low-power fanless server advice (Supermicro?)

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aag

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Jun 4, 2016
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I will soon need to purchase a server (windows server + pfsense in a VM + linux in another VM). I am attracted by the new Supermicro E302 series because they are family however I am not sure how much power they consume. Because the cost for electricity is certainly going to go up in the coming years common power consumption is an important factor for me. Instead, a high purchase price is not a problem (because of accounting rules).

Within the E-302 series, Supermicro appears to have a lot of different models and I find it hard to navigate them. Which model would you advise me to purchase considering that low power is more important to me than extreme performance? Or should I forego Supermicro and opt for something else altogether?
 

T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
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I think @zac1 may have some in the "For Sale" section -- maybe save you a bit of money, and narrow down your chocies for you :)
 
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aag

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Jun 4, 2016
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Thank you for your suggestions. However, I am not primarily looking for a vendor. I am seeking advice on low-power servers. I would anyway probably not go for an American vendor because I am located in Switzerland. The expenses for shipment are considerable, and in addition any warranty issue may become a nightmare.
 

BlueFox

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Oct 26, 2015
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How much you need in terms of compute, memory, and disk is going to influence what recommendations we can give. What are you looking for there?
 

aag

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Jun 4, 2016
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Thank you for your help. It's a home server that will primarily provide some local file storage and net admin services (DHCP, DNS, firewall, VPN). I know that the latter could in principle be provided by a dedicated router, but a server would offer more flexibility. In addition it will be used for a home automation software (IP Symcon) and a home security system. So, network speed (particularly DNS) is important but there won't be a lot of parallel tasks. 10TB of storage will be sufficient, distributed across three drives (OS, backup, mirroring of cloud services). RAID not strictly necessary. Keeping electricity consumption within reasonable limits is more important.
 

BlueFox

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That's still pretty vague. One potential option is to just find an Intel NUC SKU that fits your needs an get an Akasa case for it.
 

zac1

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Oct 1, 2022
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Why the fanless requirement? Noise? Maximum power efficiency? Fanless chassis are not very flexible. You might consider something like CSE-721TQ with a A2SDi-* board. They run fairly quiet and offer 4x3.5" hot swap bays, 2x2.5" fixed drives, and room for a low profile PCIe card. You can take one of the Supermicro mITX Atom boards and add an active heatsink (SNK-C0057A4L) fairly easily if it doesn't already have one.
The expenses for shipment are considerable, and in addition any warranty issue may become a nightmare.
You might be surprised.
 
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