Post Your Servers v3: Holy Motherload of Knowledge - Hardware & Software

[QUOTE=GiGaBiTe;52170646]You'll probably want to open them and inspect the capacitors before you re-purpose them because they're from the time frame of the capacitor plague, and have an unknown amount of running hours on them in a furnace box. I would recap them on principle because 13 years is quite long in the tooth for electrolytics. [/QUOTE] Hmm, good point. Didn't realize they were from that time. I'll be careful with these. [QUOTE=GiGaBiTe;52170646] Yeah because they had to deal with massive amounts of heat. If they're copper, probably worth a few dollars in scrap value. The only thing I can think of re-purposing them for is COB LED heatsinks. [/QUOTE] I've used one from an old HP Integrity rx2620 for a peltier module, works really well. I could also use them for high power LED arrays, overkill heatsinks for high power MOSFETs, etc. Idk if they are worth the drive and time to turn them in for a few dollars, I have an abundance of storage space so I'll hold onto them until I either use them or get tired of looking at them. [QUOTE=GiGaBiTe;52170646] Ehh, seems like a lot of effort and wasted space. I guess you could make a fake server and route the front LEDs to the arduino and make them flash in patterns to make it look like its doing something. [/QUOTE] Well, it's a 12u rack and there's currently only 5U of planned space so far, a 1U case with whatever electronics I toss in it shouldn't be too bad. I also have some old desktop parts that maybe I could fit into one of the 2U Dells. We will see, some might just end up scrap but in the meantime they're not wasting much space in my garage under other crap lol [QUOTE=GiGaBiTe;52170646] If you want to pimp out the Apple Xserve 2.0, it supposedly takes up to Xeon 5160 (3.0 GHz dual core) which are dirt cheap now: $9 for two of them [URL="http://www.ebay.com/itm/112185156011"]www.ebay.com/itm/112185156011[/URL] And according to some people on the Apple forums, it can take dual quads like the E5335 (quad 2.0): [URL="http://www.ebay.com/itm/172578685318"]www.ebay.com/itm/172578685318[/URL] Or the X5355 (quad 2.66): [URL]http://www.ebay.com/itm/162492502636[/URL] There's a 3 GHz quad (X5365) but it's still a $70+ part.[/QUOTE] Oh, that might not be a bad idea, really cheap upgrade for pretty decent gains. I should probably throw some more RAM in it too. After I get my r710 all set up, I'll come back to this xserve and see what it might be best used for. Really appreciate the info!

[QUOTE=gjsdeath;52169863]I am going to be buying a switch soon, a real managed one. Haven't decided on the brand or model. While I do want to learn on it, I really want it to be practical for home and lab use. Likely something with POE. Maybe an older Cisco or HP. But gigabit, noise, and power use are important factors. Idk if I'll be doing any Cisco certs yet. [/QUOTE] Check out the [url=http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/switches/catalyst-3560cg-8pc-s-compact-switch/model.html]Cisco 3560CG-8PC-S[/url], it's a 10 port, gig, fanless PoE switch.

As I look into it more. I might just go with a non POE switch. I'm probably going to have custom POE powered devices or non standard ones. So instead of getting it integrated with the switch which I could end up damaging... and finding a decent switch that's Poe,gig,quiet, and low power is expensive. I've read a lot of places you can replace the fans or remove them entirely in lower stress environments for older, louder switches. I like and idea of Cisco mainly for the learning experience but HP and other brands are def an opinion. While learning the CLI is important, it could be really nice to have a web GUI option as well. But with my current requirements, ~$100 is my budget for this. Edit. After further research. Those older Cisco's don't draw under 50W under no load. I may just use my 2800 for learning then and get a modern low end low power managed switch.

And now for the most interesting acquisition. [t]https://i.imgur.com/81891p6.jpg[/t] 5x [url=https://routerboard.com/RB2011UiAS-RM]RB2011UiAS-RM[/url] (only one of them has the Rack Mount ears) for $50. They are effecitvely large Edgerouter Xs because they can be powered via passive POE and also power another device via passive POE. Also they have adorable tiny little (resistive) touchscreens.

New server online because I was running out of storage and that's no fun. [code]Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/sda3 17T 1.2G 17T 1% /[/code] [img]https://www.helifreak.club/image/20170525122709736.png[/img] 7+ TiB of data migration begins.

