to stay around 80% of that 305 (roughly 250W). I do not see that happening with the RAID cards I've found. Things do not have to be pretty with this build so I could conceivably use all 4 sata ports if I drop the optical and use an external HDD via eSata. Would 4 drives be sufficient for both storage and redundancy?

Security
I would like the potential to have remote access via internet. I will be traveling quite a bit this year for business and have some nice locales from which I'm sure I will be taking lots of pictures/video. It would be nice to be able to off load that data directly to my home server. Maybe I have the wrong idea about how this works...

Connectivity
I will have the HTPC connected to the NAS via ethernet. We have several other devices (phones, tablets, notebooks) that will need to be connected wirelessly. My wife would love to watch TV in bed on the iPad for instance.

P.S. One of the reasons I am concerned about storage is that I only have a 128gig SSD in the HTPC at the minute and would like to forgo adding a HDD to that system if I can avoid it.

 

[kanewolf]

With the availability of 6TB disks, I guess you tell me if 10+ TB is enough. RAID is not a backup. I would recommend that you use the eSATA port as your backup solution for critical files.

The PC to NAS solution I am most familiar with is FreeNAS. I am not familiar with Amahi...

You could upload your data directly to your home server via the internet, depending on what your internet speeds are. The usual method is via a web portal to your storage.

Home streaming is available via Plex, or other DLNA servers for FreeNAS and Amahi. Since you mentioned "Watch TV in bed" -- are you trying to say you want a TV tuner in this device? Typically only saved media would be available for streaming -- DVDs/BlueRays that have been ripped, etc.

 

[mejmo06]

My download speed isn't great at 6mbs but the upload is right about there at 5-6mbs as well so I figured that is a pretty decent situation to stream from.

As far as the watch tv in bed option, our schedules would always dictate that we don't watch live broadcasts and would stick to recordings from the HTPC/DVR set-up, thus the impetus for hosting this data from the NAS wirelessly. I would also like the ability to back up/upload pictures and video from our wireless devices.

Basically, I am looking to build a versatile data dump site that we can all (family) can access as seamlessly as possible. And remotely would be great as well. I'd sure live to take advantage of my decent upload speed.

 

[kanewolf]

Did you look at the FreeNAS site? The only bad thing is the memory requirements for FreeNAS.

 

[mejmo06]

FreeNAS does look like it will meet my needs nicely but I am curious about the possibility of running a VPN on Amahi. I need to do more research on the software side of things. I am basically thinking out loud at my possibilities with my main concern being if my hardware is up to the task. I thankfully have pretty low energy rates where I live so power consumption is not that big of an issue. It has been almost two years since I looked at HDD prices and I was not aware of how cheap storage has become.

Thanks for your input. I feel good about my options and it looks like I don't have to do much to get started playing around with things.

As for the memory requirement, I already have 8gb in the HTPC set up I have and I might just repurpose that system for the NAS. A Raspberry Pi may be in my future for a HTPC replacement!

 

[mejmo06]

I am still curious about the security issues I would need to solve if I had access to my home server via internet? What would that look like with a router set up? Would I need more than my current wireless router for security measures?

 

[kanewolf]

You could do it with a VPN or you could do it with HTTPs and simple port forwarding. A normal router can do either. It is port forwarding through the router and to the NAS. The NAS can be the VPN termination or the HTTPs termination. Since the NAS is a Linux host, it is less susceptible to attack. You can limit your vulnerability by using an obscure port on the router, forwarded to a standard port on the NAS.

 

[mejmo06]

Been doing some research and I may have hit a snag on this Optiplex 760. The motherboard does not have RAID support so I would have to install a controller (assumption...maybe there is a work around). I have found some that may work: http://www.cellularfactory.com/computer/DELL/4/39473/430817/ not fast by todays standards but serviceable. My concern is compatibility with the server OS. It states, "Requires Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP/Server 2003 or Linux." Would this nix the ability to use freeNas? How about Amahi since, "Amahi is free, open-source home server software that's based on Fedora Linux." I don't want to purchase anything until I know I'm in the clear.

Oh, how about enterprise level HDD? Is it worth it to splurge for them?

 

[kanewolf]

Been doing some research and I may have hit a snag on this Optiplex 760. The motherboard does not have RAID support so I would have to install a controller (assumption...maybe there is a work around). I have found some that may work: http://www.cellularfactory.com/computer/DELL/4/39473/430817/ not fast by todays standards but serviceable. My concern is compatibility with the server OS. It states, "Requires Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP/Server 2003 or Linux." Would this nix the ability to use freeNas? How about Amahi since, "Amahi is free, open-source home server software that's based on Fedora Linux." I don't want to purchase anything until I know I'm in the clear.

Oh, how about enterprise level HDD? Is it worth it to splurge for them?

FreeNAS is based on FreeBSD (Linux). I can't tell what brand that card is. But a quick E-Bay search shows some name brand (Highpoint, LSI) PCI cards. Your motherboard has a PCI-e x1, so you could use a newer card. To ensure compatibility, I would try and stick with a name brand card.