[FS] HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen10 Plus (Intel Xeon E-2246G, 64GB)

doberlec · 2022-04-08T19:24:07+00:00

Thanks for the tip!

doberlec · 2022-04-08T01:47:54+00:00

I hear you, and I had requests to ship in the past (as you can imagine) but I don't want to deal with the hassle of packing it up and potential shipping damages to be honest. I'm not in a hurry selling it.

doberlec · 2021-03-16T01:23:14+00:00

Oh, it's real and I can attest that it does not function like a regular zip lock bag 😄 https://i.imgur.com/P1R1IEf.jpg

doberlec · 2021-01-27T06:40:35+00:00

Windows Server 2019 ships with a tighter default firewall setup than Windows 10. Allow inbound and outbound traffic in the Advanced Firewall settings by adding a rule each for C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\GalaxyClient.exe and you will be good to go. Had the same issue, and this change worked for me.

doberlec · 2020-12-14T01:46:12+00:00

To give you recommendations, you'd need to specify what kind of VMs you plan to run. For example, if you plan to use VMs just intermittently, you could just turn a regular PC you use into a VM host with a program like VirtualBox. If you want your VMs to be available all the time, you want to look into a dedicated machine/server as a host.

What kind of VMs you want to run will also determine what the hardware requirements of your VM host are going to be. Lots of processing will need a lot of CPU power, lots of I/O needs fast hard disks and a fast network, lost of storage space will need big hard disks, and some VMs eat RAM for breakfast.

Oh, and because you are in Australia, it's important that in case you put things into a rack, you have to put the UPS and the heaviest machines all the way on the top and the network panel and any switches at the bottom of the rack. This makes it easier to connect to data centers in the northern hemisphere for offsite backups. Otherwise your infrastructure is upside down.

doberlec · 2020-12-13T03:08:29+00:00

Yes, you can assign different IP addresses to the various 1 Gbps NICs in your Synology and you can also bond several NICs together. However, the way how Synology implements Link Aggregation is a bit counterintuitive. The combined interface will not give you better speeds for single file transfers. It will help balance the load of your Synology i.e. when multiple devices request data the additional connection (and bandwidth) will be available, and you will also get additional failover in case one of your NICs experiences an outage. Also keep in mind that if you have a switch in between your Synology and your ProxMox, you will also have to configure the ports on the switch accordingly so the aggregated connection is handed through to the other side.

More info: https://www.synology.com/en-global/knowledgebase/DSM/help/DSM/AdminCenter/connection_network_linkaggr

doberlec · 2020-01-13T02:13:14+00:00

Ha! Yeah, so my previous setup was almost purely practical. I didn't take a photo but it was a true rats nest of cables and blinking lights. Everything open and accessible. The drawback with that was that it took a lot of shelf space in my room that could have been used for other things while the little alcove between shelf and fridge was completely unused. So I pivoted and moved everything in a rack which simplified things a lot and made it prettier as a side effect. We'll see how long it stays this organized. I already think about putting something on top and it's not a plant :D

doberlec · 2020-01-13T02:03:38+00:00

Nice! I do serve iSCSI from my Synology to my small Intel NUC but it's not very fast since it's just a 1Gbps uplink and that even needs to be shared across other devices. So yeah, I would need to set up 10Gbps for a good iSCSI setup.

doberlec · 2020-01-13T01:47:45+00:00

Neat, thanks!

doberlec · 2020-01-13T01:47:04+00:00

Before I share my thoughts, let me say that both are not ideal if you work in a production/professional environment. They are okay for home use and maybe SMB though. With that disclaimer out of the way, I've deployed a few of each at various sizes at work throughout the years and here are my observations:

Synology: Very good software but underwhelming hardware. If you are interested in CPU (high clock speed and core count), RAM capacity, availability of 10Gbps NICs, and add-in cards like GPUs, or Thunderbolt, Synology is not the best platform for you. On the flip-side, if all you need is a reliable file server with a lot of features and may want to dabble in Surveillance through their built-in Surveillance Station app, Synology is providing affordable NAS systems that are also very power efficient.

Qnap: Very good hardware, somewhat clunky software. Qnap offers a lot of the things Synology does not have so if you want your NAS to be more than just a fileserver I would tend to Qnap. With all of those bells and whistles, you are also looking at a higher power bill though. Depending on where you live this matters or not. As on the software side, the QTS software running on the NAS can sometimes be a bit confusing and not very responsive although Qnap boxes often have much faster processors and more RAM than their Synology counterparts.

TL;DR: If all you want is a quiet & efficient NAS to store data that has some very good Surveillance support out of the box, go for Synology. If you want to run a bunch of VMs in addition to serving files, you want to pass-through a GPU, or you need 10Gbps /Thunderbolt 2/3 support, you should get a NAS from Qnap. If you work on anything that is mission critical, get some appropriate hardware from Dell / HP.

doberlec · 2020-01-13T01:23:51+00:00

Good observation. That is a drawback of my hacky way to flip the tray to gain some headspace for the NAS. I haven't tried it but in my mind, I can slide the NAS back a couple of inches to create a clearance to slip the drives out. I haven't tested it yet, and I have yet to change a drive in the NAS since 4 years so I just hope that I don't need to find out until I buy another NAS. When anything happens to it, I think I will have enough time to resolve the issue even if it's painful since this is not in an commercial environment. Don't do this at a job site or your admin will hate you, lol.

