suggestions for a low-power home server

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aag

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Jun 4, 2016
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For the past 8 years, I've had a nice Supermicro Windows Server in my basement, hosting networking stuff (VPN, DHCP, DNS, etc.), a bunch of linux virtual machines for Asterisk and various home-automation software, and lots of space for file storage.

However, things have changed. For one thing, my files are all in the cloud now, which makes them more secure and takes care of backups, version control, etc. Secondly, modern routers can do all the networking tasks that I need, and Windows Server is overkill for me at this point. Thirdly, the cost of electricity has skyrocketed, and operating a fully-fledged server hardware has become quite expensive.

My question, therefore, is: what are my options for a low-power Linux server? I thought of the Raspberry, but I tried that a few years ago and it didn't have enough power to handle Asterisk well (even if we rarely have more that one connection at a time); we had distorted audio and frequent dropouts. The Raspberry hardware may have become a bit more powerful by now though. If not Raspberry, what are the alternatives? I am OK with spending good money on the server (I can deduct that), but I am more concerned about the running costs and also about the environmental impact of energy consumption. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
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rtech

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Jun 2, 2021
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What would be the target power consumption?
example:
My Supermicro X10SLM + SSD + 2x 120mm fans consumes 17W with Gold PSU to 22W with 300W Bronze PSU

Here is some database for ultra low idle consuming PC builds
docs.google.com

-Die sparsamsten Systeme (<30W Idle)-

All Idle Watt,Last Watt,C-State,CPU,Mainboard,Netzteil,GPU,Messgerät,HDD / SSD,RAM,Betriebssystem,Maus, Tastatur, Monitor,Lüfter,User 1,5,63,C8,Intel Core i5-9500T,HP 859C,HP 90W PPP012C-S,iGPU,ina219,Kingston A2000 500GB NVME,1 x 8GB F4-2666C19-8GRS DDR4,Fedora 33,Dell Maus, HP Keyboard, D...
docs.google.com docs.google.com

As you can see ARM is not always the best for low power you can achieve similiar results with X86 and get the vast x86 software ecosystem.
 
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aag

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rtech said:
As you can see ARM is not always the best for low power you can achieve similiar results with X86 and get the vast x86 software ecosystem.
Click to expand...
that's very interesting and useful, thanks!
 
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elvisimprsntr

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May 9, 2021
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@aag

If low power is your goal, there are many OEM NAS manufacturers that also support running VMs, containers, etc.

If you don't want to be limited by the OEM NAS firmware (and it's potential vulnerabilities), you can always install enterprise class open source TrueNAS on an x86_64 OEM NAS for all your local hosting needs, including VMs/containers and built in off-site file sync with any number of cloud storage providers.

TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Source Storage Era

I run TrueNAS CORE/SCALE on a number of QNAP x86_64 NAS appliances, which can be inexpensively acquired off evilBay at a substantial discount.

For your edge firewall/router, you might want to look at enterprise class open source firewall software from pfSense® - World's Most Trusted Open Source Firewall. Runs on almost any x86_64 hardware (Intel NICs recommended). You can pick up a used Qotom off evilBay for $50 to run pfSense.

www.ebay.com

qotom in PC Desktops & All-In-Ones for sale | eBay

www.ebay.com
 
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aag

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Thank you everybody for your competent and helpful advice! In the meantime, I have measured the consumption of my SuperMicro Windows Server, and it's whopping 70W average!!! (see graph). I definitely need something less power hungry. I would opt for the following filters:
  1. Must run Windows 11 (but not necessarily Windows Server. Hence not a NAS, but an x64 system instead.
  2. Must have enough power to run the WSL2/Linux subsystem and a couple of Hyper-V virtual machines (1 window, and at least 1 Linux)
  3. Must be sufficiently fast/responsive for 1 Linux VM to run Asterisk (just one connection at a time, but it shouldn't drop out or distort the audio)
  4. Idle power 30W max.
Is this even realistic and physically possible? In many ways, the link suggested by @rtech addresses my question. However, I am not sure which systems would offer the performance that I need. Will an Intel i5-9500T be sufficient? What would you advise me to do?



