Any server technicians on here? Dell Poweredge questions!

[Ross B]

So we're having the house completely rewired and I'm having some 5e run in at the same time.
It's going to be the backbone for a variety of devices including laptops, PC's, TV's etc via a Cisco PoE switch. It'll all be fairly overkill but it's as much for my own enjoyment as anything else. I like to dabble with things I don't understand

At the moment I have a little HP microserver running Windows Server but I'd like to play with some nicer toys and have something a little more responsive to run the house.

I've been looking on ebay/forums/elsewhere and Dell Poweredge servers seem to come up rather cheaply. Looks of dual xeons with 16gig+ RAM etc. Chuck it in a small 6U rack under the stairs and forget.
Ideally, I'd like to ESXi and have a couple of virtual machines running so I can split the gaming/TV/simulation without worrying about having to look after them. Just burn and rebuild if I cock it up so to speak.

Really my questions are around which model to get and mandatory requirements if any.

1. Would the 2950 be a cheaper viable alternative?
2. Should I only look at the R* range? (R710 etc)
3. Is there anything I should ensure I get with it? Raid cards, DRAC etc

and the most confusing part of all so far, with regards to the SAS backplane, are interposer boards really required to run SATA drives? I'd like to fill the machine with 2TB drives for storage (I'm aware of the 2TB limitation) but different websites are saying interposer boards adjust voltages/channels for the SAS interface and some say it works fine without.


Thanks,

Ross

[sideways14a]

All i will say on the subject is... these things are noisy, really really noisy so stick them somewhere out of the way where you wont hear them - like Australia...
They also will chew power... so mind that.

I have a big cisco router for home use i am just trying to find a fiber module for so i cant talk about using rack kit for piddling home use

[Ralz]

I'm going to echo what sideways has said, they are very loud and are pretty power hungry. Perhaps a bit overkill for home?

Personally I'd avoid the 2950s as they are old hat now, and I'm pretty sure the first gen models aren't compatible with the latest ESXi releases so be careful. In my experience R710s have been very reliable and they perform well, we still run some in production. Anything newer than that will likely be a bit too expensive for home use. I would recommend a DRAC, it makes administration much easier and means I don't have to get off my arse and walk all the way to the datacenter to do an install

You can buy the Dell PERC cards cheap on eBay and use them in any system with PCI-E if you decide a full blown server is a bit overkill. They can also be flashed with LSI firmware to add some extra features.

I've never had any issues running SATA disks in a SAS enclosure.

[Asht_200]

Are you thinking of putting in Cisco VOIP Phones and a Call manager? Otherwise I can't see any reason why you'd need a Power over Ethernet switch.. Unless you came by it for free.

I actually had one of these available to use as a home switch a few years ago, but never deployed it as I realised it was serious overkill (the one I had also had the 256Gbit switch fabric module)

[sideways14a]

That thing will make a noise like an s14 with a crap ebay exhaust. LOUD and nasty.

[Ross B]

Are you thinking of putting in Cisco VOIP Phones and a Call manager? Otherwise I can't see any reason why you'd need a Power over Ethernet switch.. Unless you came by it for free.

]

Let's just say a friend of a friend can get me one and leave it at that

I'd also like to run a unifi wap which will be upstairs so I'd rather use poe and have 1 cable traced in than 2. Plus I'd like to play with one

[Johnny]

That thing will make a noise like an s14 with a crap ebay exhaust. LOUD and nasty.

the heat will be worse .... if you hide it in the loft or under the stairs you will need aircon .. these puppies do get rather hot.

just one in a room is probably going to be like having the heating on all day though, the server will probs be fine, but the room will be baking in the summer and you wont need the radiator on in the winter !

[silverzx]

Echoing what's been said, installed two poweredge's within the last 4 weeks and they are noisy f**ks!

[Ross B]

I'm getting the feeling that sound could be an issue

I do also potentially have the option of a Z800 tower which is also dual xeon, 96Gb RAM, LSI megaraid etc. I was rather hoping the rack server would be an option so I could run all the cabling into a small rack and combine all the kit into one place. The desktop won't be quite so pliable.

[sideways14a]

Leave the servers at work and remote into them to play with imho..

You dont want that shit buzzing away all day, comms rooms are noisy as heck due to things like this plus the power they use is mental.

[Rusty]

Another problem you'll have is that it won't fit into a small rack... rack mount servers are long, it will take up pretty much all of your understairs

And like the others say, it will howl like a bitch, tiny fans moving a good amount of air do that.

Just get a reasonable tower, or fit an E3 in the microserver (assuming Gen8 like mine).

Overkill stuff for home is fun though, I have a Draytek 2830 with three VLANs and a Xirrus XR620 array