SERVER MEGATHREAD - Post Your Servers

[2bitmarksman]

The new homelab

1x Unifi USW-PRO-24-PoE
1x Unifi 16 XG
2x VMware ESXi 6.7 hosts, running Ryzen 3600’s, 64gb of RAM, and the AsRock X570D4I-2T in a 1U Chassis
1x TrueNAS Core node, running an X10SDV-4C±TLN4F, 128GB of RAM, 4x10TB HDDs for bulk storage pools, and 2x2TB Samsung PM863a’s for VMhost pool
1x PDU to plug everything into (in the back and not pictured)

All in a 5U transit case (what a pain this case was to deal with. screw in post racks instead of traditional square holes are always trash).

Built it so it would be easier to pack up and move between homes/rentals (eventually it’ll get it’s own rack :P)

Did some customizing on the 2U Supermicro chassis to get some 80mm noctua fans to fit in the 3 hotswap trays and function. HDD temps are still sitting under 38C and it’s much quieter. Also did a Noctua fanswap in the 1U server PSU that it came with, further reducing the noise (it’s a 750w and this system pulls 160w full tilt, I’m not worried about the reduced pressure).

Measured 40dB in front of it without the VMhosts powered on, and 45dB with them on (definitely the loudest part of the build). It’s a bit unfortunate, but the NIC on one host and the chipset on the other tend to float right at the warning temp threshold, so there’s always a warning within the BMC about it :T

Unfortunately, the powerdraw seems to be an issue in this house, as all the electrical outlets AND lights for all the bedrooms, bathrooms, and living room are all on the same 15A circuit. So working on making a new NEW homelab that’s even smaller and much lower power draw, in the spirit of ServeTheHome’s TinyMiniMicro series. Need to get a 3D printer though to make some stackable trays so I can make space between nodes for a bit of passive ventilation and for cable-tie points to manage it

[anon27075190]

Where does one acquire such a cool and mobile rack case?

[SgtAwesomesauce]

That looks like portable audio equipment rack.

They rackmount audio gear in 19in racks, just like servers.

[Trooper_ish]

@SgtAwesomesauce

audio equipment rack.

That was my thought too.

The flight cases are for transport between gigs.
Sometimes literally on flights…

[2bitmarksman]

@anon27075190

Where does one acquire such a cool and mobile rack case?

Got mine off E-bay. Look for “Pelican rackmount transit case 5U” or something similar to find them. Lots of Mil-surplus floating around

@SgtAwesomesauce

That looks like portable audio equipment rack.

They rackmount audio gear in 19in racks, just like servers.

Mil surplus specifically. Mobile Audio racks are almost all 19", but I needed/wanted a 25" depth rack size so I could fit the full size Supermicro 2U Chassis. Mil surplus is more likely to have these (gotta double check prior to buying though, obviously)

@Trooper_ish

The flight cases are for transport between gigs.
Sometimes literally on flights…

Correct! This type of transit case is meant to be stacked and loaded on aircraft pallets

[Byteblaster]

Not Linus levels of overkill but still overkill.

[Token]

That portability is so awesome.

[2bitmarksman]

It’s really fun and works well, unfortunately the power draw is too great for this old house. Turns out, it’s easier for me to setup a smaller, lower power homelab than it is to get an electrician to fix the wiring in the house (I might have that done anyway later in the year), so I’ve decided to dig deep into my own TinyMiniMicro cluster. Mostly waiting on 2 more risers and that will be ready for business. In the meantime, I got some data copying to do.

(Just got an Intel X540-T2 in the mail, so time to do a long write )

[Brutkruemel]

I just finished my new “Ikea Rack” and wanted to show it

• Post what you use it for

  • Jenkins
  • TVHeadend
  • SonarQube
  • GitTea
  • Plex
  • Unifi Controller
  • Storage in general
  • Nextcloud
  • Hosting Website(s)

• Specs

  • Ubiquiti AP and ISP modem on top

  • Switch:
    Second from the top.
    Netgear GS116E
    Every server is 10G ready, but i did not buy a 10G switch yet. Probably going for the Mikrotik 12port RJ45. But am not sure yet

  • NAS:
    Bottom one
    Fantec 4HE chassis
    Truenas
    Supermicro A2SDi-H-TF (Atom C3758)
    32GB RAM

  • Hypervisor:
    Second from bottom
    Fantec 2HE chassis
    Proxmox
    Supermicro M11SDV-8C-LN4F (AMD EPYC 3251)
    64GB RAM
    Dual 10G NIC PCIe Card

  • Router:
    Third from bottom
    PfSense
    Same Fantec 2HE chassis
    ASRock C3558D4I-4L (Atom C3558)
    16GB RAM
    Dual 10G NIC PCIe Card

The old version pictures is the same interior hardware but in a Fractal Design Node 804 and some cheap mITX case for the hypervisor. Router was a VM back then. I changed that to a physical extra router, because i kept turning off the internet connection for other people when i was tinkering with the hypervisor

• Pictures

• Name if you have for it

  • NAS is called Nasferatu (yes i stole the name from an old L1 video. Did not have the butler naming idea back then). Backup NAS (not shown or specified) is called Nasferatwo
  • Hypervisor is called Niles (butler from “The Nanny”)
  • Router is just days old and does not have name yet. Maybe Alfred (Batman’s butler)

[NicKF]

Big updates in recent months. Still some work in progress, but this should be the last major update for a while.

