Open, Stable Choice for a Small Server

[pepi70]

Hello,
I would like to set up a small server, mostly for home sftp & torrent needs (maybe a voip server like Mumble).

 

My requirements and questions fall into 3 categories:
1.) Openness & community support
2.) Stability
3.) Future viability

 

1.) One of my main requirements is for the board to be open / running on as little software blobs as possible. I would like to support manufacturers who seem to care for open source community.

The two main manufacturers I see mentioned regularly are Olimex and CubieTech and the A20 as a best supported SoC.

 

I'm currently looking at CubieTruck and OLinuXino-Lime2 but I'm wandering:

Q1:  Would these be still considered "more open" when I don't have the need for any graphics and BT/WiFi connectivity compared to something with a H3 chip, like the OrangePi Plus 2e I already have?

 

Q1.1: Any other board suggestions?
More RAM is always welcome and a more capable processor never hurts as long as it's “open”.

 

Q1.2: Are A64 based boards, like A64-OLinuXino currently still too "unstable/unreliable" in terms of openness / software support for my purpose?

 

2.) Stability

I would like a fairly stable server of course, reasonable power consumption and not overheating.

 

Q2: Are these two boards (CubieTruck & Lime2) any better in this regard than the OrangePi Plus 2e I already have?

The mentioned OrangePi is idling just below 50°C for me and hits 70°C when playing a movie. Is this considered OK with a passive heatsink?

 

3.) Future viability

Q3: Since the mentioned two boards  (CubieTruck & Lime2) already somewhat old, one having only 1GB RAM. do you think they would be OK for the next 5 years or so for the described usage?

 

Thanks!

 

PS:
@Igor reading trough the website and seeing you’re familiar with both boards I think you might have some advice for me. Would you be so kind and review my questions please? Thank you.  

[chwe]

4 minutes ago, pepi70 said:

1.) One of my main requirements is for the board to be open / running on as little software blobs as possible. I would like to support manufacturers who seem to care for open source community.

hmm.. IMO, allwinner as a SoC maker doesn't care much about 'openness' at all.. It's the community around those boards who care about it. The fact that we have those boards (A20, H3) relatively good supported in mainline linux is due to: http://linux-sunxi.org/Mainlining_Effort#Status_Matrix (here you see also support in terms of which SoC is supported best/actual status).

If you want to support a SoC maker which supports their SoCs upstream, then you might go for others than AW.

 

11 minutes ago, pepi70 said:

Q1:  Would these be still considered "more open" when I don't have the need for any graphics and BT/WiFi connectivity compared to something with a H3 chip, like the OrangePi Plus 2e I already have?

I personally think that for headless server use-cases, the H3 is mature enough, cause mainline was done in both cases by the community and not the Chipmaker, both are 'open' equal IMO. 

 

15 minutes ago, pepi70 said:

3.) Future viability

Q3: Since the mentioned two boards  (CubieTruck & Lime2) already somewhat old, one having only 1GB RAM. do you think they would be OK for the next 5 years or so for the described usage?

 

FriendlyArm has a LTS program for AW boards:

 

so if you look for a long term solution, a LTS board might be a good idea. 

[pepi70]

Thanks @chwe for a fast response and your recommendations, I will look into it!

 

18 minutes ago, chwe said:

If you want to support a SoC maker which supports their SoCs upstream, then you might go for others than AW. 

 

 Which SoC maker would then be a better choice or how can I find out that for myself (aren't all of those listed in sunxi table Allwiners)?

 

Thanks!

[chwe]

30 minutes ago, pepi70 said:

 

 Which SoC maker would then be a better choice or how can I find out that for myself (aren't all of those listed in sunxi table Allwiners)?

Linux-sunxi.org is the community around SunXi (the naming scheme of Allwinner). 

 

Rockchip contributes a lot for their 'open source SoCs' (e.g. RK3288, RK3328, RK3399).

http://opensource.rock-chips.com/wiki_Main_Page

 

Mediatek 'starts' to do it similar for the MT7623 (but there's only one board, and currently not supported by armbian) see here:

IMO if USB2 together with GbE is fast enough (max ~40MB/s due to USB2), I would still go for a H3 device.  They're cheap,  they're mature and the support is quite good. If you want a bit more power and a all-in-one solution the HC1/HC2 from Hardkernel are IMO worth a look. Their use the 'case' as a large heatsink, sticked everything together saves you the money for casing and tinkering. https://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G151505170472

The SoC is a bit outdated, but I still prefer it as NAS/Server. The hardware avoids major problems (no connector problems, powering seems to be sane, and ~50$ for a board with case, able to saturate GbE together mature software saves you headache). I didn't check who did the mainlining for the SoC/Board (Armbian uses Hardkernels sources, so at least they must care about supporting their own hardware on recent kernels). 

