[olug] OT: Looking for server hardware

Obi-Wan obiwan at jedi.com
Sun Aug 24 08:07:29 CDT 2014


That's absolutely true.  Server class machines were made to live in a server room where cooling is more important than noise.  The fans are unbelievably loud and the machines use crazy amounts of electricity.  I'd rather buy a new, efficient computer than use a free DL380 because the total cost of ownership is higher for the latter over two years.  Also remember that replacement parts are crazy expensive compared to consumer-grade hardware.

For context, I was the primary linux sysadmin for the Bryan hospital system in Lincoln for several years.  I have a full-height rack in my basement at home, and I've brought home many free servers after the hospital decommissioned them.  I finally gave up that nonsense and got rid of all my old dinosaurs.  My last server purchase was a tiny rackmount box that's fanless, runs an Atom CPU and SSD drives, and costs almost nothing to operate.  From a shell prompt, it's indistinguishable from the big servers, but it's a lot cheaper to operate and more pleasant to sit near.

On August 24, 2014 7:03:00 AM CDT, Greg Gerke <ggerke at gmail.com> wrote:
>Something you might want to keep in mind is that server class hardware
>tends to use more electricity and is much noisier than a
>desktop/laptop. If
>you're looking for the server class experience perhaps run a few CentOS
>virtual servers on a desktop...?


-- 
Ben "Obi-Wan" Hollingsworth, www.Jedi.com


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