I’ve been running a 4 drive plex server running on linux mint for a number of years. However my Fractal Node/mobo is running out of space and ports for more drives and am looking to get something a bit more serious.
Always dreamed of building a rackmount system. I would love to consolidate my gaming PC, networking gear, linux/plex server and potentially a big storage array and possibly my home audio receiver into a rackmount setup. I have zero experience with this type of build and have always been a desktop builder.
Anyone know of a good place to start with this? I know this type of setup could get fairly expensive as well as having a high learning curve if I get into a non-desktop OS for the plex server/storage array portion, but am willing to learn drop a decent amount of money into building my dream setup
For starters, pause and have a good think if you really want a 24/7 server rack running in your house and if so, where will you put it w/o pi55ing off other occupants of the building. Real servers are loud and power hungry and thus only really tolerable by geeks.
Next step, assuming you can get away with it, consider the size of your actual rack. A 42U rack is pretty standard, but about 7’ (2.10m in ISO units) tall. Smaller sizes are available but only a few standard sizes. Then figure out where to get it from. If you can, buy used from a local marketplace because new is enterprise pricing $$$$.
Building your own server isn’t that much different then a regular PC. It’s just some parts are different and you probably haven’t seen them before. Used servers can be cheap-ish, but are limited in PCIe slots and/or thread count. Used server parts are a better value, especially from Aliexpress is my experience.
There are quite a few of similar threads here with good advise, have a browse and learn.
I purchased a 12U rack for pretty cheap, by startech, and they are affordable.
I would go 18U if I had a do-over
What was not cheap, was the cases for the computers I put in it.
For me, I consider a £300 rack mount case, not cheap, compqred to a cheap £30 non-rack-mount
And thst was the ceapest case with the hot-swap drive bays I wanted.
Used swrvers can be affordable, as whole systems, as Dutch mentioned, but Loud.
They are designed for datacentres, where noise is expected.
I would not suggest making annenterprise server quiey with quiet fans, as they just dont put enough air through them
I did use quieter fans for my computers, but they are consumer hardware inside
Thank you for your post! I could be wrong (and probably am), but this server would be using consumer hardware and fans for the most part. That would cut down on noise no?
But either way the server would sit in a place that wouldnt bother anyone. The rack case/chassis itself is probably the easiest decision in terms of having browsing for an option. But otherwise I’m out of my depth. I tried searching for other server threads but none seemed to match what I was going for.
Thanks for this! I believe I’d be able to get a full sized server rack or smaller for free from our local school district. As I understand it, the server racks themselves are pretty universal so I would be okay from that standpoint.
But yeah I think becase this system would be running consumer hardware for the most part that would cut down on noise/power usage hopefully.
I think what I’m stumped on is the networking gear required, if all of it is in rackmount format too. Do you know of any good sources that go in depth with all of this? “Prosumer” server build guides/suggestions and stuff like that?
I do NOT need the rack mounted gear, I choose to use it.
so for things that don;t have rack ears, you can buy relatively inexpensive shelves, that let you place components in the rack
So one could use consumer/ pro-sumer stuff.
as for guide, it really depends on what you want to do.
more serious tech channels include Level1 (ofcourse) and Lawrence solutions.
Actually, Craft computing might be a good shout, as he set up a rack himself, and he’s open about mistakes, problems, gotchas and breakages
You can keep your current network gear if it works for your needs. They sell shelves for racks to place items in the rack that are not rack mount specific.
ByoS (Build your own server for running pfSense/opnsense. Lots of videos on yt)
Servers:
Sliger cases
45 Drives
iX Systems
Synology
Ebay and then ByoS
YouTube channels for ideas:
Level1Techs
Serve the home
Craft computing
Raid Owl
Lawrence Systems
Lots of people here have their issues with UniFi but they are the standard atm for plug and play networking followed closely by EnGenius. Mikrotik is an amazing value and you get a ton of features but you will have to knuckle down and learn all the ins and outs of their software.
Server cases are more expensive but generally they are a lifetime purchase so buy once cry once comes into play here. Used enterprise on eBay can be a great value but power consumption and noise are concerns.
YouTube and the forum here is a wealth of information. I’d suggest you search around and get some more concrete ideas together then comeback and ask some more pointed questions.
Thanks for this post - yeah I know none of it is required but I think we’re in the same boat, I dont need rack mounted network gear but would really love to have/use it. I’ll check out those other sites ty.
