SOHO Servers – Small Office and Home Office

Every business, whether it is a big corporation or a small company, eventually comes to the point when it has to think about their growing demands of digital information flow – how to efficiently operate, store and secure it. Today we would like to talk about small business in particular – how we can manage digital information assets and what solutions are available.

SOHO – Small Office Home Office

SOHO is usually associated with small, private business or self-employed individuals who are running their own office from home. It is also often described as being small in both size of the office and number of employees. And just like the majority of today’s businesses, employees use PCs in a local area network (LAN) and have access to the internet. Internet based technologies allow them to use email, Web, VoIP, and remote access software to communicate with customers, partners, third parties, suppliers etc. Small scale databases or data banks also can be part of it. Many small offices will have a local file server where they can share files amongst each other quickly over the network. These are sometimes called “the share” or “the server” by the users.

Handling the space

Space is a primary consideration of the SOHO environment and the computer equipment used for it. And one of the most popular solutions for it is racking solutions. Networking equipment and custom servers that allow running has already evolved to the point of being much smaller and much more efficient. Being able to do more with less allows small business to be able to operate a network in a much smaller space than ever.

Very often the network and server (or servers) are hosted in a back area of the small or home office, which, in a way can be extremely tight in space, making hosting server and network equipment an obstacle. Nowadays, people work from home more than ever before, thanks to the internet and advanced technologies. Working from home should not require a tradeoff of your wardrobe cabinet for a bulky server rack. So, whether it is a residence or commercial property, space will always be a concern.

SOHO servers

We wouldn’t touch too many aspects of SOHO networking environment or which racking cabinet should you choose. Let’s talk a bit about servers that can be used for need of small office.

What is the typical set up for small office in terms of computing equipment? Five to ten desktop computers, a couple of printers, cable or wireless modem Internet connection and some other shared peripherals that could be specific for the business – it all can be handled by a small dedicated server. Of course, if you have only a couple of desktops and make only a few demands on a network, then maybe you won’t need a so called dedicated server for it – it’s easy enough to set up a share on a desktop system and use that box as a shared desktop/server. Otherwise, the reliability, data safety, flexibility and other advantages of a dedicated server are worth the relatively low cost.

SOHO servers are always a compromise between different extremes and it is very important to understand, which server subsystems are likely to be a bottlenecks – a client/server application that exchanges large amounts of data to clients may stress the network interface. A shared database that resides on the server may stress the disk subsystem but, at the same time, place fewer demands on CPU and memory. A server-based application may overload the CPU and memory, but not the disk subsystem. And so on and so forth. So, you have to identify you needs and foresee the probable outcome in terms of server’s efficiency taking into consideration such bottlenecks.

General requirements for SOHO Servers

Reliability

First and the most important – the server must be reliable. Ideally, it should run 24/7/365. Other than regular downtime for maintenance, upgrade hardware or software updates, you want to expect your server to keep on ticking.

Backup Safety

You don’t want to lose your data ever and you want to keep it that way. So, you should very cautious about backups. Server should have a redundancy in the disk subsystem and ever lose the data in case if it fails between the backups. Otherwise you might lose the hours, days or even months of the very important work or data.

Flexibility and easy access for maintenance

Initial configuration of the server should have a powerful processor, enough memory, and disk space that will allow to add or change its functionality incrementally without upgrading the hardware all the time.

Maintenance is an important part of being a flexible server – the easy access to the internal systems, the lesser time for maintenance, hence lesser downtime of the server in total.

Expandability

While choosing a form factor, don’t just think about today’s needs – think ahead and try to foresee the future demands of your server expansion. MicroATX board in a small case would give a lot of advantages to such a server. It’s small and so can be put anywhere. It doesn’t consume much power, produces little heat, and doesn’t make much noise. But! Expandability of such small system at some point, can be difficult and you likely will end up with the situation, when advantages will be outweighed by disadvantages. If you would decide to install more hard drives to expand your RAID array, for example, microATX form factor would be to limiting for that purpose. But if you’d choose a full ATX motherboard and a mini-tower case – you’ll get you room to grow in the future. As always – the choice is yours!

