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Project: Rackmount Overkill

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I finally decided to get Exchange working. I've had it installed for awhile, but it was not configured and was missing a lot of packages. Figured out what was broken and got everything configured. I didn't put a lot of time into getting it running, but I've been putting this off and it feels good to get it done. Depending on how much I want to tinker with it, I might to to get it accepting external mail by directing it through my web server. Anyone I send email to can't respond because the email addresses are invalid external domains (*@2k8domain.localdomain), so it is pretty useless short of internal email. I could use it for logs, though.

Server console with user listing
managementconsole.png

Outlook Web Access from my desktop system
owa.png

Sending an email to my gmail account
sendemail.png

Received :cool:
receivedemail.png

I had to increase this VM instance to 8gb (up from 4gb) and I may need to increase it again. I'm already at 55% memory usage. Not like I don't have memory or anything.
 
thideras said:
I finally decided to get Exchange working. I've had it installed for awhile, but it was not configured and was missing a lot of packages. Figured out what was broken and got everything configured. I didn't put a lot of time into getting it running, but I've been putting this off and it feels good to get it done. Depending on how much I want to tinker with it, I might to to get it accepting external mail by directing it through my web server. Anyone I send email to can't respond because the email addresses are invalid external domains (*@2k8domain.localdomain), so it is pretty useless short of internal email. I could use it for logs, though.

Server console with user listing
View attachment 121194

Outlook Web Access from my desktop system
View attachment 121195

Sending an email to my gmail account
View attachment 121196

Received :cool:
View attachment 121197

I had to increase this VM instance to 8gb (up from 4gb) and I may need to increase it again. I'm already at 55% memory usage. Not like I don't have memory or anything.
Click to expand...

If you exhaust 256GB, you are my hero. :D
 
you could create allowed domains for it and use it as a proper mail server, it isnt hard, takes about 10 seconds to create an allowed domain for it, i run Exchange 2010 at work for 19 domains.
 
I assume that is the "accepted domains" in the hub transport configuration? Would I be able to use a subdomain of my (remote) web server to point to this system? If so, that is really simple.
 
Sounds good, thanks for the link. I'll have to check that out.
 
I did some wattage calculations tonight to see what kind of UPS I would need for these servers and after seeing the numbers for the 2650's, I might sell/part them out. It really isn't worth keeping them around.
 
Does anyone know much about rackmounted UPS units? I really need to pick one up, but I'm not sure where to start, what brands are good, etc. I know that I need to handle around 1000w to keep my file server and switch online. This gives me roughly 420 watts headroom in case I expand the server. I don't mind spending a little bit to get a good unit. It doesn't need to be able to run this a long time, only enough to trigger shutdowns on virtual machines and do a clean power off (roughly 3-5 minutes maximum). It would need to be 120v input and it is on its own breaker.
 
thideras said:
Does anyone know much about rackmounted UPS units? I really need to pick one up, but I'm not sure where to start, what brands are good, etc. I know that I need to handle around 1000w to keep my file server and switch online. This gives me roughly 420 watts headroom in case I expand the server. I don't mind spending a little bit to get a good unit. It doesn't need to be able to run this a long time, only enough to trigger shutdowns on virtual machines and do a clean power off (roughly 3-5 minutes maximum). It would need to be 120v input and it is on its own breaker.
Click to expand...

Funny thing is, I just had a project at work that kinda of went through this process (except the UPSs wouldn't accept their generator's input).

The client had about 10 Smart-UPSs from APC but that is obviously overkill for your needs.

Is there a certain number you had in mind for a budget? Like say ~$1,000?
I believe you get what you pay for, but I'm sure others will argue differently.

Take a look at this, and tell me what you think.
http://www.apc.com/products/resourc...dex.cfm?base_sku=SMT1500RM2U&total_watts=1000
 
My main concern is quality of the units, how long they will last, and how well they will integrate with my current servers. If that means spending a little bit more money to get quality units, that is fine. I'd like to keep it under 1k, but again, if there is enough reason to go beyond that, I could do it. I was also told that I should be running two different UPS units because I have dual power supplies on the server. Going with two smaller UPS's (1000w) seems like it would be the right spot.

Someone linked me to Dell UPS units and I have to say that I'm quite impressed with the price. That APC is pretty close in price, as well.
 
I can't comment on the DELL UPSs as I don't have any experience with them.

I would agree that you would need multiple UPSs, but only in the case that the power supplies have an active PFC, or if you just want the redundancy.

If you are willing to part with a couple bells and whistles and a little less headroom I would recommend this APC unit:
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SMC1500-2U&total_watts=900

Also, if you want to go with the redundancy option, it will cost more (of course, right?).
2x http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SMT750RM2U&total_watts=500

There's limited options when looking for a rack-mounted UPS (from APC at least) on the low end of the spectrum.
 
