Won't these 2Us make for good, inexpensive, Unraid machines?

[jang430]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SuperMicro-2U-server-2X-Dual-Core-AMD-Opteron-Pro-275-2-2GHZ-8BAY-SATA-4GB-DDR2-/321134266596?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item4ac51808e4

 

I'd like to do virtualization of an unraid server.  My ideal setup would be 4 or 6 core server.  I want to have the following functions:

 

1. Xen to virtualize all

2. XBMC to LCD TV1 (HDMI)

3. XBMC to LCD TV2 (HDMI)

4. XBMC to LCD TV3 (HDMI)

5. Windows desktop (monitor)

 

Whenever possible, a firewall as well.

 

I've seen this thread http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=28931.0 by ironicbadger and was very impressed.  I'm from outside US, and have limited options on the hardware being used in his setup.  Furthermore, to buy each component separately will be more costly.  It got me thinking, if I can purchase these old servers at under 200 usd, with sas controllers, dual power supply, motherboard and processor that fully supports XEN, wouldn't this be a cheap way to start virtualizing unraid?  I'd spend the extra savings on getting new drives, and increase memory.  I don't see many of these threads around.  I was wondering why. 

 

My question is does this even make sense to use these hardware for unraid?  Can the noise be trimmed to to a minimum?  Or will I be spending a lot for changing fans?  Of course, this assumes that I'm lucky, and getting the hardware from reputable sellers online, and not getting a lemon. 

 

What do you think?

[RyC]

That computer looks ancient. If it can even run Xen, it will not do passthrough...

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[meep]

Also, it has pci-x slots only so likely  won't fit your needs for multiple tv-capable gpus.

 

Unless you're planning on replacing the motherboard?

 

 

[jang430]

As for the looks, you are correct, they don't exactly standout.  Though that don't bother me too much.  As for the pci-x slots, you are right.  These servers won't work.  But there are those that might, such as http://www.ebay.com/itm/2U-Supermicro-X7DBE-2x-Intel-Quad-Core-E5310-1-6Ghz-16GB-12-bays-SAS-SATA-SIMLC-/131179712977?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item1e8aeb91d1

 

When it comes to PCI-e, this particular example comes with 2 (x8) & 1 (x4) PCI-Express. 

 

Price for these servers are relatively cheap.  They come with all the drive bays I can possibly need.  Some come with redundant power supply.  As for passthrough of VGA, USB, etc, I think they have higher chances "making it," since they are server builds.

 

I don't know how to silence them though.  Anyway, just want to know more of what you guys think.

[SSD]

As for the looks, you are correct, they don't exactly standout.  Though that don't bother me too much.  As for the pci-x slots, you are right.  These servers won't work.  But there are those that might, such as http://www.ebay.com/itm/2U-Supermicro-X7DBE-2x-Intel-Quad-Core-E5310-1-6Ghz-16GB-12-bays-SAS-SATA-SIMLC-/131179712977?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item1e8aeb91d1

 

When it comes to PCI-e, this particular example comes with 2 (x8) & 1 (x4) PCI-Express. 

 

Price for these servers are relatively cheap.  They come with all the drive bays I can possibly need.  Some come with redundant power supply.  As for passthrough of VGA, USB, etc, I think they have higher chances "making it," since they are server builds.

 

I don't know how to silence them though.  Anyway, just want to know more of what you guys think.

 

Looks like a deal! 12 removable drive bays, dual CPUs, 16G RAM. You would need to add a controller.

 

(Not endorsing this - do your homework, but I do think it sounds promising!)

[jang430]

Hello bjp999,

 

Correct, need a controller.  It's not exactly that unit that I'm looking at.  Overall, all I'm saying is ebay servers seems to be a steal to start an unraid server.  A lot of them come with controllers, processors, memory.  All that is needed are hard drives.

 

Anyone still think this is a good way to begin unraid?

[vl1969]

it is a good way to begin unRaid unless you need/want to go a bit further and do virtualization. not all of this hardware supports VT-d/IOMMU as it more often then none are older models. even when it lists virtualization support in specs, there is no guaranty that it will do so properly. (I got the similar server from TAMs to prove it)

but for basic setup and some limited virtualization using unRaid v6 they are very good.

