Where to put an HP DL360 G7 server?

[Ivan Zhekov]

Hi. I just bought a cheap old HP DL360 G7 server. Pretty excited to start using it, although I have one big issue. I'd like to have it running 24x7 but I'm unsure where to hold it. I'm living with my family in a 3 rooms apartment - 2 bedrooms and one big kitchen/living room. One option is to put it in the living room but I'm afraid my wife and the kids may not like the noise there, so the other two options are:

- Put it in the garage that's in the same building 2 floors below. My issue is that during the winter temperatures may drop below zero, and I'm not sure how bad it could be for the server. Putting a wire between the garage and the apartment could be also an issue.
- Put it in the closet. We have a small closet W/H/D 100/270/170 cm. No any ventilation there nor aircon. Seems like a good place but I'm really unsure what will happen with all that heat the server generates as I'd like to keep it closed.

Any thoughts/ideas are welcome.

P.S. There are two corridors connecting the rooms but are closer to the bedrooms and I'm afraid the noise can be still heard.

P.P.S. It's a Dual Xeon X5650 with 460W hot-swap power supplies. U8/0285 - HP DL360 G7 - Dual Xeon X5650 6-Core 2.67GHz - 28GB Ram - No HDD 4948382733788 | eBay

Thanks in advance.

 

[Spartacus]

What use case is the server?
You could do closet, that model is reasonably quiet if idle if it has all HP branded/certified parts, but under load it can get pretty loud, a small portable a/c might be recommended adding more noise and power usage depending on how much heat it generates.

Your best bet is the garage if you can get permission from the complex/landlord to run the cable on the outside of the wall then use something like this to get in a window/door. Its a bit far for a wireless AP and would likely have poor performance that far anyhow.
What temperature does the garage get down to generally? (not outside temps)
If its above 10c it should be fine, servers have a pretty wide operating temp range.

 

[Ivan Zhekov]

Spartacus, thank you very much for your suggestion.

At the end I think you're right and the garage could be the better solution. I'm not sure what's temperature in the garage during the winter but outside average temperature is about -4C. Although it's not uncommon to have temperatures below -10C. If it become too cold in the winter I think a small heater will be easier to run for a few months compared to aircon all the year long, and the server itself may generate enough heat to keep the garage warm. What I'm afraid is condensation due to the difference between inside and outside temps.

I'll run virtual machines on the server with different purpose - file server, linux dev machines, web server, computation tasks.

The wiring could be challenging. The garage is on the opposite side of the building, but I can possibly run the cable through inside the building. The distance is not big, somewhere around 10-20 meters, but walls prevents having any kind of WiFi coverage. Thought about trying powerline adapters, never used that before and possibly they won't work as I assume the garage will use separate circuit, but still may give it a try.

 

[Spartacus]

Sounds like you have a handle on next steps, garage generally is separate circuit especially for a standalone in an apt complex, but worth a try.
Depending on the access you have, if you can get into the cable/internet inbound to your apartment you might be able to do a ethernet M0CA adapter and use a splitter on the line to your apartment (it might not workout well and has the potential to mess with your internet service). I've heard those are hit/miss on quality.

Secondary note: you could build some kind of box for the server as well to insulate it a bit ~ wood maybe?
Build it to maybe have an adjustable backing, so it recirculates some of the hot air when it gets too cold? I'm just spitballing here though.