I forgot to mention. Got my server: $300 shipped: R710 Gen II LFF (wanted to be sure it was Gen II) Dual L5640s 48GB (Samsung 10600R 4GBx12) Enterprise iDrac Perci6r 4 trays 1 870w PSU Got the server and ram from savemyserver. And got the cpu/trays/psu from eBay. [T]http://i.imgur.com/l6a3ERW.jpg[/t] (Currently connected to a old wifi router in wireless bridge mode cause no eth in my room) Already got proxmox and a Plex VM on it. Although I've decide I'm going to probably reinstall proxmox on a thumb drive or cheap SSD instead of the drive I have in there. Also. Do you guys know if you can use, for example, two 2TB drives and a small, 500GB drive for parity in any particular RAID setup?

300 bucks for all that? Nice deal. I can't think of any way to use 2 x 2TB and a 500GB drive in an array. Depending on what you're using it for (vm storage?) you probably want to just do a RAID 1 and not use the 500GB drive. Also, just a heads up if you didn't know, the perc 6i/r can't handle drives over 2tb and can only do RAID 0 or 1. For proxmox if you're going to use a usb stick make sure you do something about its log files, the default write location for them will be on the disk it boots from (the usb stick), making it much more likely for the usb stick to fail. [url]https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/4g7xv6/proxmox_install_size_and_location/d2fdawn/[/url]

[QUOTE=Yumyumbublegum;52281501]300 bucks for all that? Nice deal. I can't think of any way to use 2 x 2TB and a 500GB drive in an array. Depending on what you're using it for (vm storage?) you probably want to just do a RAID 1 and not use the 500GB drive. [/QUOTE] Well, I actually got 2x2TB off ebay just the other day. But it's for NAS storage I could pick up some more 2TB... I wanted to see how the ones I got work out before buying bunch since they're cheap used drives. I will probably just stick with RAID 1. [QUOTE=Yumyumbublegum;52281501] Also, just a heads up if you didn't know, the perc 6i/r can't handle drives over 2tb and can only do RAID 0 or 1. [/QUOTE] Oh yeah, trust me, I read ALOT on all the storage controllers and stuff. Can't remember how many times I read the manuals for the r710 either before buying it. I know it has a 2TB limit, that's fine for now. I might pickup an H200 or something in the future. [QUOTE=Yumyumbublegum;52281501] For proxmox if you're going to use a usb stick make sure you do something about its log files, the default write location for them will be on the disk it boots from (the usb stick), making it much more likely for the usb stick to fail. [url]https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/4g7xv6/proxmox_install_size_and_location/d2fdawn/[/url][/QUOTE] Yeah, that's what I read, I am iffy about putting anything important on cheap flash drives. I have a spare 128GB SSD that I might use as a Proxmox/small VM boot drive. Thanks for the link!

Did some re-organization of my wardrobe, and also got a Cisco router to further experiment alongside with my CCNA studies. Before I also had my server in there, which you can see between the dryer and wardrobe. Moved it because I had to hold off re-encoding my Shadowplay recordings due to the peak summer heat. [T]https://i.imgur.com/luWmAjR.jpg[/T][T]https://i.imgur.com/ANe6WgY.jpg[/T][T]https://i.imgur.com/LHaAQBU.jpg[/T] I had to install the PWM controller because I severely underestimated 60dB and you could still hear it even with the door closed on the floor below. Wired it up in such a way that I didn't have to damage it, so I can easily pull the fan tray off and connect it to the motherboard directly again. Surprisingly the temperatures are fine considering how it's on the attic and the fans are running way lower than designed. [T]https://f.lewd.se/tjzWPc_putty_2017-06-30_14-51-09.png[/T]

[QUOTE=Merijnwitje;52417734][/QUOTE] Do you use the router for your home network or lab only? I recently just used an old desktop (Phenom II X4 970, 10GB RAM) with a cheap dual port gigabit NIC from ebay to load up pfSense. Fucking love it. Caching files, caching DNS, OpenVPN, awesome firewall, and advanced routing options. Got so tired of crappy consumer routers, now my old Linksys is just a WAP.

It's for my home network. I figured to set it up as a daily driver to more or less force myself to learn it. I have the feeling that works better than using it as lab equipment only.