What is RAID?

If you’ve been doing research about computers, servers or workstations, you may have heard of RAID. But what is it, and do you need it? RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is a useful way to provide redundancy in case of HDD failure, but should not be considered a backup solution. While there are many different RAID setups, we will tell you about most common ones and how to choose amongst them in this easy to follow guide.

Determining if RAID is right for you

Before you can implement RAID in your system or purchase a new custom computer with RAID, you must first recognize the need for it. For example, you need to be able to answer following questions:

1. How important is my data to me?
2. What means of backup do I already have?
3. If my HDD fails, would I be able to continue using my system?
4. How long can I wait before I can obtain replacement parts?

While there are many more questions to be asked and answered, these 4 are the most fundamental ones and the reasons why RAID exists in the first place.

Knowing the importance of your data will be the most determining factor when choosing RAID. Also, whether or not you have existing means of backup is another important point to consider. If your data is important, but you wouldn’t be severely impacted if it was lost, then RAID may be too much for you. Other means of backup such as external drives are probably better choice. If on the other hand you need your operating system to work on regular basis, having a HDD failure can impact your work severely. Having to wait many days before you can obtain a replacement from manufacturer and re-install everything can be a real hassle.

Making the decision to go for RAID is only the first step of the puzzle. Some users only need basic RAID features, while others need a lot more. Once you’ve decided RAID is the right choice for you, you must then find out which RAID system you will need for your particular system.

Which RAID is best for me?

Your answers to the above four questions will help you determine which RAID arrangement is right for you. But on top of that, you must also understand basic RAID systems and what they do, so the following section explains that. We’re only including the basic and most common RAID configurations, but there are others out there, too.

RAID 0

Not exactly a RAID setup. The only reason it’s been added to this guide is due to the fact it provides extra performance and that its technology is used in other, more complex RAID setups. RAID 0 offers no redundancy. It uses 2 HDDs to create a RAID volume. Both drives are used to their full capacity and the data is split between the drives. If either drive fails, the volume is lost and cannot be rebuilt. If you want to use RAID 0, keep in mind you will not have any backup. Use it only for performance reasons.

RAID 1

This is a basic mirroring setup. 2 HDDs are required and the RAID controller is constantly making an exact copy of one drive to another drive. This RAID is most popular for people who want basic backup and are happy with a single point of redundancy. The speed of the drives is limited, but in case of a single HDD failure you will be able to continue running your operating system until the volume is rebuilt with the new drive. Usually rebuilding is done automatically while the system is running, but some RAID controllers do have an option of on-demand rebuilds and integrity checks.

RAID 5

RAID 5 is more complex system compared to the other 2 in that it uses 3 or more HDDs, and it splits the data across in a striped or block method. If data disappears from one of the HDDs due to failure or other issues, it can be rebuilt using information from other drives. This improves the speed compared to RAID 1 but it again maintains a single point of redundancy. Basically, you can only have one HDD fail in order to keep running. If you have a 3 HDD RAID 5 setup and 2 of your drives fail, the volume is lost. We recommend that you do not use RAID 5 for business-critical data.

RAID 10

This RAID setup is composed out of the RAID 1 and RAID 0 levels. The top level is RAID 0 and the lower level is RAID 1. If a HDD fails, it will affect the RAID 1 (mirroring) portion of the RAID without affecting the RAID 0. RAID 10 while more secure than RAID 5 has a huge impact on available disk space as most of it is used for mirroring.

Equipment

Once you’ve figured out which RAID is best for you, you must look into the equipment to buy, such as type of hard drives, amount of drives, dedicated RAID cards, etc.