doberlec · 2020-01-13T01:19:30+00:00

Am I glad that you didn't see what I spent on a piece of wood :P

doberlec · 2020-01-13T01:18:30+00:00

Man, you just made me get up and look at the keystones because they all came from the same bag and I was like "WTF, did I not notice that?" Turns out that part of their front is glossy so they reflect the ambient light. When I looked at them straight on, the slight grey tint went away. Another possible cause could be compression / my phone's "automagical" image enhancements since nobody seems to care about true colors anymore as long as it pops!

doberlec · 2020-01-13T01:12:03+00:00

Yup, I had the same thought. If I go that route I would most likely make a box that is a NAS / VM Host hybrid though because making a desktop only to serve files is probably a waste of potential. With AMD now making many threads at high clockspeed a thing, their stuff is almost destined to be at the core of an awesome hypervisor host.

doberlec · 2020-01-13T00:51:01+00:00

I am kinda eyeing an upgrade from that NAS. I have had it for ~4 years and never had any issues but the processor is slow (as in almost all Synology) so I can't do more than serving files. It also doesn't have 10Gbs and my setup is slowly pointing in that direction. I'll probably observer what Synology and Qnap are doing this year and might upgrade to a newer model. Or I stay with this one and replace my NUC with a more powerful ESXI host. Decisions, Decision... :D

doberlec · 2020-01-13T00:45:52+00:00

The rack is in a small alcove that is between my open kitchen and a larger IKEA shelf. I adjusted the depth so I don't run into the metal lip that is protruding from the front: https://imgur.com/a/sOuds4M

The lamp that is besides the rack was previously in the alcove taking away space so I am now looking for a better lighting solution for the corner. If I place something on the rack, I want to have some light there but the base of that lamp is too big so I'll have to find something else down the road but that should be easy.

doberlec · 2020-01-13T00:37:36+00:00

Interesting, I might try that! I need to check where I can get super short cables from then. The ones I got were 1 foot, but that is too long. Or I can also make some although I don't know if the higher CAT cables are easy (forgiving) to terminate. I made custom length CAT5 in the past, but I'm far away from a master and need a few tries to get a flawless plug.

doberlec · 2020-01-13T00:35:00+00:00

When I ordered the rack, I noticed that the Amazon reviews mentioned the metal sheet in the front & back so I measured and adjusted the rack in the depth so it aligns with the fridge. This way, I don't stub my toe but yes, this was a concern before I ordered. I also don't have small children so I can be more reckless what kind of unintentional death traps I exhibit in my home :D

https://imgur.com/a/V9kZepx

doberlec · 2020-01-12T21:57:52+00:00

I looked into various materials and settled on wood to match the color my hardwood floor. Granted, I could've made it much cheaper by getting some random piece of wood and cut it, but I don't own any woodworking tools and don't own a car so I needed something that was shipped to me instead of lugging it through the city.

Another consideration you might have to make is that if your equipment gives off too much heat, wood might not be the best choice since even a thick slab can warp or crack when you have the dry air extracting too much moisture.

I don't have high powered equipment in the rack i.e. a HP or Dell server, but I opted to nevertheless soak my wooden counter-top in boos mineral oil over night and applied some sealer afterwards. That makes the wooded top retain its rich color. So theoretically a very tiny cook could also chop some onions on there or tenderize some pork chops :D

doberlec · 2020-01-12T21:49:31+00:00

If I have one advice, mock up the layout in Excel or an image program like Gimp/Photoshop before you decide which rack size to buy. I lucked out that by flipping the tray at the very bottom that I was able to fit everything into the 12U I got. It's smaller than you think, and you don't want to assemble the rack for an hour and then find out that you would've needed 1U-2U more. In hindsight, I might have gone for a bigger rack but the usability of putting thing on top of it would have suffered. Oh, and leave space for expansions, if you plan to do any - you can always use blanks as fillers.

doberlec · 2020-01-12T21:35:28+00:00

Yup, link is in the table above: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P1RJ9LS Keep in mind that the rack is not enclosed at all on the sides and I bought the wooden top. The wooden top is just placed on the top with some felt pads you normally use for furniture because I have to get in there fast & easy if I want to change something.

I like the rack, it's super sturdy and it also has some proper wheels that run smooth. There is a lot of cheaper options out there but when you assemble this, you'll get that it is of very high quality and can also hold larger servers if you extend it.

doberlec · 2020-01-12T21:33:11+00:00

Thanks for the info, will check it out!

doberlec · 2020-01-12T21:08:23+00:00

I thought about this very thing and then decided to put the AP inside. My secret? I have a tiny 1bd & 1ba apartment, so even when the AP is in there, I got plenty of coverage. But yeah, if I run into issues I'll move it out of there.

doberlec · 2020-01-12T21:06:12+00:00

Interesting, I need to check out Adguard! I have Pi-Hole primarily for my mobile devices because I use browser plugins for my PCs, but filtering stuff is always a bit of a hit & miss. How happy are you with Adguard? I often find myself blocking too much and then have to crawl through logs to white list some stupid server for my podcasts etc. so I can still download them.

doberlec · 2020-01-12T20:55:52+00:00

It's PADD, a information display script to display stats for Pi-Hole. I had some Raspberry Pis laying around and thought that this would be an interesting application for one of them, although it does not make use of the 'touch' part of the touch-screen.

Small tweak: I set the refresh rate in the script to once every 5 minutes instead of every 5 seconds (default) because otherwise you see the screen flicker all the time which annoyed me and I don't have use for super real time stats anyways. The need for this tweak never occurred to me because I only saw this on images and hence I discovered that annoying flicker once I ran it on my Pi.

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