Just got some new servers from work! I mentioned for my boss that I'd like to start hosting stuff from home, and here is what he had laying around: 1 x PowerEdge 2850 Gen 1 1 x PowerEdge 2850 Gen 2 1 x PowerEdge 2950 Gen 3 1 x HP Proliant dl380 g5 1 x HP Proliant dl360 g3 2 x HP Proliant dl360 g6 (74 Gigs of RAM in each) [img]http://i.imgur.com/rB3pYFf.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=bok306;52433944]Just got some new servers from work! I mentioned for my boss that I'd like to start hosting stuff from home, and here is what he had laying around: 1 x PowerEdge 2850 Gen 1 1 x PowerEdge 2850 Gen 2 1 x PowerEdge 2950 Gen 3 1 x HP Proliant dl380 g5 1 x HP Proliant dl360 g3 2 x HP Proliant dl360 g6 (74 Gigs of RAM in each) [/img]http://i.imgur.com/rB3pYFf.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] From what I understand, you really only wanna use the g6 models if you plan to run it 24/7, the others are really power hungry and should only be ran when you need them. Still, that's a really great haul!

Shit I wouldn't even run a g6 24/7, Nelham is pretty power hungry too, especially in a dual proc situation.

I got an R710 in the mail today, no drive caddy's sadly so I'm waiting on those to arrive before I actually plug it into the network. Came with an E5520 but I'll be upgrading to dual (L or X, haven't decided) 5640s in short order. Its a lot quieter than I anticipated it being. I can finally move away from my (fanless) Optiplex 780 which I tricked out with a Core 2 Quad Q9400 and 16GB of memory :v:

Yeah, I just configured the HP Proliant dl380 g5 to be my home storage server. Next up is running some virtual servers of the g6 servers. No idea what to do with the rest. We are hosting a local LAN party soon, so I might donate one as firewall/DHCP.

[QUOTE=bok306;52437665]Yeah, I just configured the HP Proliant dl380 g5 to be my home storage server. Next up is running some virtual servers of the g6 servers. No idea what to do with the rest. We are hosting a local LAN party soon, so I might donate one as firewall/DHCP.[/QUOTE] You'll want to run Steamcache then [url]https://github.com/steamcache/generic[/url] as well.

Wish I had pictures, but I got to tour Switch's Las Vegas campus last week. What a trip, it's hilarious how much chest-puffing they do. Overall a very cool experience, we even got to see a little piece of eBay's server farm.

[QUOTE=Cakebatyr;52439371]You'll want to run Steamcache then [url]https://github.com/steamcache/generic[/url] as well.[/QUOTE] Thanks!

[QUOTE=Cakebatyr;52436848]I got an R710 in the mail today, no drive caddy's sadly so I'm waiting on those to arrive before I actually plug it into the network. Came with an E5520 but I'll be upgrading to dual (L or X, haven't decided) 5640s in short order. Its a lot quieter than I anticipated it being. I can finally move away from my (fanless) Optiplex 780 which I tricked out with a Core 2 Quad Q9400 and 16GB of memory :v:[/QUOTE] Mine has L5640s. But I haven't really done anything performance intensive to test it out yet. I do know that putting it into "power saving mode" murders top end performance. Made no real difference with idle power usage, but it does seem to cap the processors. Like, I did a Passmark just for fun, ended up in the lower 25% with power saving mode on, but in performance mode, I'm near the top for these processors. It also dropped my RAM clock from 1333 to 800. Either way, idled at like 140-150W in Windows 10 Pro. Edit: I download ISOs directly to my Proxmox/VM Host and one of them stopped mid stream so I had to redownload, it renamed it so I had two, one corrupt iso and one incorrectly named one. After deleting the first one, I went to rename the second one and being new to linux - accidentally deleted the second as well. Thought I was going to have to download yet again and wait like 4 mins, instead waited like 6 seconds. Been loving pfsense and the caching feature just saved me from waiting: [t]http://i.imgur.com/317p2U6.png[/t] Been using pfSense since I got tired of consumer routers sucking. I got DNS server/caching, http/file caching, HAProxy as a reverse proxy, OpenVPN, bandwidth monitoring, and some other little stuff setup. So easy to work with. Got it on an old AMD Phenom x4 with 10GB of RAM and a cheap dual port gigabit NIC.

Hey boys I'd like a super energy efficient server, to host just one game at a time or something, like a gmod sandbox. Was looking at a nuc originally, it won't be a 24/7 100% load type of gig either. Any suggestions what direction i should look?

Buy a used laptop for cheap tbh

[QUOTE=DerpishCat;52448518]Buy a used laptop for cheap tbh[/QUOTE] Alright... But how would I cool it without thermal throttling when utilization spikes? Ghetto mounted CPU cooler? Also what's better, NUC6i7KYK or NUC7I7BNH? Similar price. Heard that higher single core performance is more valuable for source hosting, latter of those examples turbo's to 4ghz. I checked for used laptops in my area as well, but there's just shit being sold for 10x more than it should be. Anything sub 300 around me is broken, anything over is fucking 8+ years old advertized as (Only 5 yrs good as new). I'd get a laptop cheaper and better brand new lmfao.

