Not-A-Server

[Stephen Harris]

So I have what I call a "not-a-server".  It does server stuff, but it's using desktop technology.

 

Now my current machine is from 2010.  It's an i5 750 machine with 16Mb RAM.  But what makes it special is the case is a Zalman MS800 which had 10 5.25" slots.  With some Rosewill cages I could put 12 3.5" of spinning rust into this machine.   And LSI SAS2008 controlers (JBOD cos Linux does the RAID).  https://www.sweharris.org/post/2016-11-27-home-machine/

 

This machine performs both "file server" (NAS) and VM server (kvm) duties.  99% of my work is done on VMs hosts on this machine.

 

But this machine is 13 years old.  It's running out of RAM (I can't run all the VMs I want at the same time).  I'm kinda OK with raid 6 on rust, especially since I'm now at 8*8TB disks in raid 6 (I can't afford that much ssd); a lot of this is storage (DVD/BD rips).  Ultra speed isn't the goal.

 

So I need to upgrade.  I'm thinking a Ryzen 9 7900 with 64Gb RAM.  But I'm not sure about the motherboard.  And I can't find a case anywhere near as good as my current one.

 

So the question for this community is how would you build a not-a-server today?  I definitely need all that hot-swap storage bays (which is not something case makes do today?).

 

If you were to build a not-a-server with at least 8  hotswap drive bays, what would you do?

[AlwaysFSX]

MB155SP-B + old case
https://www.amazon.com/ICY-DOCK-MB155SP-B-Hot-Swap-Backplane/dp/B00DWHLFMA

[Stephen Harris]

Hmmm... that lets you convert 3*5.25 into 5*3.5?  Definitely more efficient than my Rosewill adapters (which only does 4*3.5), but damn they're expensive.

[Vulture78]

Is there a reason you don't want to keep your case?  Sounds like you have a case you like and you already invested in a hot swap cages that do 4*3.5...  why change it?

 

The other commenter was probably right, it is going to be difficult to source a case with at least 6*5.25 unless you buy a server chassis or pay alot of money.  Finding an old school case (enterprise workstation) is probably your easiest bet 

 

 

[Stephen Harris]

The desire is to keep the old machine around as a cold standby; if the live not-a-server dies then I can swap the disks into the backup and be up and running with reduced capacity (so only the primary VMs) while attempting to make repairs.

[Needfuldoer]

I'm building a not-a-server in a Rosewill RSV-L4500U 4U chassis that can take up to 15 3.5" drives. The motherboard's an ASUS X99-WS/IPMI and I just threw in a Xeon E501650 v4. I went with X99 and a Xeon because I can throw a crap-ton of cheap RAM into it. I also want a GPU for Plex transcoding, a SAS HBA, 10 gig Ethernet, and a couple PCIe SSDs, so HEDT/workstation is the only real option. Right now x99 is in the price-performance sweet spot; x79 is too old, but x299 and x399 are too rich for my blood.

 

This is replacing a Dell PowerEdge R730XD with dual E5-2637 v4s in it. That's more CPU than I need, and the thing chugs down about 175 watts at idle. It's also pretty loud, but I think I'll miss some of the IPMI features that iDRAC 8 has.

 

Problem is I have a dozen hard drives, so my chassis options are limited and kind of expensive. I was considering one of those "24 drive bits" Chia farm chassis to make my own "we have Storinator at home" storage server (maybe call it a "poorinator"), but that's just adding temptation to acquire more drives.

 

My biggest problem is I have Gear Acquisition Syndrome, but for computer stuff. I haven't even finished building this machine but I'm eyeing PowerEdge R540s on eBay...

[m9x3mos]

13 hours ago, Stephen Harris said:

The desire is to keep the old machine around as a cold standby; if the live not-a-server dies then I can swap the disks into the backup and be up and running with reduced capacity (so only the primary VMs) while attempting to make repairs.

Have you looked at the Fractal Design 7 xl? If you don't mind not having hot swap, you can put in a lot of drives to that case. Just need to buy how ever many trays you need and they aren't expensive. It can do 18 3.5 drives in storage configuration. 

[CerealExperimentsLain]

Uhh, people just call 'servers' made out of reused desktop parts 'servers'.  You don't need to do all this silly 'Not A Server' thing.  'Server' is a definition of it's job, not weather it's enterprise hardware or not.