Arch Linux

chimpyw

Member

Registered: 2007-02-14

Posts: 21

Basic Home Server

Hey folks.  Thinking of building a basic server for storing files and torrenting.  Maybe later on expand it into doing other things but it's not gonna be doing anything big.

Got a basic build here and just thought I'd run it past you guys see if it will be compatible with linux.  It's been a long time since I looked up new hardware and don't really know what is good these days or what will work (with minimal effort ) on linux.

Asustek V3-P5G31 S775 Intel G31 300W PSU A L G
Crucial 1GB 800MHz DDR2 PC2-6400
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53GHz
Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM S300 32MB
Pioneer 20X DVD+/-RW 12xRAM BLACK SATA

That all comes to about £255 which seems reasonable to me but again, I'm out of touch.   All basic stuff and nothing new so I don't think there will be any problems with linux but not sure about the G31 chipset.

Not really bothered about raid arrays as most of my stuff is backed up thrice anyways.  I have also been looking at some other NAS boxes like some IcyBoxs but they look a bit less polished than running Arch on a custom.

So how's it look to you guys?  Been searching google but my search terms are a bit vague it seems so can't find much about compatibility.

Cheers.

timetrap

Member

From: Here and There

Registered: 2008-06-05

Posts: 342

Website

Re: Basic Home Server

Honestly you could probably buy a cheaper CPU. I would buy one if it meant that I could get another hard drive.

Remember that both your main applications: torrents and file server will be fighting each other for Disk I/O. Spreading the bottleneck from one to two disks will probably help out much more than a faster CPU.

For instance. I run rtorrent on my laptop, I can get about 600Kbps down and only use about 2% of my processor (libtorrent ROCKS), but my hard drive is almost maxed out. In my case getting a faster hard drive would be much more beneficial than a faster CPU.

I would comment on your choice of motherboard, but I have not been keeping up with such things lately.

---

For a few hours a month, you can adopt an orphaned package

Interesting .... ಠ_ರೃ

chimpyw

Member

Registered: 2007-02-14

Posts: 21

Re: Basic Home Server

The only time I will be accessing it as a filestore will be when I have a torrent downloaded and want to move it to my laptop so I don't think I'll be too bothered about getting 2 hard drives.  However, depending on how much I can shave of the CPU I might reconsider

Edit: just looked, there are loads of cheaper CPUs that I missed.  I really need to at least check up on what's going on these days!

Last edited by chimpyw (2008-08-20 00:40:14)

rooloo

Member

Registered: 2008-07-09

Posts: 218

Re: Basic Home Server

tis a little much cpu for a fileserver/torrent box. I wouldn't even use an X environment, considering that you wouldn't need much of anything.

I ain't so sure you wouldn't wanna build a new box for yourself and drop the fileserver/torrent load on your now box. Guess that all depends on your hardware now.

tardo

Member

Registered: 2006-07-15

Posts: 526

Re: Basic Home Server

look at this -> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6856167032
All you need is ram/hd. I bought one for about $220 total.

zenlord

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2006-05-24

Posts: 1,221

Website

Re: Basic Home Server

CPU = overkill - you'll do fine with the T5xx-line of Intels C2D
HD = maybe not necessary, but I would consider a mainboard with ICHxR - that way you can expand to using a RAID-setup if necessary. Prices here are around € 10 more than a regular ICHx-chip...
MB = OK (except above comment). I have installed arch on a G33 just fine, so I don't except problems for you.
RAM = so cheap I would go for 2GB. I know you're only running a fileserver, but there's lots more you can do with a server: tinkering around and you'll be hosting a mailserver for the entire family and you'll be securing the box with Kerberos / LDAP authentication and so on
PSU: DON'T SKIMP ON THIS ONE! I've fixed numerous computers with instability problems just by replacing the PSU with a decent brand (ANTEC, TAGAN, OCZ f.e.)

Zl.
BTW: Maybe you can find some used computer and stuff it with a RAID-card and three hard disks for the same price. I replaced a 6y-old computer (AMD 2000+ with 1.5GB RAM) for a friend with a new one and got to keep the old one. All I had to do was replace the PSU to get it up again. I had a RAID-card lying around and now I'm only shopping for some disks to have my very own server...

chimpyw

Member

Registered: 2007-02-14

Posts: 21

Re: Basic Home Server

Yeah changed the CPU to a E1200.  Saved myself £40 quid there cheers guys!  which is going towards another gig of RAM.  About the RAID stuff, I'll probably just get a separate card for that when the time comes cause I can't find a barebones with the ICHxR chipset on it where I am shopping at.

I did have the perfect computer for doing all this with but my Grandad wanted one and I felt sorry for him paying his money out so gave it to him!

Edit: I use a laptop as my main machine so I want this for torrenting as I'm not a fan of always on torrenting over wireless.  Otherwise I'd love to get a beasting new machine to replace an old one!

Last edited by chimpyw (2008-08-20 09:47:06)

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: Basic Home Server

I have a torrent downloaded and want to move it to my laptop

Don't move it, leave it on the server and stream it. All my torrents go straight to my server, then straight back to my laptop over NFS.

chimpyw

Member

Registered: 2007-02-14

Posts: 21

Re: Basic Home Server

Do you reckon NFS is alright for streaming HD videos over wireless to view on laptop whilst still on server?  That would be pretty useful!

zenlord

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2006-05-24

Posts: 1,221

Website

Re: Basic Home Server

NFS is just perfect for a file server (if your networkclients exclusively use linux of course).

For streaming audio and/or video, there are other options (MPD/MPC for audio f.e.) that are optimized for those tasks. And I know f.e. Logitech has music stations that can connect to your streaming server so that you only need 1 central music library and in every room of your house you could just put up a Logitech station and some speakers.

I know I'm dreaming - I'm just a sucker for stuff like this (not that I have the time and/or money to go through with all this *sigh*)

Zl.

chimpyw

Member

Registered: 2007-02-14

Posts: 21

Re: Basic Home Server

Sounds good! Probs gonna run on it the following now: rtorrent, mpd, nfs and some sort of video streamer.

Only video streaming thing that I can find is Darwin which looks a bit limited for the variety of file types I have.  Can anyone recommend a method for streaming high quality video?

mrcold

Member

Registered: 2008-01-24

Posts: 150

Re: Basic Home Server

Sounds good! Probs gonna run on it the following now: rtorrent, mpd, nfs and some sort of video streamer.

Only video streaming thing that I can find is Darwin which looks a bit limited for the variety of file types I have.  Can anyone recommend a method for streaming high quality video?

you don't need to stream the video.. just open up the file on your computer from an nfs share.  I am not sure how well it will go over a wireless connection, but i have gotten some decent sized video running through a wired connection quite easily.  Just try it and see