Most consumer level motherboards provide RAID functionality for levels 0, 1 5 and 10. While you can run RAID on these boards, they are not as robust and reliable as dedicated RAID controllers. Also, the choice whether you want to buy consumer level HDDs or enterprise level HDDs makes a big difference too. Enterprise level HDDs are known to perform well in heavy use scenarios, such as business servers and others. Consumer-level HDDs aren’t designed for the increased workload that comes from a RAID setup, and may fail more quickly.

Therefore the most robust setup you can have using these components is a dedicated RAID card and Enterprise level HDDs. Of course, this is the most expensive setup. The same exact RAID setup can be achieved with on-board controllers and regular HDDs for much less, but the reliability of those setups is significantly reduced. You can also mix and match equipment. For example you can run enterprise level drives off the on-board controller, or you can also run standard drives off the dedicated controllers. These mixed setups also have mixed reliability scores, but upgrading at least one component is still better than the basic, on-board controller and standard HDD setup.

Conclusion

RAID setups will allow you to keep your data safe and keep your system running in case of a HDD Failure. However, keep in mind that other issues can still hinder your system unusable. Things such as motherboard failures, power supply and cpu issues and others can provide unexpected downtime. RAID is a system for redundancy of HDDs only. It doesn’t provide redundancy for possible power failures and other issues not related to HDDs. For those looking for a truly redundant setup, multiple workstations or parts need to be available on standby. As a business owner, this is something you might want to consider. For a small home office use, this may not be necessary. You need to make a clear assessment of how much downtime you can afford if issues other than a failed HDD occur and how you can go about getting your work done without a system. The RAID will continue to work and your data will be safe as long as the failures occur with single drives and they are replaced promptly.

Although most RAID setups will continue to run in DEGRADED mode even after a HDD failure, it is important to replace the defective drive as soon as possible before another one fails, in which case data will be lost.

How to Choose a Motherboard

Because there are only 2 processor manufacturers at the moment, Intel and AMD, this directly separates the motherboard choices to Intel based boards and AMD boards. This is why it’s important to pick your processor first, as the rest of the system is going to follow that choice starting with the motherboard. You cannot install AMD CPUs on Intel based boards, and vice versa. Make your CPU choice wisely so that you can find the correct motherboard easily.

Socket Matching

The only rule of thumb that you have to follow when picking a motherboard for your custom gaming PCis that you match the socket of the board with the socket of the CPU you chose.

If you picked an Intel 1151 socket processor, then make sure that the board you choose has a 1151 socket. This will ensure that the 2 parts are compatible with one another. When you’re building a system in our AVA configurator, this task is already done for you. If you pick a specific socket build, you will only see parts that belong to that category,  to avoid confusion and compatibility issues.

Other important factors

Although the socket is the most important factor to guarantee compatible builds, there are other factors to consider, including motherboard form factor (size), chipset and intended use.

Form Factor – this is the size of the actual board and it follows a standard, normally referred to as ATX. While the processor has nothing to do with what standard you pick, it will have an effect on the case you choose. Some cases are small and support only mATX boards, or mini ATX. Others are even smaller than that and are called micro ATX. Some boards are oversized ATX and are typically referred to as EATX, or extended ATX. If you plan on building a small system with a small case, then mini or micro ATX boards will be good for you. If you want to build a standard size tower, ATX boards are recommended.

Chipset – this is the brain of the motherboard. Chipset makes the CPU and all the other components work together in a seamless way. Chipsets provide extra features but can sometimes have limitations, so picking the correct chipset is important, based on what you want the system to do. For example, some chipsets have ability to provide on-board video. In these situations, video card is not necessary and the video connectors exist on the back of the motherboard, along with all the other ports. This feature is great for those who don’t wish to have a video card and want to save some money. Onboard video chips can provide decent performance for your basic tasks, and even light gaming. However, intensive gaming should be left for dedicated cards only. Even if you will be purchasing a dedicated card, sometimes it’s good to have a backup video solution in case the primary video card fails. While most chipsets have onboard video, some of them like the X79 Intel or P chipset series by Intel do not provide this feature. Other features include overclocking, SSD caching, etc. Some chipsets support the use of multiple graphics cards in an SLI or CrossFire configuration, while others do not. If you’re planning on building a custom gaming PC with multiple graphics cards, make sure the chipset and motherboard you select support that many graphics cards. Make sure you do proper research when trying to find the chipset that works best for you.