1688905746004.png
 
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rtech

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T marked CPUs idle power is not lower thatn non-T CPUs they just limit the maximum TDP which is thermal headroom.

Things affecting low idle power consumption
- C states the higher the better... PCIE devices can prevent entering higher idle states!
- Efficient PSU with high efficiency at very small power draws or small enought PSU to be closer to 50% efficiency sweet spot for PSUs
- SW powertop optimizations

I would not get T version because when you are making the call you want that thermal headroom and when you finish the call the CPU will go to C8-C9 state which will give that low idle power consumption you want.
 
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aag

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rtech said:
Things affecting low idle power consumption
Click to expand...
Dankeschön again for your immediate and competent response. In addition to the power considerations, I will heed your advice to go x64 because of the ample software choice.

My hardware budget is quite generous; what I want is to save energy (and hassle) instead. Hence, I'd rather not go for a DIY setup but instead buy something from a reputed vendor with a solid warranty and a low likelihood of failure, such as HP, Dell, Supermicro etc.

So, based on your experience, and considering the boundaries that I have enumerated above, what would you advise me to buy? :cool:
 
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aag

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Also, how much does RAM affect power consumption? Running VMs, which is crucial to my use case, requires significant RAM...
 
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rtech

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Do you need enterprise features like:
IPMI
ECC RAM

If not just get Intel NUC or one of these Small form factor computers such as Fujitsu Esprimo, HP Elitedesk

How much RAM do you need?

EDIT: Futro < Esprimo
 
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mrpasc

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Jan 8, 2022
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Hi, if you want go the prebuilt way I‘d recommend something like a Dell Poweredge T150.
www.dell.com

PowerEdge T150 Tower-Server

Der Dell EMC PowerEdge T150 ist ein benutzerfreundlicher Einstiegslevel-Rack-Server, der für allgemeine Business Applications für budgetbewusste Unternehmen entwickelt wurde.
www.dell.com www.dell.com
But can’t be said enough: servers are build/configured to be power-efficient under load. No one in industry does optimise a server for being power-efficient at iddle. If a server is (mostly) iddle it is miss-configured for its use case and shouldn’t be there or switched off. Point.
 
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rtech

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64G is very small amount for current systems even some NUC can have that much RAM.

Fujitsu is well known for producing energy efficient hardware and is quite big in German speaking countries you can get care packs for NBD what not...

Ofcourse you you can also go for bigger brands like aforementioned Dell or something from HP lineup. No wrong choices here find something you like and post it here for critique.

If you need ECC,BMC then go for something from Supermicro resellers like smicro.eu they can offer you something like NBD if you pay for it.
 
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aag

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Alright, I think that this one might do. I may add a large SSD and RAM (at least 64GB, perhaps more).
I cannot find anything about its idle consumption though; what are your predictions?
many thanks again for all your help!
 
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name stolen

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Feb 20, 2018
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aag said:
  1. Must run Windows 11 (but not necessarily Windows Server. Hence not a NAS, but an x64 system instead.
  2. Must have enough power to run the WSL2/Linux subsystem and a couple of Hyper-V virtual machines (1 window, and at least 1 Linux)
  3. Must be sufficiently fast/responsive for 1 Linux VM to run Asterisk (just one connection at a time, but it shouldn't drop out or distort the audio)
  4. Idle power 30W max.
Click to expand...
Intel NUC or AMD equivalent with enough RAM sounds like it would hit the spot, especially with storage "solved".
 
A

aag

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name stolen said:
Intel NUC or AMD equivalent with enough RAM sounds like it would hit the spot, especially with storage "solved".
Click to expand...
Which NUC would you recommend? I had many years ago one of the first Intel Atoms running Asterisk, and the user experience was really bad. But the current NUC generation is certainly much more powerful, right?

I am not keen on building the whole thing from scratch, but if it's just about inserting an SSD and some RAM sticks, that would be OK.
 
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