Xeon D-1518 Home server

[hjfr]

Hy all,

My new Home server 4:

Build’s Name: Home server 4
Operating System/ Storage Platform: Host: Linux Debian 8.0 "Jessie" + others OS in KVM VMs (Windows, Linux, ...)
CPU: Xeon D-1518 (4c/8T , 2.2 Ghz, 35W TDP)
Motherboard: SM X10SDV-4C-TLN4F
Chassis: Antec Solo 1 (recycling from my old server 3)
Drives: 1 x SSD Intel X25-V 40 GB for the host (recycling from my old server 3) and 3 x WD RED 5 To WD50EFRX (RAID5) for others datas.
RAM: 16 GB DDR4 ECC (2x Kingston 8GB KVR21R15S4/8HA)
Add-in Cards: IBM ServeRAID M5110 PCI-E + 512MB Cache/RAID 5 Upgrade
Power Supply: Seasonic G-360 80Plus Gold (recycling from my old server 3)
Other Bits: APC Back-UPS Pro 900. And none for the moment (I plan to buy a rack latest this year to put all my server and networking in subsoil instead of my home office. But I need to do some cabling in my house before)

Other information: This new home server is up since two months yet. Storage, medias, VMs, dhcp-dns and others are on it.
It replace my old Home Server 3 build in end of 2006 (core2duo 1.86 Ghz, Asus P5B-V, 2 GB RAM, 3ware 9590SE RAID card and 4 x 500 GB WD RE2 disks + one 2 TB disk). Too slow now, and difficult to upgrade (8GB max memory, 2 TB max per disk supported on the raid card, no virtualization instructions, etc). No major problem with this server in 9 years, except one disk died (after ~55000 hours) and one Antec NeoHE 380 Power supply (~48000 hours).
Yes, already 4 home server in my life (home server 1: Pentium 120 in 2001 and home server 2: Pentium II 333 in 2004 are gone now)
First goal for my new Home Server 4 was to reduce power consumption (at idle: 63w now with my switch Netgear GS108T). (112W for my old Home Server 3). Power are more and more expensive now. Others goals: little better performance and virtualization (vt-d, sr-iov).

For the future: I'm very interested in to buy high capacity 2.5" disks drives to again reduce power (example: 4x 4TB 2.5" would be perfect or big SSD if it cost less). 2.5" drive use less power. And also buy a new switch with at least two 10GB ports)

For my backup, I have an old computer with a Q-logic FC card connected to a DS4700 (16 x 300 GB FC). Recycling from my work. Powered once a month to do backup. I also have two 2,5" 2TB USB disk drive for my very importants datas out of my home.

Thanks for reading.

 

[T_Minus]

Sounds like a nice low power setup.

 

[Deslok]

2.5 4tb drives are available now assuming you can use 15mm disks Seagate Backup Plus 4TB Drive - Cheap 2.5" 4TB drives

You might bring down power consumption more with a newer and lower wattage psu, you're below 20% of that psu's output at idle (not knowing the switches consumption on it's own i can't give a more accurate number than that) One like this might be the lower limit though i can't seem to find an 80 plus gold 250w psu
SeaSonic SS-300M1U 300W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com

 

[PigLover]

IF power is a prime concern:

- use the 2.5" 4tb drives as noted by @Deslok
- Ditch the M5110 and use the MB sata (your 4 drives fit comfortably)
- Use ZoL RaidZ (which you can do with Debian as your host OS).
- Power it all on a Pico PSU (most efficient design you will be able to find).

This will be good for about 15w additional savings, more at load.

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

 

[Deslok]

IF power is a prime concern:

- use the 2.5" 4tb drives as noted by @Deslok
- Ditch the M5110 and use the MB sata (your 4 drives fit comfortably)
- Use ZoL RaidZ (which you can do with Debian as your host OS).
- Power it all on a Pico PSU (most efficient design you will be able to find).

This will be good for about 15w additional savings, more at load.

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

I thought about a Pico PSU when making my suggestions but skipped it as they're great DC-DC(like in a car) but not so much when using an external AC adapter(you could lose all your efficiency savings here)

 

[PigLover]

Fair. You have to choose the power brick carefully. But at sub-100w power draw you'll be hard pressed to find a PSU that is even competitive with a Pico+good brick for efficiency.

Plus - if you are a tinkerer - it opens the door to laptop-like battery power options that will be much more efficient that that APC.

Just throwing ideas on the table for you. The OPs plan as-is is already quite good.

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

 

[kidchunks]

I saw you mentioned buying a new switch for those 10gb ports. Depending on your "layer" needs, the netgear s3300-28x is pretty good. Fairly quiet and comes with 2x10gbe ports and 2x10gb sfp+ ports.

Good luck with the build! Pictures when you get a chance!

 

[hjfr]

Thanks for your comments.
I'll take pictures later.

For power, your all right:
- but high capacity 2.5" disks are very recent. I prefer waiting to have the choice (WD, Seagate, Toshiba, ...) and not only Seagate usb or laptop drive.
- currently raid card is about ~12W and the 3 WD Red drive are about 10W (3.5W x 3) at idle (most 2.5" drives consume about 1W each at idle and about 2-3W with some IOs)
- real ATX 80plus Gold (or better) PSU under 350~360W doesn't really exist. There are some 300W Bronze (SeaSonic SS-300ET, FSP FSP-300-60GHS, Silverstone SST-ST30SF) but nothing below 300 with certification.
- ZoL RaidZ is a possibility

Currently with high CPU activity and some disks IOs, it consume 85~90W (63 at idle).

kidchunks> thanks for the network advice

 

[Evan]

I still would have expected slightly lower idle power...

 

[hjfr]

Little upgrade :
- I was able to sell at a good price the 3 WD 5 TB at the end of 2017 (end of warranty: 01/2019)
- I remove the ServeRAID M5110 raid card (also selled)
- I replace these drives with software RAID1: 2x Seagate IronWolf Pro 10TB 7200 rpm (ST10000NE0004: 5W at idle and 7.8W active), warranty 5 years
- System was upgraded to Stretch (Debian 9)

- last month, my Netgear GS108 died (buy in 2007). Replaced with a D-Link DGS-108 (1W at idle and 4W with 6 ports active ; Netgear was 6W at idle and 11W active). Not yet a 10 Gb/NbaseT switch: a little expensive and for now i have no other device with 2,5/5/10 Gb speed. Maybe the next.

New power consumption:
- idle : 41W (server + new switch)
- 7z compression on all cores : 68~70W