Troubleshoot What kind of server should I get?

[SP9002]

Hey guys, I'm going to be getting about $300 soon from tax returns and I decided that I would probably put this money into actually getting a mini lab that can run multiple VMs. Up until now, I've been running everything off of a 1TB Seagate USB SSD that I made an Ubuntu 17.10 Live Disk with Persistence enabled, allowing me to run all my stuff off of that without risk to my actual SSD. But I want something a little more dedicated. Any Ideas? Or should I save up a little bit more?

 

[Digerati]

I'm confused. $300 is your budget for the whole server?

What type information will this system be "serving"? Note typically servers have gobs of RAM and gobs of storage space. I don't see $300 covering that, along with a motherboard, CPU, case and power supply - let alone keyboard, mouse and monitor.

 

[SP9002]

I'm confused. $300 is your budget for the whole server?

What type information will this system be "serving"? Note typically servers have gobs of RAM and gobs of storage space. I don't see $300 covering that, along with a motherboard, CPU, case and power supply - let alone keyboard, mouse and monitor.

Ah sorry, should have clarified. The server itself is not going to be used commercially or anything like that, What Im just going to use it for is mostly to analyze malware from the early days of the internet. Particularly, peer to peer malware that can spread on a closed network. And while my Current setup of running everything off the Seagate drive, while using the resources of my laptop does work. When running multiple VMs it does tend to get a bit laggy. As for Keyboard, mouse, and monitor, I have spares that I can use.

 

[TheJokerz]

What server os are you going to be running?

 

[SP9002]

What server os are you going to be running?

Some variant of Linux.

Most Likely Debian, seeing as how its the one I'm most acquainted with ATM.

 

[AlanOstaszewski]

If you don't care about power consumption, you can buy a used Xeon. I don't know where you live, but in our country such processors are very cheap. Used Intel Xeon E3-1225 v3 is offered for 80€. So I'd say if you buy half used, you're doing well. $300 could be tight, but for $400 you'll easily have a server. You just have to pay a lot of attention to offers.

 

[Digerati]

I guess I am not seeing this as a "server". Just a decent workstation.

As for Keyboard, mouse, and monitor, I have spares that I can use.

So you still need a motherboard, RAM, CPU, drives, case and power supply? That is still going to be tight on that budget considering you are already complaining about your current system being laggy.

What kind of disk space do you need?

 

[ZeroDay]

You'll be lucky to build a half decent workstation on that budget. You'll be able to scrape together some kind of server but I wouldn't expect much from it and frustration will set in quickly trying to run multiple VM's on a $300 machine. You're going to need a fair amount of RAM to be running multiple VM's, Then there's the CPU, a good PCU. You could do it out of old second hand parts, but in the UK you're getting a half decent at very best workstation on that budget and to be honest that would be a stretch. It can be done but I'd be looking for bargains and asking friends if they have any parts you can use. It really does depend on what the server is going to be used for, but running multiple VM's is going to take plenty of RAM and CPU power for a start, then the PCU needs to be able to power it all. Good luck with it and all I can really say is spend lots of time looking for second hand bargain parts.

 

[Digerati]

Any computer can "act" as a server. All you need is a network connection and a hard drive big enough to hold the data you want served. And technically, a basic "workstation" is just a computer connected to a server.

But yeah, a "real" workstation can be a real budget buster. I mean just the graphics card can wipe it out - and note some "workstation" cards cost more than twice that!

The point I was making is a "server" is not something normally used to "analyze malware" - the stated purpose of this system.

 

[ForgottenSeer 58943]

Hey guys, I'm going to be getting about $300 soon from tax returns and I decided that I would probably put this money into actually getting a mini lab that can run multiple VMs. Up until now, I've been running everything off of a 1TB Seagate USB SSD that I made an Ubuntu 17.10 Live Disk with Persistence enabled, allowing me to run all my stuff off of that without risk to my actual SSD. But I want something a little more dedicated. Any Ideas? Or should I save up a little bit more?

That price range you are probably looking at the 410 on the lower end, and 710's on the higher end of that price point.

710's are the defacto popular units for home labs these days due to the price. You can buy a pretty nice stack ready to go for the $200-$450 range depending on requirements and be up and running relatively quickly. So yeah, in that budget range start looking at 710's and you'll be good to go.

Dell PowerEdge R710 Virtualization Server 8-Core 48GB 4x300GB 10K 1.2TB PERC6i | eBay

Don''t even screw around with building a box to do it, or piecing crap together. Trust me. Every single guy I know with VM labs at home has 710's blowing the doors off a half dozen VM's.