 

as of v6 you can use unRaid as Dom0(HOST) system. so no need for full vm support and hardware passthorugh to run a protected file server(unraid as host)

and some light VMs to add functionality  that currently added as plug ins.

things like Plex, torrents, subnzb,coach potato,sick beard, firewall/router , web sharing and owncloud  etc.

when using Xen, any and all of this functionality do not need full hardware vm support if any. you can even run windows VM to some extent as long as you don't need to much graphic power.

so yeah, this is a good starting system.

 

also the case alone is worth the money

 

[jang430]

Thanks vl1969. I totally agree. I'm surprised though since I thought hardware passthrough has been around for years under xen. And these servers that I usually see are around 3 years old. I thought they will have it already. Though I feel it's a steal at those prices,  I wonder why not a lot has shown interest.

 

Sent from my HTC One dual sim using Tapatalk

 

 

[vl1969]

I agree too. but unfortunately, that's not how it works in real life.

you need to have a 100% IOMMU supporting hardware and a lot of manufacturing totally screwed up the support for that.

I mean, you have MB that list VM support but it's all broken to the point that it can not be used. you have CPUs that in general should support the extensions but apparently might not supported if the model differs by only single character. and you  do not know that until you actually build the whole thing and try to use it.

 

 

 

[jang430]

Thanks vl1969. I guess best way is to follow existing builds.  And since I'm from outside US,  it's difficult to do trial and error since I cannot return items that aren't functioning.

 

Sent from my HTC One dual sim using Tapatalk

 

 

[graywolf]

Being Servers, be aware that the fans and psu will be very LOUD.

 

If you have a basement/garage to keep it in where the noise will not be an issue, you should be good.

 

Otherwise you may want to look at replacing the psu and fans with quieter ones.

 

Here is a link that showed how to make one of the TAMS servers quieter. It might give you some ideas

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1412640/are-you-looking-for-a-less-expensive-norco-4220-4224-alternative

 

[vl1969]

as we are on the subject , check out my sig as well. I did some modding on my TAMS server.

[jang430]

Thanks graywolf and vl1969. Will check it out

 

Sent from my HTC One dual sim using Tapatalk

 

 

[mike1061]

This looks great to me. A pretty cheep way to get started, without having to design the whole project. Am I wrong too? The OP model is no longer avliable but this guy has lots of them, so would any of these work for a basic Un-raid system? I just want watch videos and listen to music stored on this server. One person not several people watching different things at t he same time. No virtualization.

The things I care about are the ability for the drives to power down when not in use. Also speed when transfering files, checking files and re-building the array after a new drive is added.

These are some he has right now.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2U-Rackable-Quiet-Server-2x-Intel-Xeon-E5430-Quad-Core-16GB-RAM-4-Bay-S5000PSL-/151296067305?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item2339f2c6e9

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2U-Rackable-Server-S5000PSL-2x-Intel-Xeon-E5430-32GB-RAM-SATA-Hard-Drive-Bay-/141278905271?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item20e4e103b7

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2U-Supermicro-X7DBE-2xIntel-Quad-Core-E5420-2-5Ghz-16GB-12-bays-SAS-w-Rail-KIT-/131186612880?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item1e8b54da90

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2U-Supermicro-CSE-826TQ-R800LPB-SuperChassis-12bays-SAS-SATA-w-800W-PW-/151301351711?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item233a43691f

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2U-Supermicro-X7DBN-2x-Intel-Quad-Core-E5310-1-6Ghz-16GB-12-bays-SAS-w-Rail-KIT-/141285442624?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item20e544c440

 

Thanks

MIke

[StevenD]

This looks great to me. A pretty cheep way to get started, without having to design the whole project. Am I wrong too? The OP model is no longer avliable but this guy has lots of them, so would any of these work for a basic Un-raid system? I just want watch videos and listen to music stored on this server. One person not several people watching different things at t he same time. No virtualization.

The things I care about are the ability for the drives to power down when not in use. Also speed when transfering files, checking files and re-building the array after a new drive is added.

