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

[QUOTE=pentium;51137645]I fucking need rack rails. God dammit. IS it really that hard to keep rails together with hardware? My DL580 came without rails. Yesterday I was given four more to salvage parts from and they still had everything [b]except the fucking rails.[/b][/QUOTE] Gotta sell them on for super $$$ lad.

[QUOTE=Doritos_Man;51137120][URL]http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-DL380-G6-2x-Xeon-X5560-2-8GHz-Quad-Core-72gb-8x-146gb-10k-2x-750w-/371720456315?hash=item568c44087b:g:-mMAAOSw4shX2t-v[/URL] This right here is probably your best bang for your buck from everything I looked at. If you want to check out other options I found that these vendors had decent deals: [URL]http://www.ebay.com/usr/orangecomputers2012[/URL] [URL]http://www.ebay.com/usr/savemyserver[/URL] [URL]http://www.ebay.com/usr/garlandcomputer[/URL] [URL]http://www.ebay.com/usr/deepdiscountservers[/URL] And for the write up, what would everyone here want to have in it?[/QUOTE] Pretty sure the DL380 G6 uses around 2-2.5 amps @ 220V under load. If you don't need a ton of ram you can find some used 1U builds with the E3-1240 v2's on ebay for $300 and the original E3-1230 V1 for ~$200.

[QUOTE=pentium;51137645]I fucking need rack rails. God dammit. IS it really that hard to keep rails together with hardware? My DL580 came without rails. Yesterday I was given four more to salvage parts from and they still had everything [b]except the fucking rails.[/b][/QUOTE] The best thing is that rails are often the most difficult things to acquire, and can be relatively expensive for what they are. You can always use L brackets like the place I work at :v:

[QUOTE=pentium;51137645]I fucking need rack rails. God dammit. IS it really that hard to keep rails together with hardware? My DL580 came without rails. Yesterday I was given four more to salvage parts from and they still had everything [b]except the fucking rails.[/b][/QUOTE] I've got ProLiant rails coming out my ears at work. I don't know hardly anything about them, though, so if you can figure out exactly what you need I'll take a look.

[QUOTE=Doritos_Man;51137120][url]http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-DL380-G6-2x-Xeon-X5560-2-8GHz-Quad-Core-72gb-8x-146gb-10k-2x-750w-/371720456315?hash=item568c44087b:g:-mMAAOSw4shX2t-v[/url] This right here is probably your best bang for your buck from everything I looked at. If you want to check out other options I found that these vendors had decent deals: [url]http://www.ebay.com/usr/orangecomputers2012[/url] [url]http://www.ebay.com/usr/savemyserver[/url] [url]http://www.ebay.com/usr/garlandcomputer[/url] [url]http://www.ebay.com/usr/deepdiscountservers[/url] And for the write up, what would everyone here want to have in it?[/QUOTE] I believe that would be overkill for me. Or at least it would last me for the rest of my life at my current needs. But I'll definitely check out the other vendors. Maybe I'll just find a SFF computer and use that. I really appreciate the help though.

[QUOTE=DuCT;51143328]I believe that would be overkill for me. Or at least it would last me for the rest of my life at my current needs. But I'll definitely check out the other vendors. Maybe I'll just find a SFF computer and use that. I really appreciate the help though.[/QUOTE] Ah okay, definitely check out the R310 or the R210 II if you are wanting to go the server route. Make sure the CPU isn't something like an E5504, E5507, etc and it's a (L/E/X) 5 (5/6) (20+) like the E5520 or L5630. The E5504, E5507, etc don't have HyperThreading and aren't as good, and the price difference shouldn't be too much.

[QUOTE=Doritos_Man;51143384]Ah okay, definitely check out the R310 or the R210 II if you are wanting to go the server route. Make sure the CPU isn't something like an E5504, E5507, etc and it's a (L/E/X) 5 (5/6) (20+) like the E5520 or L5630. The E5504, E5507, etc don't have HyperThreading and aren't as good, and the price difference shouldn't be too much.[/QUOTE] This is the kind of stuff that should be in your guide. What kind of CPU to look for to match for different applications. Also, general rundowns of different models and what makes them unique or why you should choose them

Any suggestions for a cheap server for learning purposes? I don't really want to drop $200 on something I have no idea how to set-up properly.

[QUOTE=Anderan;51144086]Any suggestions for a cheap server for learning purposes? I don't really want to drop $200 on something I have no idea how to set-up properly.[/QUOTE] What exactly are you looking to learn?

[QUOTE=wingless;51144091]What exactly are you looking to learn?[/QUOTE] For now I just want to set up a simple NAS, maybe a mail server.

