I have been hosting my own web and exchange server for my house for many many years now and really enjoyed learning various aspects of infrastructure management. At a minimum it was a great learning experience.
About 2 years ago, I had purchased a HP Home Server to host my own "Media Server" for storing and consuming all things media - including my DVDs/BDs, Photos, Music, Documents, etc. HP Home Server is a "head-less" Server that seamlessly allows consumers to easily manage their personal and private media content at a reasonable cost. When I first got this server, I had 4TB of storage w/ redundancy set up for disaster recovery. So, in effect, I was really only having 2TB for content and storage.
I am a movie buff (and so is everyone else in my family). I have tons of DVDs and BDs - and as you can imagine, I quickly ran out of space on my HP Home Server.
It then got me thinking about expanding my Data Center to a reasonably larger capacity and true "Home Data Center".
So, about 8 months ago, I completely redesigned and rebuilt my data center using server class equipment I purchased and a very good price from ebay.
I had to purchase various components to put this Home Data Center together. Such as:
Hardware Final Consideration:
- APC 25U NetShelter Server Rack (I did not pay even half that price. ebay worked pretty well).
- APC SmartUPS Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS)
- One SuperMicro 3UServer
- 8 SATA II Drive bays
- 16 TB SATA II configured as RAID 10
- 16 GB RAM
- Dual Core 3.75Mhz CPUs
- 3Ware 9550 hardware RAID Controller
- One SuperMicro 2U Server
- 6 SATA II Drive bays
- 8 TB SATA II configured as RAID 10
- 8 GB RAM
- Dual Core 3.75Mhz CPUs
- 3Ware 9550 SX hardware RAID Controller
- One BELKIN 16Port Digital KVM w/ built in Monitor and Keyboard
- Netgear Routers, Firewall
- HP Printers, Scanners, FAX, Copier
- Netgear EVA9150
- This is a VERY cool Media Streamer - pretty much serves up any format video, audio to your TV
- XBOX 360 - from streaming movies perspective. This is not the primary streamer. Netgear EVA9150 is the primary media streamer.
Server Final Consideration:
- Windows Server 2003 R2 x64
- Slysoft AnyDVDHD- for dumping the DVD/BD to the Server
- MyMovies - for gathering movie details and creating Cover Art. And, also capability to Stream to XBox 360
- Netgear EVA 9150 - Server Side Software that enables the handshake btwn Netgear EVA9150 and the Server.
The Objective:
The goal here was to burn all of my DVDs/BDs to my 3U server and to be able to consume all of the media via Netgear in my Home Cinema room and Family room. Also, to be able to consume all media while I am on the road traveling via streaming over internet.
Secondly, to be able to expand my Web and Exchange Server needs. The 2U Server is my server that handles these requirements. This site, my blogs, our family Exchange Server (email) needs are all addressed and serviced by this server.
Both the servers are sitting behind the Netgear Firewall via Internal NAT over External static IP address.
Summary
I believe the above configuration is proven to be very successful to service my **family needs** (keywords, "family needs" - that's how I sold it to my wife). In addition, it gives me more options to future expansion and scale.