Multi-Node Atom Server

[guarddog]

I recently learned about Ceph Software Defined Storage, I think it looks really slick and need to build a cheap setup to try it.

To do it right, it takes quite a few boxes/nodes to get a proper setup - ideally 5 it seems. I am going to do something with Banana Pi and VM to test it out, but that is another story...

I found a company that has developed a really cool looking 1U box, it holds 8 hard drives and 8 little ARM computers inside. Each ARM controls one hard disk, the entire box is a self-contained Ceph cluster with its own private network right inside the box for the nodes to talk!

Really cool... no idea what it costs, but probably out of my budget.

Then I started looking for multi-node ATOM servers to build something like it for much cheaper. I found the Supermicro SuperServer 2015TA-HTRF. It came out in 2011 and would probably be worth a little more than dirt on the used server market. The problem is I can't find one. eBay has no match at all for current or previous listings.

Anyone have a line of where I might find a used Supermicro 2015TA-HTRF or a product like that?

 

[hinch]

I'm doing ceph on 3 of these ASRock Rack > C2550D4I for the storage nodes loaded with an m2 ssd in each for boot os and 4x2tb wd red's for storage. I then run the the mon's on each storage node and a master mon node and deploy on an ubuntu vm running on my xenserver.

works like a charm.

edit: little mistake the m2's are the boot drives on my nuc nodes the ceph nodes just use standard samsung 850 pro ssd's for boot

 

[Patrick]

I would advise against the 2015TA-HTRF at this point. The D525 was :-/

Look for Atom C2000 series or Pentium D1508.

Also, I would skip the ARM/ old Atom cluster. You are going to want 10GbE with Ceph for it to be useful. The networking part is non-trivial. Better to buy something that costs slightly more but that can also be deployed. You will learn a lot more going that route.

 

[guarddog]

The ARM appliance I am looking at has 40GbE (4 x 10GbE), each of the 8 nodes in the cluster (contained in 1U rack) has 2.5 gigs networking. They all communicate with each other internally and use the 10GbE ports for external connection.

I got the benchmarks from the company today, quite impressive.

But so far they refuse to give me a price - that is just the weirdest thing.

I have hunted around far and wide for the 2015TA-HTRF, but can't find it anywhere used (or new for that matter). I think it would make an excellent self contained 8 node box, with 24 2.5 inch hot-swap disks attached.... if I could just find one.

If you know of any self contained server like that, in 1u or 2u let me know. I searched Supermicro and it was the only one they made like that ever, so I guess it was not popular.