[QUOTE=~Kiwi~v2;51144245]storage size? is case size an issue? what have you used mostly operating system wise? cause really a simple pentium + freenas would be alright for a starter NAS but if you wanna dive into ECC and do ZFS where you'll need more ram with more TB of storage[/QUOTE] Honestly storage size isn't a concern but I guess 250GB would be fine, I honestly have no idea what ECC or ZFS are. Case size isn't an issue but I'd prefer it not be gigantic. Only OS I use regularly is windows but I've used debian in the past, enough that I'm comfortable just using a cli and don't have any issue learning in that respect.

[QUOTE=~Kiwi~v2;51144293]when we talk about storage servers we go big son ecc = error correcting code zfs is just a file system format 250gb? why not just buy an extra drive and network share that on your pc? you could just dedicate that entire disk to a VM and be happy but we like to talk big[/QUOTE] I'm honestly out of usable SATA ports on my motherboard and my internal HDDs are mostly filling up. I just figured 250gb was sufficient for something I could run ragged without concern for paying a large amount of money. I wouldn't be against something over 1TB, 250GB was just a number I pulled off the top of my head. This isn't really out of any need for storage space or necessity, it's just a desire to learn really.

Well thanks for the info. I suppose I want to learn without really knowing what exactly beyond a nebulous concept of "servers".

[QUOTE=Anderan;51144331]Well thanks for the info. I suppose I want to learn without really knowing what exactly beyond a nebulous concept of "servers".[/QUOTE] Can you give us a price on what you're willing to spend so we can find you a good build?

[QUOTE=FrankPetrov;51144582]Can you give us a price on what you're willing to spend so we can find you a good build?[/QUOTE] I'll probably just do the vm for now. I wasn't really looking for a good build, just some old referb that was on it's way out. Basically just as cheap as possible while still turning on. For now anyways.

Snagged a "server" from the garbage. This thing is... I'm kind of at a loss of words. Let's start with some problems with it. Cons: * I dub it the Brass Beast. No seriously I think this things's [URL=https://my.mixtape.moe/eirgcy.jpg]frigging made of brass[/URL]. * Sharp corners. Cut myself a bit getting it. * [URL=https://my.mixtape.moe/ylinbz.jpg]I'll leave this picture up to interpretation.[/URL] * Only 1400MHz. It's a Celeron. * ~128MiB of memory. * [URL=https://my.mixtape.moe/kbqmzw.jpg]What can I even store on 8GiB?[/URL] * Great noisemaker for drowning out the chatter of a crowd. * No external drives. Pros: * Free machine. * [URL=https://my.mixtape.moe/bwstcq.jpg]Free song.[/URL] * Con: The rest of presumably the admin's stash is on a non-existant D:\ drive. * Con: Boston. It's at least powerful enough to run Windows so I don't exactly want to let it go. Wonder what sort of mischief I can conjure with this thing once I install something else on it. Samba share for the Wii? A place to learn how to even utilize a server?

[QUOTE=Stonecycle;51148739]Snagged a "server" from the garbage. This thing is... I'm kind of at a loss of words. Let's start with some problems with it. Cons: * I dub it the Brass Beast. No seriously I think this things's [URL=https://my.mixtape.moe/eirgcy.jpg]frigging made of brass[/URL]. * Sharp corners. Cut myself a bit getting it. * [URL=https://my.mixtape.moe/ylinbz.jpg]I'll leave this picture up to interpretation.[/URL] * Only 1400MHz. It's a Celeron. * ~128MiB of memory. * [URL=https://my.mixtape.moe/kbqmzw.jpg]What can I even store on 8GiB?[/URL] * Great noisemaker for drowning out the chatter of a crowd. * No external drives. Pros: * Free machine. * [URL=https://my.mixtape.moe/bwstcq.jpg]Free song.[/URL] * Con: The rest of presumably the admin's stash is on a non-existant D:\ drive. * Con: Boston. It's at least powerful enough to run Windows so I don't exactly want to let it go. Wonder what sort of mischief I can conjure with this thing once I install something else on it. Samba share for the Wii? A place to learn how to even utilize a server?[/QUOTE] FreeNAS that thing up! :v:

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;51140295]The best thing is that rails are often the most difficult things to acquire, and can be relatively expensive for what they are. You can always use L brackets like the place I work at :v:[/QUOTE] I'm already using angle iron on several devices but a few machines really do need their proper rails in order to be practical to service.

