The evolution of a home server

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nonyhaha

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Nov 18, 2018
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I just posted my first question here today and I thought this would be a nice time to share some pictures with the evolution of my home server in the past 5 or so years.

I guess everybody here knows what we are talking about so:
1: the beginning: Asrock AD2700B ITX:


Running Xpenology, the best user interface of them all. With useful apps for backing up photos on the phone/s of the family.
2: Putting it in a box:


The logic thing to do. All in a box, including the router, everything powered by the 12V general psu.
3: The first upgrade - Asrock J3455b itx:


2 disks, moving to windows 10 with storage spaces. Upgraded motherboard to use IGPU for transcoding on the fly for home media sharing.
4: moving up the ladder. Supermicro A1sai 2750F, 2x4tb wd red + 120gb ssd for OS:


Time to move to Windows Server 2016. Virtual machines running pfsense and motioneye, the tplink router used as AP.
5: NOW:




Windows Server 2019, adding a quadro p400 card, moving to parity storage with 4x4tb wd red. Case in the making using 3d printed parts for best design award :) - 8,6l capable of housing 6 disks, itx board, 1 low profile gpu using extension pcie cable, the 12V general PSU and the ssd for OS. Oh, and 2 breautiful fans, which I hope will be up for the task.

Brb in a few days with the result :)
 

nonyhaha

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Nov 18, 2018
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I managed to fit all in, I am still working on hooking the case "cover" which holds the psu :)





I am waiting now to transfer my mirror to a parity storage space.

oh boy oh boy, I am also setting up nextcloud because of the new and improved google photos that no longer syncs to google drive (I like to keep a personal copy of all my photos)
 
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nezach

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Oct 14, 2012
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That's a nice case.

Make sure you have a good ground between components, since the case is plastic and it cannot be used as electrical pathway.
 

nonyhaha

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Nov 18, 2018
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Uhh feel the need to post something.
Just won a bid on Ebay. I will be moving to a new setup. Quanta stratos s210 1u, 2x e5-2630Lv2, 32gb ram. I will put the quadro in, install esxi, and build back the VM's, now moving windows server to a VM. I was missing the VT-d to do this on the Supermicro board.

I'll be back... said... I.
 

nonyhaha

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Nov 18, 2018
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New server in house. I have begun transition. I am still waiting for hdd caddies, other than that, server looks to be working in good condition.


This time I am going the ESXi way, and making a virtual machine for each need.
 
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nonyhaha

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Nov 18, 2018
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I see I did not do an update to the hp dl380p gen8 i have been using for some time now.

Anyway, it is a bit loud, even with modded bios and lowering the max pwm capacity for the fans, so I need to move to something more silent.

Also, 2xe5 2650 v2 are way too much power for my needs, so:
Hp z420 with e5 2680 v2 and 64 gb into an antec p180 that needed to me modified in order to fit the psu and the power controls of the motherboard.
Still waiting for a BIG cpu cooler and 5 arctic p12 pwm fans that will do all the needed cooling on a very silent level:





As one can see, I am missing the tray for 2 3.5 drives BUT I installed a 3x5.25 to 5x3.5 in cage.
This will fit 4x12tb + 4x1tb ssds, raid 5 pools per 4 drives.
All is almost done. Just need to transfer data from the old 8 disk pool to the new 4 disk one. Fans installed and cpu cooler look awsome:
 
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nonyhaha

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Nov 18, 2018
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Another year goes by, the times they are a changin'. Taking into consideration the evolusion of life costs, I needed to reduce even more the power draw on the server.
After looking at a level1tech infomercial about actual raid solutions, about how 99% of them do not check data after writing and that they still rely on the drives to issue a warning, i decided i won't be investing at this step in ecc ram.
Also, a platform this new, with my power requirements would have cost me 2-3 times what i ended up paying.
Without further ado:



A bit smaller case, but still maintaining quality standards: Lianli pc-k7b, which holds a z590 vision d (2*2.5gbit intel 225 nics), i5 10400t (35w tdp), 64gb ddr4 non ecc, and also a pretty big radiator to keep the cpu cool and the entire pc quiet.
All these including the 8 drives are powered by an Antec earth watts 380w psu.
Before, using my e5 2680, my system was using about 140 watts idle. Now, 97w idle, out of which 40 by the "server" and the rest by 4x12tb hdd + 4x1tb ssds. From about 260 euro to about 175 euro per year costs in electricity.
 
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PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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I'll assume you are not 100% duty cycle on the drives? If you could get the spinny drives to idle you'd save quite a few more watts. Perhaps add a small SSD for those those things that touch the drives a lot? Depending on your software setup you may need to add an agent to push the drives to idle state, something like hd-idle.
 
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nonyhaha

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Nov 18, 2018
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I'll assume you are not 100% duty cycle on the drives? If you could get the spinny drives to idle you'd save quite a few more watts. Perhaps add a small SSD for those those things that touch the drives a lot? Depending on your software setup you may need to add an agent to push the drives to idle state, something like hd-idle.
I am using raidz1 zfs pools on nappit software. I am not sure I could do that. I will try looking into it.
 
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nonyhaha

Member
Nov 18, 2018
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I'll assume you are not 100% duty cycle on the drives? If you could get the spinny drives to idle you'd save quite a few more watts. Perhaps add a small SSD for those those things that touch the drives a lot? Depending on your software setup you may need to add an agent to push the drives to idle state, something like hd-idle.
Hello again, I forgot to ask. Do you think it is better for the drives to start/stop on demand, or run continuously? Is it worth putting the drives to sleep, or is this only a power concern?

L.E.
Finished assembling the homelab, as I am not sure I can call it a server now...


 
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