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TimD

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  1. I have an AMD EYPC 7401P 24-Core CPU in an AsRock EPYCD8-2T SP3, which I use as a VMware host in our DEV lab. Historically, for my other lab builds, I would use the motherboard's onboard RAID controller. But it seems as though this motherboard does not have one (or perhaps I do not know what I am doing... that is always an option). Has anyone had any luck with getting RAID working on this motherboard? If you used a RAID card, which did you use? If anyone is using this motherboard in their VMware host with RAID configured, it would be amazing if you shared your HW configuration. Thanks in advance.
  2. I have use case where I we have a list of files in a CSV file, and we need to be able to copy those files to a location on the network. I am looking for a file-copy program that I can provide this CSV file to, and that program will copy all of the files to a location of the user's choice. I prefer to stay away from PowerShell scripts because this isn't an "IT task". Instead, something I want an end-user on our network to be able to do themselves without assistance from IT. We have an easy way for them to produce a CSV file. We just want to provide them an easy way to import that CSV file a file-copy program that's easy for them to use/understand. Please assume we have an easy way for the user to generate a CSV file with a file list. And, that we can amend the format of the CSV file to whatever schema/format the file-copy software requires. Any experience / ideas?
  3. Hi Guys, I am looking to build out a cluster of servers for my home lab running 38x VMs. I am looking to have this run over 3x VMware ESXi servers. I need about 96GB in each of the servers. Right now I have 56 cores across the two-server cluster I currently run, which has been more than adequate. My main requirement is that the servers need to be low-noise. Second to that is power consumption. Previously I had two beast of servers, but the less-than-10-minute run time on my UPS has taught me that I need a cluster so that I can use Ansible to shutdown unnecessary hosts/VMs during a power outage and let the critical stuff run as long as possible. I saw the LTT video reviewing the ROMED4ID-2T which I found intriguing as it is a mobo I could potentially move into a larger case and more powerful CPU in due course. That said, I was looking for feedback from anyone that's used this mobo before with ESXi. Is there anything I should know when it comes to things like RAID and/or vSAN or any other nuisances I should know about? And, what low-noise CPU and cooler would you recommend for a 2U chassis? Can be 3U if need be. Thanks in advance.
  4. Hi Guys, I'm trying to get to the bottom of what has been a never-ending battle of trying to find the right machine for me. I was hoping to get input from you guys. In summary, I am Mac guy. At this point, that is simply not going to change. I have a MacBook Pro, Intel, 16GB ram, 2GHz quad-core Core i5. My general day involves: Visual Studio Code (multiple instances) Outlook (PWA) Dozens of Google Chrome and Safari tabs. Remote Desktop Manager Teams Microsoft Excel/Word/PowerPoint Everything is running at the same time. Everything needs to run at the same time. My used memory on the machine is pretty much never less than 12GB. The problem I have been running into is noise-related and performance-related. When Microsoft Teams is open, the CPU fan constantly rams up, especially when on video calls. Overall the performance on the laptop is not bad, but I tend to get intermittent lock ups where Outlook PWA is unresponsive while the machine "catches up". At this point, I am so used to it I tend to just keep typing knowing that eventually the Mac will catch up with my keystrokes. I'm sometimes able to finish a paragraph before Google Chrome comes back from it's little freeze/tantrum. To try to steer some of that off I've limited Google Chrome to Outlook only (Safari doesn't support PWA). Safari is otherwise my primary browser. And, I must say since making that change there has been a genuine and noticeable improvement. I am a software developer. I have good PC etiquette vis-a-vis making sure the machine is a) on a breathable surface. And, b) I don't install bloatware. c) The periodic restart is done from time to time just as a habit. And finally, d) updates are installed as soon as possible after they're released. I don't have the forever-existing tabs, other than the ones I need as part of my day-to-day activities. My workflow has me almost exclusively in heavy UI web applications (e.g. Monitoring platform, Outlook PWA, vCentre, ticketing platform, etc.). At this point, I'm at a loss of whether I'm just reaching the limits of these thin laptops and maybe I need something more robust with better thermals. Overall I feel like am a "professional" user doing a lot of average-user tasks. I just don't know what's needed to get out of these "bottlenecks". More RAM? More CPU? Because I can't believe I am the only person running into these issues, I am posting it on here to get thoughts from other people.
