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Project: Rackmount Overkill

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Automata

Destroyer of Empires and Use
Joined
May 15, 2006
I've recently (thanks to Ben333) found the niche that I love: Servers. He has been bugging me about this Dell PowerEdge he has and while I really wanted it, I didn't want to go through the hassle of getting it and getting it setup. But, the pictures got to me, I wanted the server badly, there was no way I couldn't get it without it bothering me, the price was too good. Once I knew the server was coming, I started looking at racks and everything that I can put in one. All my switches are rack mountable and UPS's will either be rack mounted (I'll have to pick them up) or I'll sit them on a shelf in the rack.

That is just the beginning. This will be a log that is updated when anything changes. I'm not sure how often the updates will be, but there is going to be a ton.

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This post updated on February 21, 2014

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Equipment list:

  • Dell PowerConnect 5224
  • Brocade 200e Fiber Switch
  • Rackable Systems Omnistor SAS expander
  • Dell PowerEdge R710 "Lucid"
  • Dell PowerEdge R710 "AWK"
  • 2x 1kw Dell UPS
Retired equipment:

  • Two Custom Yonah servers (Retired 1/28/2012)
  • Two Compaq DL360 servers (Retired 02/11/2012)
  • Dell Poweredge 2550 (Retired 02/11/2012)
  • Sencore P3 server (Retired 02/11/2012)
  • 2x IBM x3650
  • Compaq R3000 UPS (dead batteries, untested)
  • 2x Dell PowerEdge 2650
  • Custom built file server


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Current detailed equipment list:


Dell Poweredge R710 - "AWK"
--CPU: 2x E5645 2.4 GHz 6 core
--RAM: 288 GB
--HDD: 8x 300 GB 10k Savvio SAS
--RAID: H700
--OS: XenServer

Dell Poweredge R710 - "Lucid"
--CPU: 2x E5645 2.4 GHz 6 core
--RAM: 128 GB
--HDD: 8x 300 GB 10k Savvio SAS, 6x 3 TB WD Red, 9x 2 TB Hitachi
----Expander: Rackables OmniStor
--RAID: H700, IBM M1015
--OS: XenServer

Switch:
--Dell PowerConnect 5224

UPS:
--2x 1kw Dell UPS



Retired hardware:
Dell PowerEdge 2650 (Icinga/Database server) - "Perl"
--CPU: 2x 2.4 GHz Pentium 4
--RAM: 6 gb
--HDD: 4x 76 gb 10k SCSI in RAID 10
--OS: CentOS 6.0

Dell PowerEdge 2650 - "Java"
--CPU 2x 2.2 GHz Pentium 4
--RAM: 6 gb
--HDD: 5x 36 gb 10k SCSI in RAID 5
--OS: CentOS 6.0

File server - "Ruby"
--CPU: 2x AMD Opteron 6134 Magny-Cours 2.3GHz Socket G34
--MB: ASUS KGPE-D16
--MEM: 256 gb Samsung
--HDD:
------3x 30 gb Seagate Cheetah 10K SAS
------9x 2 tb Hitachi
------7x 1 tb Hitachi
--Raid controller: Intel SRCSASBB8I (Actually a LSI 8708EM2)
--PSU: Corsair HX620
--Case: Norco 4020
--OS: CentOS 6.0

IBM x3650 - "Fortran"
--CPU: 2x Xeon 5430
--RAM: 8gb
--HDD: 4x 73gb 10k RPM SAS
--PSU: 2x 850w hot swap

IBM x3650 - "Cobol"
--CPU: 2x Xeon 5430
--RAM: 8gb
--HDD: 4x 73gb 10k RPM SAS
--PSU: 2x 850w hot swap

UPS:
--Compaq R3000
--3u design
 
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Table of contents
Updated September 26, 2013 (Page 77)

Pictures:

Servers in the rack, with cabling (Posted April 24, 2013)
Desktop with laptop wired up (Posted August 15, 2013)

Servers:

Dell Poweredge R710 (AWK):


Dell Poweredge R710 (Lucid):


Dell Poweredge R510 (SED):


File server


Compaq DL360


Dell PowerEdge 2550


7u Unbranded (Sencore TSS3030)

Dell PowerEdge 2650

Dual socket Yonah servers

IBM x3650

Norco 470





Switches/routers/firewalls:

Firewall/router

Dell PowerConnect 5224

Brocade 4 GB fiber switch



Power management:

Compaq R3000


RAID controllers/hard drives:

Perc 5/i

LSI 8708EM2 and SAS expander


Hard drives

Rackables OmniStor





Operating systems/File systems/Programs/Scripts/Virtual Machines/Software


Server racks
Problems

Planning

Good information from others

 
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Glad you like it, you have the second best one :santa:

A quad seems kinda overkill for a file server, then again mine has two Opteron 2.0s though hehe. Think a faster CPU would help your smoothwall?
 
Dell server:

This was picked up off Ben333 (Thanks!) here on OCF. It will be used as a web server and anything else that I can cram into it that will not require fast processors or a ton of storage.

Outside shot:
dell_server_closed.jpg







Opened shot:
dell_server_open.jpg







Internal shot:
dell_server_front.jpg







Close-up, right side:
dell_server_right.jpg







Close-up, left side:
dell_server_left.jpg







Front, without grill:
dell_server_front_low.jpg







Front, with grill:
dell_server_front_guard.jpg
 
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T,
just fyi your "close up, right side" and "close up, left side" are the same pic.... as well your "opened shot" and "internal shot" are the same...
 
Fixed the pictures, not sure what happened there.
 
For the file server? I'd like to add my second Perc 5/i and more drives. Anything else after that, not really.
 
Quite a beast. Any idea how much juice that thing pulls running 24/7?
No idea, I'll have to figure that out. The disks will spin down after usage though and I do fold; so it is going to be hard to predict.
 
So you basically just bought it for a case? Or will you be using the stock P3's?
I am and will be using the hardware in it, no need to replace the hardware when it is perfectly capable of its job; that is teach me about webservers and just to have one for fun.
 
I am and will be using the hardware in it, no need to replace the hardware when it is perfectly capable of its job; that is teach me about webservers and just to have one for fun.

Sounds like a fun project. Do you really need special hardware like that to make webservers work right?
 
Sounds like a fun project. Do you really need special hardware like that to make webservers work right?
Nope, no special hardware needed. The main reason for me not wanting it on my file server (even though it is way more than capable) was to offload "downtime" from that server to this one. My file server is constantly changing. I run a Teamspeak server for a friend on our server and I have to let him know everytime that I need to work on my server. That bothers me. SO, as said below, this was a cheap fix; it allows them to keep using a server and it allows me to work on my own projects while learning about webservers. I also wanted to go linux for the webserver, and that is difficult with an already purchased copy of Windwos 2003; don't want it to just sit there.

No, but when the stuff is going for cheap in the classies, im sure its hard to resist
 
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