Intended use – Boards are usually marketed a certain way to indicate what kind of use it’s intended for. The idea here is very simple. If you’re building a server or a workstation, you should not be using a gamer motherboard. Vice versa, if you’re building a top of the line gaming system, avoid building it with server boards or workstation boards. Also avoid small form factor boards that don’t support high end CPUs.

What to look for

So now that we’ve covered important aspects of motherboards, let’s look at how you pick amongst them. Typically, there are 2 deciding factors when choosing between the boards. Once you found several boards that satisfy all your criteria from above listed factors, price and features are going to help you decide what to go for.

Price – motherboards can be had for as low as $50 and as high as $800. Some can be even higher than that. Majority of standard desktop boards usually cost $100-$200, while higher end gaming boards and workstation boards go up from $250 and typically sit around $300 region. High end boards that support multiple processors or extra features such as server RAID and others, can cost over $500.

Features – Most average boards come with great deal of features without having to spend hundreds of dollars for them. However, the good old saying “you get what you pay for” applies here. While many cheap motherboards support features such as RAID, it doesn’t mean they’re very good at it. If you will heavily rely on certain features of the board such as RAID and others, you might want to look into investing into a specific RAID setup with proper hard drives and dedicated controllers. RAID on average desktop boards is OK, but it’s not great and cannot be always relied on. This is a problem, because RAID needs to be reliable, otherwise it defeats the purpose.

You will likely see a standard set of features on every board you look at, those include PCI express slots, PCI slots, SATA II and SATA III connectors, fan connectors, eSATA connectors, USB 3.0 support, etc.

When looking at these features, you want to try and picture your whole system as think about what all you need. If you’re going to have 4 SATA III hard drives, but the motherboard supports only 2 SATA III ports, you need to look elsewhere. Try to visualize your complete system and pick your features based on that. It also doesn’t hurt to exceed them where possible. You never know when you might want to add upgrades, so it’s good to have that extra room to grow and support future expansions.

Recommendations

Asus and Gigabyte currently make really good boards. Other popular brands include MSI and Biostar. Intel has quite a large array of boards too, however it appears that they may be pulling out of the motherboard market so if you’re looking at future upgrades, Intel may be out of the picture in terms of motherboard choice. Majority of boards we sell at AVADirect are Asus and Gigabyte, so those are most recommended. Their support is also very good and is usually a pleasure dealing with their technicians.

Conclusion

Picking the right board isn’t very difficult. It requires research and familiarizing yourself with all the technologies currently offered. There’s a lot of jargon and abbreviations, so make sure you learn these and what they mean before choosing boards. Visualize your complete system, as it will help you find the right board. Your motherboard is the highway that connects all of the components you plan to install, so you have to think ahead in terms of compatibility, features, physical connections and so on.

We scan all orders thoroughly to make sure all your choices are compatible with one another. If there are any red flags, we offer solutions on how to fix them. Sometimes there’s more to building a system with a good board than it meets the eye. It takes long term experience to pick up on certain problems before it’s too late. This prevents future headaches and delayed orders. If you’re on your own, it can sometimes be difficult to purchase a lot of parts only to find out later that they either don’t work together, or that there’s simply no room to fit them all in.

Therefore ample amount of research beforehand is highly recommended when you’re building a custom system. If you don’t know much about different motherboards we sell, we’re here to help you and explain what each one does. However, you have to know what purpose you’re building the system for so we can point you in the right direction. Not knowing the purpose or the budget limitations can cause you to waste money buying products you don’t need, or opposite, getting a sub-par system in order to save some money. The goal is to find the best balance of budget and performance while getting the best parts possible for your money.