Very quiet rack mount server

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fractal

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Jun 7, 2016
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I couldn't find a better place for this, so here goes.

I need a very quiet rack mount server. Silent preferred. Must have two USB ports but prefer 4. Must have 100 MBit ethernet, but prefer gig. Will run linux. Does not need much power.

I own a Dell R210-II and that sucker is silent after boot. But, as this is for work we bought new. We got a R230. That POS is FREEKING LOUD!!!! Even after tweaking all the bios setting it is totally unacceptable for an office. Shame.

I own a Supermicro 5015A. it is quieter than the Dell. You can barely hear the single fan if you put your head next to the case. Nice little box. But, it is 2 generations back. So I go to my supermicro reseller and he wants to sell me a 1000 dollar box with 12 cores. I can still get the 5015 for around 350. Then we go back a generation and he begrudges that those take DDR3 ECC SODIMMS that nobody makes any more.

So, I tried a NUC. We can tie wrap it to the rack sides. But the freeking thing overheats doing absolutely nothing.

Does they hive have any recommendations for a box that is going to go in a rack that does absolutely nothing other than take packets off ethernet and write to dozens of USB to serial dongles. The primary requirement, other than listed above, is it be QUIET!
 

pricklypunter

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Nov 10, 2015
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I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to achieve here. Sounds to me like a terminal server is primarily what you're after? Is this box also supposed to be doing anything else?
 

fractal

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Jun 7, 2016
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I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to achieve here. Sounds to me like a terminal server is primarily what you're after? Is this box also supposed to be doing anything else?
Not really. Might use as a TFTP server to boot the serial devices if there were any cycles left but that's gravy. Mostly 32 or 48 usb 2 serial devices.
 

pricklypunter

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Nov 10, 2015
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What rev of USB? If USB 2.0 is fine and you are primarily only needing to build an Ethernet to USB bridge, would you get away with using a couple of RPi3's?
 

mstone

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Mar 11, 2015
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Supermicro tends to have limited pre-packaged options. Look at the supermicro SC502, SC503, SC504, SC505 chassis which are basically front & rear I/O ITX & uATX versions of the same thing. Then pair one of those with a low core count motherboard like the A2SAV-L, A2SDi-2C-HLN4F, or A1SAM-2550F.
 
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Chris Web

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Sep 12, 2017
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The new HP servers are quiet as long as you don't add any non HP certified cards in it. You have to get HP pci cards to keep it quiet if you plan on expanding anything

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
 

kapone

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May 23, 2015
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Well...I'm confused.

You want a current generation box, VERY quiet, apparently $1,000 is too much, but this is for work (I'm assuming there's thought towards longevity/support/warranty etc), will go in a rack, yet needs to be VERY quiet...

I'm not sure all those conditions can be met.
 
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BlueFox

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Oct 26, 2015
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Why don't you get another 5015A-EHF-D525? They go for all of $100 on eBay. They also take regular laptop memory, not ECC SODIMMs. That memory is only required for the Atom S1260.

There are plenty of other boards that don't require active cooling. The A2SAV line can be had under $200 and with a chassis & RAM, looking at $300ish. It's also considerably newer. You could easily get 6 USB ports using the rear IO + expansion bracket off the headers.
 

fractal

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@kapone I don't really care what generation it is. I do care about support/warranty. Hence no home brew pi jobs. We are not that price sensitive but we will need a dozen of these to begin with and more over time. That suggests something modern for LTS. Add the fact that I am a cheap bastard who hates spending other peoples money needlessly.

I did not ask to make this selection but we don't have anyone else to write up the PO that IT can cookie cutter every time we need a new rack. All my experience is based on second hand / eBay gear and the modern equivalents of what I am used to don't cut it. The good news is that even my mistakes will be put to good use.

I will see if SuperMicro reseller recommended at work can assemble a system as @mstone suggest.
 

fractal

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I'll ask the dumb question.

Why does it need to be "very quiet"?
It is going in a rack in peoples offices. The rack has shelf after shelf of development board. Think raspberry pi and you won't be too far off. All it does is to connect to the usb serial port on the boards.
 

kapone

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May 23, 2015
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It is going in a rack in peoples offices. The rack has shelf after shelf of development board. Think raspberry pi and you won't be too far off. All it does is to connect to the usb serial port on the boards.
Well...thinking out of the box....

Any chance of reconfiguring the setup? Use a 4U chassis, get the server board AND xx development boards in there, depending on the size of the development boards. If they are just sitting on shelves... :)

Edit: Should even make the wiring easier. How are the development boards powered? Each with its own PSU?? 12v distribution? Each 4U server could, in theory, power a server board and xx of the development boards, depending on how many fit in there and how much power they consume.