Server Build

Like most people who do tech shit, I have random computers, servers, “machines” - that I use to mess around with. Typical shit like raspberryPi’s, intel nuc’s, old random tech. I’m also lazy and have a Synology 2 drive nas.

TLDR - pcpartpicker list

old setup

My old setup was a combo of raspberryPi’s clusters running k3s and an intel nuc. The rPi cluster ran whatever random stuff to use on k8s and the nuc was just a giant docker host with the nas connected. This was all cool until one day I wanted to run something that used MongoDB(gross), but more accurately, it needed a specific instruction set from the CPU to do that. The nas and nuc both have celerons which didn’t have that. So, we build.

new server

I thought about buying a newer intel nuc with at least an i5 or something but what makes them great is also what makes them suck. If I ever wanted more ram, different CPU, shit a GPU, gotta buy something else.

what do we want in a home server?

Requirements were:

1. Smallish form factor. I have a 18u rack and not a lot of space. Ideally 2u server chassis and a short depth.
2. Low(Mid?) power consumption. Don’t want to hear fans blasting nonstop.
3. Extendability, within reason given a 2u rack mount.

cpu

AMD, 12 cores, 24 threads - can’t complain. Power usage pretty decent. Downside is no integrated GPU. Also really cheap. Long path of figuring out why it wanted to run at 85C+ here

motherboard

Mirco-ATX boards are weird and sometimes difficult to find everything you’d want but this seemed pretty good for the price and form factor. Basically needed enough ports and space for nvme ssd, 4 DDR sticks, a fully PCIe 16, and a few other PCIE if needed to add storage or nic. Ideally, storage can be all handled with direct connections. Future upgrade will be to get 4 14-20TB drives and put them in a ZFS partition in raid10 to then expose with NFS moving the main storage off of the synology.

memory

More is better. May grab another just to max it out. 64GB is working fine and IDK that id ever need 128GB, but 56.99 is cheap.

storage

Current: 1 TB SSD for Host OS and VM’s. No need for more or upgrades, works fine. Everything in VM outside guest os running K3s or whatever is all on the synology NFS via direct mount pass through in k8s or PVC via nfs-csi

Future: 4 14-20TB drives in ZFS Raid10 exposed via NFS from host machine.

power

Good PSU. Fan only kicks on above specific wattage so noise is nice.

case

Wanted 2U since thats about what i have room for in rack. Getting synolgy out of it will make more room. It’s tight, but can fit everything and 4 drives.

gpu

Since we dont have an integrated GPU, I went for this one. Mostly because I could goto microcenter and get it right away but also because it fits.

Downsides to this GPU is it doesnt support NVENC but does do NVDEC. As of right now, encoding/decoding dont seem to be an issue but if it becomes one ill have to upgrade. The likely candidate is Nvidia 3050 LP which will bump power usage and will make a tigther fit in the case but i think its about as good as it can be.

extras

Always spend more on case fans and cpu fans. Noise on these things is nonexistent.

Parts List

This all gathered on pcpartpicker. Not the most amazing setup but it does a decent job of satisfying what I wanted it to do.

Links

1. Intel Celeron J4005
2. MongoDB discussion for version 4.4+