Ok this might get a little long winded but please bare with me.
Long story short, I need to build a new home server/NAS/Media center PC for my home network. I've already chosen the parts for the build (listed below), since I don't have an old pc to re-purpose. But building isn't the issue, but rather how to set it up on the network that's my problem.
Short story long, I used to use simple external drives and pen drives to keep my data organised and backed up etc, but they ALWAYS seem to get broken. The reason for this is that for complex personal reasons I have a ton of ponies come through my home and I have to rely on them to do various different things, and the external drives always get dropped for one reason or another. Having been through about 6/7 4TB external drives, I finally got sick if it and decided to build a NAS home server so that the data never has to get physically moved around.
Trouble is, NAS/Networking is fairly uncharted territory for me. Networking is one of my weaker tech knowledge spots. The most I've ever done in the area is simple wifi+internet setup and connecting devices to wifi, so I've come up with a few questions I can't find easy answers for. Mostly to do with the setup and software. I don't need any super advanced features like shadow copy or web access. I found a fair few vids on youtube on part selection, hardware etc, but almost nothing on actually setting it up. I already have the gigabit switch and cables etc, but haven't yet built the home server.
My requirements:
Network accessed storage in RAID 6.
Local playback (use as a media center pc plugged directly into mane TV hdmi).
Only authorized devices access (More on this later)
Auto backup (this this more of a bonus than a requirement)
My questions:
Once built, what OS would be best for these requirements?
Once set up, how to I set up hardware RAID? Is this done automatically when I plug the drives into the card? Does an opton come up in the mobo BIOS? Is it just done with the downloaded firmware/ software from the manufacturer's site?
How to I set it up so that the drives in this pc are NAS?
What about viruses? I have quite a few different ponies come through my house everyday and use my wifi, and not one of them is remotely tech savvy, and I guarantee at least 1 of them WILL have a virus in their netbook/laptop. For now this isn't too much of an issue because viruses that spread via whatever wifi you cennect too seem to be pretty rare. Just to say, my wifi network atm is WPA2 password protected. But putting a dedicated server on the network is another matter entirely. For this reason I was thinking of Linux but not sure which version to get or how to setup the network access stuff with this either.
Would really appreciate some answers to these questions.
Thanks
-SoulDragonWithFlow
My planned Build
Silverstone Grandia GD08
Asus Z87 TUF Gryphon mobo
Hyperx LoVo RAM 16 GB
Enermax 650W Revolution87 PSU
Intel 4130 i3 CPU
H100i liquid cooler. Config for low noise.(Overkill i know but had it lying around anyway)
8 X WD Red 4TB hard drives connected to RAID pcie card. (Raid 6). Possible more HDD in future. hence 16 port raid card
2 X intel 730 series SSD plugged into Mobo for boot. (Raid 1)
4X1 Gigabit intel NIC (unsure on exact model yet)
LSI Megaraid 9280-16i4e (This still can change if I get any recomendations)
