Confusion about setting up a home server

I am thinking of setting up a home server but can’t seem to settle on a single setup which will fulfill all my needs. These are my requirements:
– At least 10 TB storage with a redundant backup system.
– Able to stream movies and other media to TV, consoles, other home PCs and remote systems like smarts phones.
– It should backup certain folders in home PCs locally and in cloud.
– It should handle all the printing requests from other PCs.
– It should also work as a gaming server
– It should also work as a home surveillance system by using IP cameras in which all of the feeds should be remotely accessible.
Software like Freenas, Operwrt, XAMPP, Ubuntu server, Arch Linux and other similar open source softwares are already there but I just want to know if its possible to implement all of the relevant softwares in a cohesive whole. I don’t want my server spread on two or three computers.
I will also like suggestions about hardware or any links to similar setups or tutorials. Thanks
Answer #1
Your setting up a hybrid server/htpc which is possible, it will just cost more.
My recommendations would be to have an HTPC and a Server separate. Your server will be loud, and you wont wanna listen to the fans roar while your trying to enjoy a quiet movie.
For the 10TB RAID; this is asking a lot for data security. Raid1 cuts your disk space in half. Plus most servers go for raid10, increased performance and data security.
I know you don’t wanna break your server into 2 or 3 servers, which I would not recommend at all, especially not with hardware out these days, but I do recommend making your HTPC and Server separate.
Answer #2
Your setting up a hybrid server/htpc which is possible, it will just cost more. Where does it say that he wants to use it as an HTPC? Streaming is totally different.
Software like Freenas, Operwrt, XAMPP, Ubuntu server, Arch Linux and other similar open source softwares are already there but I just want to know if its possible to implement all of the relevant softwares in a cohesive whole. I don't want my server spread on two or three computers. Easy. Use something like VMWare ESXi. If you’re going via this route I can help you with every step since I specialize in this. The first thing you need to do is find hardware compatible with ESXi since most consumer motherboards and NICs WILL not work.
Btw RAID is NOT a backup. If you want a redundant ‘backup’ you basically need two rigs.
Answer #3
ESXi is great, but that much data sitting on a vmdk file it is going to take up a lot of space and be difficult to backup, especially if trying to mirror. FreeNAS, Amahi, Twonky, and WHS make reasonable home servers. You’ll still need to handle backups separately using raid and/or and external hdd, but there are a ton of options there as well. My typical backup plan is to use a raid 10 if cost allows and/or backup to an external harddrive daily. A backup is only useful if it’s available when needed, so I usually alternate two external harddrives having one out of the house at any given time in case of burglary or fire, etc. Of course, with 10tb of that will be difficult.
Answer #4
and be difficult to backup, especially if trying to mirror
I disagree. It doesn’t matter at all to be honest. You don’t need to backup the vmdks just the files. You can install any backup software on the VMs itself and just copy what you need. Overhead is minimal since ESXi utilizes Direct I/O.
Answer #5
In my experience of trying to backup data from ESXi, it was unnecessarily complicated. You can’t just hook up a USB drive unless you have specific hardware. Data writes to NAS drives was slow. And simple backing up data was never good enough for me. I keep system images whenever available to ensure that any downtime is minimal. No OS reinstalls necessary, no setting changes, no restoring data afterwards. Get the image restored and get back to productivity.
Just my experience, but every one has their own opinions.