These are some he has right now.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2U-Rackable-Quiet-Server-2x-Intel-Xeon-E5430-Quad-Core-16GB-RAM-4-Bay-S5000PSL-/151296067305?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item2339f2c6e9

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2U-Rackable-Server-S5000PSL-2x-Intel-Xeon-E5430-32GB-RAM-SATA-Hard-Drive-Bay-/141278905271?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item20e4e103b7

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2U-Supermicro-X7DBE-2xIntel-Quad-Core-E5420-2-5Ghz-16GB-12-bays-SAS-w-Rail-KIT-/131186612880?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item1e8b54da90

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2U-Supermicro-CSE-826TQ-R800LPB-SuperChassis-12bays-SAS-SATA-w-800W-PW-/151301351711?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item233a43691f

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2U-Supermicro-X7DBN-2x-Intel-Quad-Core-E5310-1-6Ghz-16GB-12-bays-SAS-w-Rail-KIT-/141285442624?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item20e544c440

 

Thanks

MIke

 

I have a few of the 826-TQ-R800LPB chassis.  They are awesome!

 

Just a word of caution... these are "older" chassis.  In order to fit current motherboards, with multiple NIC ports, etc, you may need to do a little metal trimming.

[jang430]

My thoughts exactly.  As of the moment, I don't use the unraid for storage of important files.  Mostly downloaded videos, music, TV.  As for file transfer speeds, since I have unraid, and use the plugins to download content, I seldom have to move data in our out.  Only thing happening with the unraid is to serve media.  I currently use Core 2 Duo processor.  It can stream to 2 iPads using Plex, and stream to my XBMC PC (windows 7) without a problem.  I believe any Xeon processor will be more than enough to do the same job, better if dual Xeon processor :-)

 

As for the chassis, there are plenty of deals around, and I think you found a very good deal here.  Silent, and small.  Usually these servers come with redundant power supplies, or optional.  If drives are new, you can sleep soundly at night.

 

The particular deal mike1061 pointed out looks like Xen compatible, and silent even, so it should suit households.  I wonder how silent is silent.  Since I'm spending so low on the chassis, MB and processor, I don't want to end up spending more into silencing the device.

 

Just thought of sharing that these are good equipment to start building unraid.

 

BTW, as a bonus, since mostly are server boards, IPMI is built-in.  Remote management won't be a problem :-)

[mike1061]

I have a few of the 826-TQ-R800LPB chassis.  They are awesome!

 

Just a word of caution... these are "older" chassis.  In order to fit current motherboards, with multiple NIC ports, etc, you may need to do a little metal trimming.

 

Thanks for the reply.

Why would you need "multiple NIC ports" I goolged the the term and found it was a card for connecting to a network. Why would you need more than one? The trimming would be on the back plane?

Thanks

Mike

 

[mike1061]

The particular deal mike1061 pointed out looks like Xen compatible, and silent even, so it should suit households.  I wonder how silent is silent.  Since I'm spending so low on the chassis, MB and processor, I don't want to end up spending more into silencing the device.

 

 

BTW, as a bonus, since mostly are server boards, IPMI is built-in.  Remote management won't be a problem :-)

 

The Xen part is where I could run Windows on the same computer if I needed? I never herd that term either so I googled it too.

I don't mind spending a little on quiter fans if I needed. But I don't think I want to re-engiener the whole thing.

I had no idea what IPMI was, so I googled that too. I have to say it looked intresting.

Thanks

Mike

 

[jang430]

Hello Mike,

 

I don't claim to be an expert in that field either (XEN-virtualization).  But I've read some pretty cool setups here that make me want to push my unraid box to the limit, in case I can afford to get it set up. 

 

It may be interesting for you to know that with a Xen capable server, you can virtualize the machine.  e.g. You can create a very long cable (VGA and USB) connected from your bedroom to your unraid server in the basement.  This will allow you to have a Windows gaming VM (virtual machine) in your bedroom.  You can also have another XBMC VM connected to your living room TV, also using another long cable (hdmi) and control XBMC via android or IOS.  Another Linux vm can do other things, and of course, another VM doing unraid, and serves video via Plex to iPad.

 

Imagine the possibilities :-)

 

Having all these functions on the same box is really a dream.

[mike1061]

That's funny. I don't know what virtualization is, and I'm not sure I care. I'll google it tonight. All those possabilities don't intrest me. I'd be so happy, if all my music was in one place, it's not funny. And to have a raid system, woo hoo.

I'd be a happy man. I think I'm going to get one of the boxes, and get started.

Thanks

MIke

 

[kal]

hah, thats how it starts