Hey guys, sorry this will be kind of long. Currently have a few pieces of hardware, an old PC running OpenBSD for my router/dns/dhcp/vlans, another 5820k PC running my FreeBSD/ZFS based file server (8 disks in mirrors) and plex, and a new-ish 2700x/16gb mini-itx build I use as a dev box/proxmox playground.
My network infrastructure, save the router, is all Unifi AP’s and managed switches.
Looking to get my first piece of enterprise server gear for a massive proxmox lab, and potentially consolidate away my FreeBSD file server, by getting an EPYC based server. Primarily looking at the 32 core/H11SSL-i pre-installed package by Newegg along with 256GB ram.
Have run into several questions that make me nervous before I lay down that type of cash.
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I have zero experience with SuperMicro and have no idea what to get for ram that is compatible. Newegg sells Nemix brand I think would work, but not sure
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I’m familiar with ZFS on BSD, but less sure of the viability of ZFS on Linux/Proxmox. On BSD at least its a first class citizen, not sure of where it stands in the Linux world.
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If I were to consolidate my file server, I have two options. One is passthrough my hard drives (do I need HBA or can I just use the SATA ports on the MB) and run FreeBSD as VM. The other is to use native Proxmox ZFS and just map the drives into whatever VM’s need the data. Which is safer? Should I just keep the file server as a seperate bare metal server?
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If I do use Proxmox native ZFS support, the default recommendation is to use half the system ram for the ZFS array. Do I really need to give it 128GB of RAM? The system its in now has a total of 32GB of ram which is mostly available for ZFS to do its thing.
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Noctua 14S enough cooling for an EPYC part in this role? I’m wanting to build a silent-ish server, its going to sit under my desk in a Fractal R6 that I’m re-purposing.
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Love my OpenBSD router. Would like to shrink the form factor from PC mid tower to something smaller and energy efficient. Only real requirements are silent/near-silent, has to be able to route/fw for a 1Gbps line, and have dual Intel NICs. I run dhcpd and unbound as a resolver now but those are also lightweight. Suggestions welcome.