[QUOTE=Stonecycle;51148739]Snagged a "server" from the garbage. This thing is... I'm kind of at a loss of words. Let's start with some problems with it. Cons: * I dub it the Brass Beast. No seriously I think this things's [URL=https://my.mixtape.moe/eirgcy.jpg]frigging made of brass[/URL]. * Sharp corners. Cut myself a bit getting it. * [URL=https://my.mixtape.moe/ylinbz.jpg]I'll leave this picture up to interpretation.[/URL] * Only 1400MHz. It's a Celeron. * ~128MiB of memory. * [URL=https://my.mixtape.moe/kbqmzw.jpg]What can I even store on 8GiB?[/URL] * Great noisemaker for drowning out the chatter of a crowd. * No external drives. Pros: * Free machine. * [URL=https://my.mixtape.moe/bwstcq.jpg]Free song.[/URL] * Con: The rest of presumably the admin's stash is on a non-existant D:\ drive. * Con: Boston. It's at least powerful enough to run Windows so I don't exactly want to let it go. Wonder what sort of mischief I can conjure with this thing once I install something else on it. Samba share for the Wii? A place to learn how to even utilize a server?[/QUOTE] Set up a UT1999 server

If that CPU is a Tualatin core it doesn't matter if it's a Celeron. That there is one of the best CPU's of the PIII/celeron generation.

[QUOTE=Cakebatyr;51149114]FreeNAS that thing up! :v:[/QUOTE] I was occasionally helping a friend with IT for a small medical office network when he needed an extra set of eyes on something. One of the main complaints the employees had was that the file shares would get extremely slow and they would have to reboot the "server". The "server" was a Dell Studio desktop running the free ESXi with a couple VMs, one of them being a FreeNAS VM. Okay, that's a little weird considering FreeNAS is designed for bare metal systems. But why is it so slow? Oh, the previous "sysadmin" only gave the FreeNAS VM 512MB of RAM when the recommended was 8GB... I installed OpenMediaVault on a VM with 2GB assigned to it and never heard any fileserver complaints again.

What is the best software/OS I could use to make my servers into a cloud cluster? Kinda like how AWS is.

Define 'cloud cluster'. AWS has a ton of services, which one(s) do you want to replicate? (The closest thing to the full package would be OpenStack. But you really don't want to use that unless you're managing pretty huge infrastructure.)

Basically I want to combine my servers so they all run together to compile programs and a few other things

A general question, I have a bunch of old computer hardware laying around. Would it be worth putting it together into a server? What practical uses could I have for it in a LAN setup (my upload speed is too slow to be utilized any other way)?

[QUOTE=_RJ_;51155526]A general question, I have a bunch of old computer hardware laying around. Would it be worth putting it together into a server? What practical uses could I have for it in a LAN setup (my upload speed is too slow to be utilized any other way)?[/QUOTE] Define old. But yeah there are, if you do things like compiling, you can distribute it to make it faster and destroy your electricity bill, or you can make a really kickass router with PFsense, or stick some drives into one and make a NAS.

[QUOTE=thelurker1234;51155567]Define old. But yeah there are, if you do things like compiling, you can distribute it to make it faster and destroy your electricity bill, or you can make a really kickass router with PFsense, or stick some drives into one and make a NAS.[/QUOTE] I'd say about 5 years old, I read one of the CPUs as an i3-550, the other is an AMD CPU with pins on it (can't read its model). The components are from those consumer computers you'd get at Best Buy or Walmart. The rest is miscellaneous RAM (DDR3), MOBOs, and hard drives (1 is a 1TB WD Green). I probably wouldn't need compiling and I already have a NAS, but I do like the idea of making a router.

[QUOTE=_RJ_;51155714]I'd say about 5 years old, I read one of the CPUs as an i3-550, the other is an AMD CPU with pins on it (can't read its model). The components are from those consumer computers you'd get at Best Buy or Walmart. The rest is miscellaneous RAM (DDR3), MOBOs, and hard drives (1 is a 1TB WD Green). I probably wouldn't need compiling and I already have a NAS, but I do like the idea of making a router.[/QUOTE] Use the i3 and boot up pfsense

[QUOTE=FrankPetrov;51157457]Use the i3 and boot up pfsense[/QUOTE] Looks like I've got some learning to do. :smile:

so I ended up getting a DAS (sa120) for my server a month ago (instead of going for a dedicated NAS) [img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/QQaFch6.jpg[/img_thumb] right now it just has 2 x 2tb (and one old 250GB drive so I could mess with pooling), gonna probably start using 5tb drives when I need more capacity running omv, using snapraid for parity (two data, one parity) and mergerfs for pooling also working on a grafana dashboard, I'm probably going to be tweaking and adding to it indefinitely [img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/lnk7m5B.png[/img_thumb]