I had been using some Ryzen processors and the X470D4U motherboard for both my ESXI host and my TrueNAS box for a long time. I’ve basically replaced those and every other piece of my networking gear over the past year.

• I’ve upgraded my HP E3800 network core/stack to a Brocade ICX 7450 (Going from 8x10G SFP+ to 12x10G SFP+ in a smaller power footprint)

• I’ve added a datacenter network separated at L3 via OSPF (still working on this) which is run by a Brocade VDX 6740

• HP 2530 8 port 10/100 POE+ switches with 1-gig uplinks were in place in my living room, bedroom and garage. These have been upgraded to Brocade 7150-C12P switches, will be running some innerducts/ pretermed OM4 and upgrading these to 10gig soon.

• I’ve added a second pfSense router running virtually on my ESXI host. It is connected to my Starlink antenna. WAN failover and OSPF is in place to run this part of my network. Soon, all traffic egressing my house will connect to my CoLo via OpenVPN and so if there is a failure of one my internet connections, my clients literally will not notice

• ESXI (8c16t Ryzen 1700, 64gb) host was replaced by a Cisco C220 M3 (20c40t, 128gb RAM) with a VIC card (which is literally the coolest thing ever!). All VM datastores are on Intel write-intensive flash backed by hardware raid card, not via iSCSI to TrueNAS. Bulk storage is still shipped via ISCSI or SMB to TrueNAS.

• TrueNAS is a Supermicro X10 with a E3-1265L v3 and 32GB of ram. This is a downgrade from a Ryzen 5 2600 and 64GB of ram, but Tier 1 storage duties have been removed. I also added an HP D2600 disk shelf before Chia basically killed off the second hand disk shelf market.

• Unifi wireless has been replaced with Aruba. There is an Aruba 7005 controller (which is POE powered!), an AP-335 and two AP-315s for the house and an AP-205 for my garage.

• Unifi protect is still running on my Unifi Cloud Key Gen2+

I’m sure I’m missing stuff. No cable porn here.

[jmannik]

Well I figure I should make sure this thread gets some loving, Here is my rack

From top to bottom:

Top Left -
Synology DS918+
3 x 6TB drives
General file storage and also an iSCSI target for the servers (until I get a new sound proof rack)

Top Right -
Supermicro A1SRi-2758F in a Silverstone DS380 case and 16GB ECC
Runs PFSense

In the rack

Mikrotik CRS125-24G-1S
Just runs as a basic switch, ill be replacing this soonish.

Dell Poweredge R640 x 2
2 x Xeon Gold 6134
192GB 2666 RDIMM
2x 16GB SD cards
2x 240GB Sata SSD

Dell SCv3020 Storage Array
8x 480GB SAS SSD
12x 1.8TB 10k SAS HDD

Whitebox
Ryzen 2700x
48GB RAM
Generic 5RU case that I will be replacing soon

Not in the Rack yet (need a bigger rack )

Dell Poweredge R740
2x Xeon Silver 4110
64GB 2666 RDIMM
2x 240GB NVME SSD
5x 8TB 7.2k SAS HDD

Equalogic PS4000
16x 450GB 15k SAS HDD

---

So what do I use it for?
Playing around with stuff mostly, but I also run a number of games servers for The Unprofessionals community.
IL-2 Great Battles series
DCS World
Minecraft
Ark Survival Evolved
and whatever else I decide to run up.

The two R640’s and the Ryzen machine all run ESXi 7 in a vSphere cluster and all VM storage is on the Synology for now until I get either a new sound proofed rack, or I find a way to make the SCv3020 not insist that 7000-8000rpm is a “normal” speed to run cooling fans at when temps are well within normal operating temps.

Planned changes/upgrades:

• Replace the pfsense box with a Unifi Dream Machine Pro
• Replace the switch with a 16port 10gig unifi and a 24 port gig PoE switch.
• Add some unifi access points
• Get a bigger (22-24U) sound proofed rack as the “server room” is a cupboard under the stairs that is accessed via my bedroom.

Edit:
oh yes, im Australian, and that is an Enterprise Ethernet NBN connection install on the wall in the picture, the tech installed it today and will be back tomorrow for testing. After that its up to the ISP to do their part

[NicKF]

Wish I had an isp that dropped singlemode in my house

[jmannik]

If you are in australia you can, I think the deal for signing up for 3 years of an enterprise ethernet connection they will waive the connection build costs

[jmannik]

Servers moved to the garage because they are noisy, now everything is racked up. Still waiting on some equipment to arrive before I can cable manage and button up the rack

[Argone]

5950x 2080ti 64gb Ram

Plex media server
Minecraft server
File server attached via Synology nas.

3950x 1070ti 64gb Ram

Planning on repurposing this as plex server + Minecraft server + file servers + wire guard to VPS outside of the house.