 

You may have a look into this topics:

 

It IMO depends on your preferences. E.g. the BPi R2, I spend a bunch of time with, is a 'pure' mainline Board/SoC, from kernel side (u-boot, well that's a different story), where Mediatek did the whole mainlining on their own. The 'NAS' part of the board seems to work without major issues, whereas the networking part is just not mature enough for a 'sane' setup yet (and it seems that the boardmaker isn't much interested in solving those issues).

 

Depending on your first post. IMO those boards come to my mind (others might have other opinions):

• A NanoPi LTS board (pro: likely that they're there as long as the SoC is available, FriendlyArm sells mostly sane looking heatsinks to their boards cons: limited to USB2 speed, powering might be an issue when microUSB powered)
• Rock64 (pro: USB3/GbE with proper barrelplug powering, relatively cheap starts at ~25$ plus shipping, as @tkaiser suggests multiple times, their 10$ SATA/USB cable is worth the money, con: SATA over USB3 connector - connector can be an issue)
• HC1/HC2 (pro: proper heatsink, SATA over 'onboard' USB - no connector issues.. con: bit outdated SoC)

Newer rk3399 boards might be interesting too, but software situation is IMO not mature enough at the moment. Marvell SoCs might be worth a look at (e.g. the relatively cheap espressoBin with native SATA) but I've no experience with those boards and don't follow the related content close enough to make a proper statement.  

[pepi70]

Wow @chwe thank you for the comprehensive answer. I'll go look over the threads you linked.

 

Others are still welcome to give more suggestions or board recommendations.

 

Does anyone have experience in regards of RAM consumption on such a setup? Should I consider 2GB as a benefit or is 1GB already good enough? (most sbcs till have 1GB)

[Flicker]

I'm by no means an "expert" (first post here...) but I'm very happy with my Hardkernel HC1 on Armbian, which runs 100% stable as a NAS / Video & Music (Slimserver) server system. That said, worth thinking a bit about the disk(s) you plan to use. If you want 3.5" (desktop) spinning disk(s) - arguably more robust, cheaper $/TB, higher capacities available, then you'll need 12V Power, so an HC2 would be a better choice for an established CPU from a board vendor who seems pretty good and proactive to me. If I was starting again and wanted something a bit more "serious", then a Helios 4, a 2nd-user HP Microserver or maybe the new Pine64 RockPro64 with Dual-SATA NAS enclosure - https://www.cnx-software.com/2018/07/13/rockpro64-dual-sata-nas-enclosure/ (worth looking at the comments belows the story) seem like the options I would look at now, although as per comment above the RK3399 / RockPro64 may need some time for the software to fully stabilise.

Definitely worth thinking about the "physical" side of things if you want stability - heatsink / cooling, power, enclosure, fan or fanless. I like the HC1/HC2 because of the decent heatsink, proper connectors and power setup, but if you want multiple disks (or the ability to expand in future) then one of the other options might be worth getting. And (obviously) figure out what your backup regime will be!

[chwe]

4 hours ago, Flicker said:

That said, worth thinking a bit about the disk(s) you plan to use. If you want 3.5" (desktop) spinning disk(s)

I claim (cause I don't have really proof) this 'different disks' you get at the moment are mostly marketing BS (as long as we don't talk about enterprise server HDDs - doesn't mean you should go for the cheapest one you can get, as for SD-cards buy your HDDs from a reliable company). This 'WD rainbow' of different 'end-user HDDs' looks more like a unicorn to me (for sure, there's a bit firmware adjustments inside so that those HDDs act slightly different)..  I think it's more important that you don't threat your HDD as worse as possible (writing small junks of data with an HC1/HDD combo placed on your washing machine with 10-20 spin ups every day might be a not the best idea... ). Having a proper and tested back-up strategy is IMO more important (a heretic would argue that a one-disk setup forces you to think about this issue whereas a multidisk setup forces you to do stupid things). 

For me this means that data which I need 'worldwide' accessible is stored on some random cloud service (encrypted, so that the cloud-service 'should have' no clue what I store on their service, I just use them as a dump storage provider - keep in mind, most free services don't guarantee for the integrity of your data), backuped from time to time on my NAS (which is only local accessible, it would need to much efforts to keep it and my whole homenetwork save when the NAS is open). My NAS has gets backuped weekly with an external drive (connect --> backup --> disconnect).

A proper back-up strategy would also involve a off-side storage (in case your house burns down etc.). I only do this for a few GBs of data I really care.. Like a squirrel encrypted in multiple copies on USB-sticks (encryption keys therefore should then also be somewhere else than your burning house ). But a backup strategy is only good when it is tested and you know it's working! Remove the disk(s) of your NAS and test if you get your data from your backups back. How much time does it need, and is everything back you thought that should be back? (e.g. in my first run, I figured out that the data is back, but all my user-settings in OMV are lost). Data integrity is then the next thing you should think about.. A back-up of corrupted data is still corrupted when you restore it...  But that might be a topic for @tkaiser cause I don't feel comfortable to suggest something how you can ensure that your data is in a good shape.