500w for a single unit is no where near enough, unfortunately. One server can pull more than that.
 
TheHutchTTU said:
I can't comment on the DELL UPSs as I don't have any experience with them.

I would agree that you would need multiple UPSs, but only in the case that the power supplies have an active PFC, or if you just want the redundancy.

If you are willing to part with a couple bells and whistles and a little less headroom I would recommend this APC unit:
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SMC1500-2U&total_watts=900

Also, if you want to go with the redundancy option, it will cost more (of course, right?).
2x http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SMT750RM2U&total_watts=500

There's limited options when looking for a rack-mounted UPS (from APC at least) on the low end of the spectrum.
Click to expand...

I bought my 2200VA sans batteries off ebay for $120. power button was stuck, easy fix. $80 for new batteries, solid UPS.

The problem with redundancy is where do you stop. Okay two UPS, two 20A+ circuits to the same panel on the wall. No longer redundant.
 
thideras said:
I finally decided to get Exchange working. I've had it installed for awhile, but it was not configured and was missing a lot of packages. Figured out what was broken and got everything configured. I didn't put a lot of time into getting it running, but I've been putting this off and it feels good to get it done. Depending on how much I want to tinker with it, I might to to get it accepting external mail by directing it through my web server. Anyone I send email to can't respond because the email addresses are invalid external domains (*@2k8domain.localdomain), so it is pretty useless short of internal email. I could use it for logs, though.

Server console with user listing
View attachment 121194

Outlook Web Access from my desktop system
View attachment 121195

Sending an email to my gmail account
View attachment 121196

Received :cool:
View attachment 121197

I had to increase this VM instance to 8gb (up from 4gb) and I may need to increase it again. I'm already at 55% memory usage. Not like I don't have memory or anything.
Click to expand...


I'm sure you know this but I thought I may as well mention it. Exchange servers will eat whatever memory you throw at it a lot like an SQL server.

EDIT: Good for instance. one of my clients lets say about 200 email accounts and fairly heavily used exchange server
 

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cw823 said:
I bought my 2200VA sans batteries off ebay for $120. power button was stuck, easy fix. $80 for new batteries, solid UPS.

The problem with redundancy is where do you stop. Okay two UPS, two 20A+ circuits to the same panel on the wall. No longer redundant.
Click to expand...

The panel has nothing to do with it. The whole point of the redundancy is to insure survivability if one UPS fails.

Anyways, I would get 2x http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SMC1500-2U&total_watts=900
 
cw823 said:
I bought my 2200VA sans batteries off ebay for $120. power button was stuck, easy fix. $80 for new batteries, solid UPS.

The problem with redundancy is where do you stop. Okay two UPS, two 20A+ circuits to the same panel on the wall. No longer redundant.
Click to expand...

Same panel isnt as big an issue as same circuit. You rarely will have 2 ACTIVE and separate feeds from the power Co. that are on different grids. Typically there is a switch between the two grids which the UPS handles. Even if you did a generator install, the UPS will still handle the switching delay while the generator spools up and comes online.

Thid,

The Dell UPS are rebranded APC or Cyberpower units. They are nice but you are cutting it close on a 1kva UPS simply due to load IMO.

Personally, I view UPS purchasing the same way I look at PSU purchasing. Buy quality, and buy the largest you can reasonably afford. It costs less if you dont have to buy another UPS when you decide to upgrade to a new FS, or DC, or whatever. The excess capability of the UPS in the interim will give you longer runtime to cleanly power down systems.

I have had less than 30seconds of runtime before, and even with SSDs, that is pushing it. I get my batteries from http://www.refurbups.com/ I have not had any issues with them in the 5+ years I have dealt with them and they have 10/10 on resellerratings.
 
thideras said:
Drives arrived.

seagate1.5_drives.JPG


This gives me a total of 49.526 tb of spinning disks.
Click to expand...



[root@freenas] ~# zpool iostat
capacity operations bandwidth
pool alloc free read write read write
---------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
ZFS-P1 20.5T 44.8T 35 225 4.43M 20.4M

[root@freenas] ~# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Capacity Mounted on
/dev/ufs/FreeNASs1a 926M 378M 473M 44% /
devfs 1.0k 1.0k 0B 100% /dev
/dev/md0 4.6M 3.2M 975k 77% /etc
/dev/md1 823k 2.0k 756k 0% /mnt
/dev/md2 149M 22M 115M 16% /var
/dev/ufs/FreeNASs4 19M 2.5M 15M 14% /data
ZFS-P1 48T 15T 32T 32% /mnt/ZFS-P1
/dev/md3 1.9G 412k 1.7G 0% /var/tmp/.cache
[root@freenas] ~#


Sounds like I need 12 more 2T drives so I can claim victory. Is that number for a single array or combined storage? lol
 
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