  5. Hey Guys, I have a Dell T620 with a bricked iDRAC. With iDRAC not working, the server fans are constantly running at 100%. I've tried every thing in the book to recover iDRAC (SD card flash, "i" button, power drain, etc.). The internet-accepted fix seems to be purchasing a new motherboard. I'm not ready to spend USD$300+ on a new motherboard given that the machine is already so old. Since the server is only being used as a homelab, I was thinking that replacing the CPU heatsinks with a fan-attached third-party heat sink would suffice. I was wondering whether anyone has had success with replacing a homelab Dell server heatsink with a third-party CPU cooler. Any suggestions are welcomed.
  6. Hey Guys, Looking to purchase 20+ SSD HDs for a Dell T620. Budget is <USD$1,000. This is a for a home-build/development environment. Nothing production will be hosted on here. All care about is that it must work (obviously), supports hot-swap, and must be SSD. Capacity is truly not important. Will only be using 16 HDs and having 4 as spares. Happy to spend more and order more than 20 for the right deal. eBay orders are acceptable - just not sure what to look for. Any thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
  7. Hi Guys, I have an HP ML350 G6 that I'm decommissioning for spare parts for a 2nd server of the same model. The goal here is a build a DEV server to experiment with Red Hat Virtualisation. The processors in the decommission server are still good, and so I'm looking for a dual-socket motherboard that will accept the two Xeon E5620 CPUs, which I would salvage from the decommissioned server. I'll be putting the motherboard and CPUs in a rackmount Rosewell RSV-L4412. Because I'm looking to, as much as possible reuse existing hardware, I'd really like the following specs: Accepts Xeon E5620 CPU DD3 compatible I wanted to see if there was anyone here that had experience with that I'm looking for. Happy to accept suggestions.
  8. I am shopping for a second hand server which I needed for my small group of developers. Because I am a pretty decent follower of Linus Tech Tips videos I immediately thought of you guys while shopping. I'm looking to purchase a second hand HP or Dell enterprise server, but wanted to know what was possible re further "beefing up" the server with something like an Intel Optane PCIe card, or some of the other modern day performance enhancers. That then got me thinking that something like that would be an excellent video for Linus Tech Tips to consider doing from time to time. Basically buy a second hand enterprise Dell/IBM/HP server from EBay, then see what components you can swap out with modern day tech to boost performance. I'm thinking that there is a significant audience of technology enthusiasts / home server connoisseurs, or small businesses looking to get a little more mileage out of their existing servers that would find a once a month video like that pretty interesting... I know I would! Feel free to use an example like a 32-bay Dell T630 server. Just something I randomly came up with. It's not like I have a personal interest in knowing what's possible with that particular setup or anything... ?
  9. Thanks. I will take your advise and go with a larger chassis. If possible, it would be excellent if I could get by with a 3U with a NH-U9DO A3. Just throwing that out there in case anyone has already tried this CPU cooler within a U3 chassis.
  10. Hi Linus, I'm replacing a HP ML350G6 with a custom rackmount build. This server is a Hyper-V host. I've selected a Supermicro Opteron 6100/AMD SR5650/V/2GBE/ATX Server Motherboard (H8SGL-O) (click here - Amazon) because it is a single CPU but can still hold up to 128GB of RAM. My use case is a hypervisor that we use for my development company, which we've successfully been doing with a couple ML350 G6s for a few years. The VMs we run are replicas of our client installs that most of the time run idle. That, and development machines which 3x developers dial into to use VSCode to create custom applications. Our goals are: Quietness (server is running out of my home). The ML350 G6s are pretty quiet and acceptable by the boss, my wife ? VM density Having a server than can be rackmounted Energy conservation The things above are listed in order of priority. I think I have a wining combination with the CPU and motherboard except that I'm running into an issue trying to find a *quiet* CPU cooler that can fit in a iStarUSA D-200SLE (click here - Amazon) case I am considering buying. The CPU cooler would be cooling a (to be purchased) AMD Opteron 12-core (or higher) CPU. Basically whatever compatible AMD CPU I can find on EBay that's a deal. I quietness is really important so if we must go to a 4U case to achieve that, then I suppose that's something I am willing to live with. The server is in its own room, upstairs away from the rest of the house so it doesn't need to be dead quite. It cannot however be something you can hear outside of the room, because right now we cannot hear the ML350 G6s unless you go into the bedroom. And even then, they're barely noticable. I wanted to get your suggestions re what you felt could meet our requirements. Note, I live in the Cayman Islands in case you wanted to donate a custom build to me in exchange for a Vlog post! Just joking... or am I?
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