[QUOTE=LAMB SAUCE;52449192]Alright... But how would I cool it without thermal throttling when utilization spikes? Ghetto mounted CPU cooler? Also what's better, NUC6i7KYK or NUC7I7BNH? Similar price. Heard that higher single core performance is more valuable for source hosting, latter of those examples turbo's to 4ghz. I checked for used laptops in my area as well, but there's just shit being sold for 10x more than it should be. Anything sub 300 around me is broken, anything over is fucking 8+ years old advertized as (Only 5 yrs good as new). I'd get a laptop cheaper and better brand new lmfao.[/QUOTE] Ebay? and usually used corporate minded laptops (T and W series Thinkpads if talking Lenovo, I know both HP and Dell also does corporate laptops but I'm not familiar with them) are better engineered than dirt cheap consumer "facebook & youtube portals" laptops.

[QUOTE=LAMB SAUCE;52449192]Alright... But how would I cool it without thermal throttling when utilization spikes? Ghetto mounted CPU cooler? Also what's better, NUC6i7KYK or NUC7I7BNH? Similar price. Heard that higher single core performance is more valuable for source hosting, latter of those examples turbo's to 4ghz. I checked for used laptops in my area as well, but there's just shit being sold for 10x more than it should be. Anything sub 300 around me is broken, anything over is fucking 8+ years old advertized as (Only 5 yrs good as new). I'd get a laptop cheaper and better brand new lmfao.[/QUOTE] So first off plan on spending money on a HDD as ebay stuff never has them. But I did recently get myself an Optiplex 780 with a C2D E8400 and 8GB of DDR3 ram for CA$30+CA$30 shipping from the US. Stuck a spare HDD I had lying around and its purring away being a generic ubuntu server box for 6 weeks now. Its admittedly a decade old but its an option. In a similar vein I got an Optiplex 990 with an i5-2400/8GB to replace my parents' Atom 330 all-in-one for ~CA$150 including shipping.

[QUOTE=Van-man;52449913]Ebay? and usually used corporate minded laptops (T and W series Thinkpads if talking Lenovo, I know both HP and Dell also does corporate laptops but I'm not familiar with them) are better engineered than dirt cheap consumer "facebook & youtube portals" laptops.[/QUOTE] Tried eBay and gumtree. :( Might try local garage sales All else fails i can get a nuc

So over the weekend a really nasty storm system came through our area, and took out power to over 100,000 people. It happens every few years, no big deal... that's what generators are for. Except our generator failed catastrophically after about four hours. Result: [video=youtube;1jDf2v75HSE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jDf2v75HSE[/video] Lessons learned: Cisco products do not like to have the rug pulled out from under them. We lost both our UCS Fabric Interconnects, our entire Call Manager environment, and an ASA. Thank jeebus for backups.

[QUOTE=MTMod;52458444]So over the weekend a really nasty storm system came through our area, and took out power to over 100,000 people. It happens every few years, no big deal... that's what generators are for. Except our generator failed catastrophically after about four hours. Result: [video=youtube;1jDf2v75HSE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jDf2v75HSE[/video] Lessons learned: Cisco products do not like to have the rug pulled out from under them. We lost both our UCS Fabric Interconnects, our entire Call Manager environment, and an ASA. Thank jeebus for backups.[/QUOTE] If it makes you feel better at my old datacenter we found out on one particularly hot day that our AC systems were codependent, not redundant as we thought. Owner per usual cheaped out on last minute and got the cheapest contract that cut corners. [editline]11th July 2017[/editline] Our fiber circuit provider for client connections around the city threatened to shut down their ASR's if it got 2 degrees hotter.

[QUOTE=Levelog;52458468]If it makes you feel better at my old datacenter we found out on one particularly hot day that our AC systems were codependent, not redundant as we thought. Owner per usual cheaped out on last minute and got the cheapest contract that cut corners. [editline]11th July 2017[/editline] Our fiber circuit provider for client connections around the city threatened to shut down their ASR's if it got 2 degrees hotter.[/QUOTE] That's some shit, I hope your HVAC vendor got a proper ass whooping

[QUOTE=MTMod;52460885]That's some shit, I hope your HVAC vendor got a proper ass whooping[/QUOTE] Nah, pretty sure the owner knew what he was getting, just didn't tell us because he knew we would stop him from saving that money.