Thanks very very much for the suggestions on that list! Thats what I’m looking for . And yeah I dont think I’ll go with enterprise gear due to those concerns you listed.
For starters I would probably focus on buying the actual rack itself. Try to see if there is an empty rack on ebay or other second hand site. For networking gear you can get pretty cheap switches and routing hardware second hand, too. Then figure out which cases you want to move over to, it is possible to do blade server with ITX boards these days if you really want to.
However, do you really want to do this? Think it through, properly. I see three flaws to going rackmounted;
Infrastructure costs, both in time and money. Be prepared to plow down at least $1k in rack, cables, rack chassis, shelves and a ton of other stuff. Rack mounts are fun, but you can easily spend $10k on finding the perfect chassis and old infrastructure. Time will also be a factor, as the time you spend to plan this out will not be insignificant.
Noise. A ton of rackmount servers are noisy, since most are designed to be put in a well ventilated room with sound isolated walls. Having a 40+dB rack in your living room is not exactly what I call wife friendly. This is not unsolvable, but again, you do need to invest in premium fans and the fewer of those you need, the better.
Power draw and heat. Careful, there. While EPYC servers are fun to play around with, remember they were designed to be run 24/7 with heavy workloads. Your dinky home office is not going to put much strain on that server, if any. Of course, it is not unheard of for some tinkerers doubling their racks as space heaters…
Thank you for the post! Yeah I’m good to go with the rack itself. Addressing the points below:
1.) Willing to sink a lot of money and time into it. I think the biggest cost will be the storage array, but other wise Im looking to transplant my existing gaming pc into a 5u or so and my linux/plex server (unless it would be best to combine that with the storage array.
2.) Is the loud noise attributed usually to enterprise gear? If I’m using consumer hardware for the most part as well as high end fans, would it be that noisy? Also this server will be in a different room that doesnt get much traffic otherwise so it wont be too bad.
3.) Similar to the above, if its mostly consumer hardware would it output that much more heat compared to a few computers in a single room? Genuine questions and not making assumptions as I dont know too much in the server arena lol
If you stick with 3U/4U cases you can use consumer fans and pc hardware easily keeping noise and suck down. I would say that considering everything you listed if be looking into a 25U rack minimum
Well it looks like that hook-up might fall through ugh…for the ease of ventilation and cleaning/installation, im looking to get an open frame. Is this one sufficient?
Yeah I run an open frame. As long as wherever it ends up is somewhat out of the way so people aren’t bumping into it all the time it shouldn’t be a problem.
Glad to see you are determined, not trying to kill the party, just showing you a few common pitfalls that you may or may not already have thought of I was doing a bit of research on this myself, but then ultimately decided against it, I have a long term plan of a 2x mATX system utilizing a standard IKEA Kallax shelf, then 3D print a “rack” that can house two computers. Should be quite easy, biggest challenge is how to create a durable construction from a 16x16 bed. We’ll see if I ever get around to finishing here though.
For storage array, I believe this setup is one of the best options for SOHO with HDD:
I do believe you might want to replace the fans to something more quiet though. It even allows a slim optical unit! Though, these two might turn out to be an even better combo for the future:
Other amazing options include Sliger, that really nails it with their 3U and 4U rack boxes. Sliger is quite good at filling the niche of SOHO racks, actually…
Yeah, you can get around quite a lot of noise by choosing consumer products and cases, but consumer also tend to be more expensive (enterprise is all about maximizing profits, SOHO is all about maximizing comfort).
I remember working for a startup that had one server rack with two servers, it sounded like someone was vaccum cleaning in that closet!
Yep, mostly consumer hardware will take away a lot of the heat for sure. I have a friend running four EPYC servers at home in his rack, he saves on heating bills quite a lot!
Sadly, I have no specific advice here… Go with a trusted brand, or go with a second hand rack are pretty much my only two pieces of advice here. StarTech I think is one of the more budget oriented brands that I trust, but yes, their tolerances etc might be slightly off at times.
Also, no reason to go 4 rack anymore for SOHO, 3u should be all you need, 2u even works for anything that does not require a full height card (like gaming).
With that in mind, do you really need a rack that can fit 10x4u, 13x4u, or 20x2u servers? I would advice you to consider a 24u rack instead, but this might just be me.
Especially since it is possible to go 2U on a gaming machine:
. And yeah I dont think I’ll go with enterprise gear due to those concerns you listed.