All of my “servers” as well as basic computing devices run folding at home.

Will take photos laters.

[jmannik]

Updated my server rack again:
Picked up a Dell VRTX chassis with 2xM620 blades

[MattiP]

After a couple of weeks of juggling ideas and reading reviews and manuals, trying to figure out what I really need and what I just want, I’ve come to the conclusion that this will be my new server and it should be able to handle my needs for years to come.

Supermicro X9DRL-iF (Dual LGA2011, up to 512GB LRDIMM/256 RDIMM. ATX so I can fit it in a normal case) $85
2x Intel Xeon E5-2696 V2 (Second best, but not as hot as the best. 2.5GHz 12C/24T 120W) $108
4x Samsung 32GB 4Rx4 PC3-14900L DDR3 1866 MHz 1.5V ECC LR LRDIMM (Fastest memory, can still upgrade it to more later) $163
2x SuperMicro SMH SNK-P0050AP4 (These can blow the hot air straight up in the case so I don’t have to worry about the second cpu getting blasted with hot air from the first one.) $88
2x Noctua NF-A9 PWM 92mm (Changing the fans on the SNK-P0050AP4 to something more quiet) $35

Corsair Carbide Air 540 (Up to E-ATX, 2x 5.25, 4x 2.5, 2x 3.5/2.5) €141
Corsair RM750 750W $65
EverCool Dual 5.25 in. Drive Bay to Triple 3.5 in. HDD Cooling Box (3x 3.5 or 4x 2.5, 80mm fan) $36
140mm Magnetic Nylon Mesh Computer Fan Dust Filter (For the psu hole in the Air 540) $5

I’m gonna give this a try to begin with, if it gets too hot I’ll get
Phanteks PH-F120T30 120mm 3-pack (To put in the front)

If I’ll need more than 2x sata3 I’ll get an extra card for those but for storage I think sata2 is fine enough.

In the end I’ll have 24C/48T, 128GB ram, 120GB ssd to boot from and 2x 8TB+4TB in raid1 (disks I already have). Might buy another 8TB and run them in raid5.

Total with shipping: $960

[FunnyPossum]

Hey, a thread for me! Ignore the dust please

From the top to the bottom:

• Patch Panels and cable managment
• pfsense with Intel Pentium Gold G5500, 8GB DDR4 ECC, Supermicro X11SCL-LN4F, Mirrored Kingston KC300 60GB, Mellanox ConnectX3 SFP+ 10G NIC for WAN. 1G/1G AT&T Fiber and T-Mobile 5G Home Internet for secondary
• Dell X1052P Switch
• Cisco SG300-28 Switch (For low bandwidth stuff so I can save the ports on the Dell, it got a bit tight at one point)
• Cisco SX350X-24F - 24 Port 10G SFP+ Switch (With 4 x 10G-BaseT Combo Ports too)
• Shelf with Ripe Atlas, Hubitat and TinyPilot RPI4 for remote access to console of Blue Iris system which doesn’t have IPMI
• ESXi box with Dual E5-2680 V4’s, 256GB DDR4, 12 x 8TB SAS disks in Virtual TrueNAS (Secondary NAS), Micron 9100 Pro 3.2TB Enterprise NVMe SSD (HHHL), Dual port Mellanox ConnectX3, LSI 9207-8i HBA
• Primary TrueNAS Box - Xeon E3-1270 v5, Supermicro X11SSH-F, 64GB DDR4 ECC, LSI 9300-8I 12G SAS HBA, Mellanox ConnectX-4 SFP28 Dual Port, Samsung 970 1TB M.2 L2ARC, 2 x Intel DC S3700 800GB for Metadata, 6 x 4TB SATA/SAS In mirrored pairs for important data
• Blue Iris Box - Intel Core i7 8700k, 16GB DDR4, LSI 9207-8i for disks, Intel Pro/1000 Quad Port, 4 x 12TB SATA disks, NVIDIA Tesla P4 for Deepstack AI and License Plate Recognition
• PDU’s
• APC SRT3000RMXLA double conversion UPS powering everything in the rack, as well as powering (Via inlets and romex in the walls ) Mine and my wifes desks, the HTPC/TV in the living room, and the HTPC/TV in the office

As a bonus, I also have some stuff in my un-airconditioned garage

A few Raspberry Pi’s behind the covers for SDR and Flight Tracking

Cisco 2960-S with 10G Uplink back to my main rack

APC SMT1000RM2UC UPS, which also powers in addition the rack, the Raspberry Pi inside my Generac RG027 27KW Liquid Cooled Generator

Runs to inside the generator, as well as some SMF for the networking

[ThatGuyB]

What’s that RIPE NCC box?

[FunnyPossum]

Ah, I forgot that!

Its a Ripe Atlas. You host one at your house and Ripe and customers are able to do all sorts of measurements around reachability, latency etc. In return for hosting one you get credit and can then do your own measurements

When I got mine, I was one of a few in Houston. You can check coverage here

https://atlas.ripe.net/results/maps/network-coverage/

They are always pleased to get ones in areas less served. You just apply and they mail you the device for free, pretty cool