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New Server -- Megatron


securitybreach

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securitybreach

So I managed to acquire a new server that is quite impressive

 

2x Quad core Intel Xeon E5620s (12M Cache, 2.40 GHz, 5.86 GT/s InteI) with liquid cooling

96 GB (12x8 GB) DDR3-1333 ECC Registered RAM 2-CPU

2x NVIDIA GF100GL [Quadro 5000] 4gb a piece

Intel 5520 chipset

1110 watts 89% efficient power supply with Liquid cooling solution (LCS)

3x HP EF0300FATFD 300GB 15K SAS 3.5" Drives in a RAID array (2+1 in a host RAID controller)

14 sata ports

 

Here is a pic of the motherboard blank with nothing installed (so you can see ports and layout):

 

board_large.jpg

 

Case open:

 

fVIvoGF.jpg

 

Inside with the tool-less design pieces back on:

 

m7lfYPr.jpg

 

Back view (yes, that is two ethernet ports and a large radiator for the water cooling: http://i.imgur.com/iPCDP27.jpg%20

 

Front view: http://i.imgur.com/q4BiRae.jpg%20

 

Side with key lock option: http://i.imgur.com/c1vfFGD.jpg

 

I decided to install Debian on the server as I do not plan on rebooting very much and I figured I would take it easy as far as non-rolling:

 

a9bYTKw.png

 

Htop showing all the ram and the 16 cores:

 

7Qeevlz.png

 

Full hardware list:

 

yGcFQBx.png

 

In case, you are wondering what I am going to do with this beast, I plan on trying to learn some dev ops, docker and lots of KVM virtual machines. Also, I am running this headless as I do not even a graphical display with a server (even though it does have dual high end video cards). I may even do some bitcoin mining..

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securitybreach

I wish I had the money to build something like this. Maxed out it cost about 15k and even the base model refurbs go for a few thousand. Mine is maxed out as far as what you can buy prebuilt besides the ram, (it can hold 192gb of ram if you have 12x 16gb sticks). And of course, the 14 harddrives that you could install.

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Yeah, it's a beast. It takes about 5 minutes to get to the bios splash (a bunch of checks that server boards do) and weighs about 85 lbs. It's basically a server in desktop format instead of blades.

 

I thought my main desktop was over the top with an i7, 32gb of ram and 14.9tb but having 96gb of ram is insane..

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One thing I am not crazy about is the fact that you cannot disable the RAID on the sas drive slots as the RAID controller is built in the motherboard. When I got it, I planned on wiping all three drives but after lots of troubleshooting (and aggravation), I figured out that you have to use RAID on the drives in the slot

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securitybreach

One thing I am not crazy about is the fact that you cannot disable the RAID on the sas drive slots as the RAID controller is built in the motherboard. When I got it, I planned on wiping all three drives but after lots of troubleshooting (and aggravation), I figured out that you have to use RAID on the drives in the slot

 

Actually I could bypass the RAID controller but I would have to use on of the sata ports on the motherboard instead of the nice, hotswap bays the case has built in.

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One thing I am not crazy about is the fact that you cannot disable the RAID on the sas drive slots as the RAID controller is built in the motherboard. When I got it, I planned on wiping all three drives but after lots of troubleshooting (and aggravation), I figured out that you have to use RAID on the drives in the slot

 

Actually I could bypass the RAID controller but I would have to use on of the sata ports on the motherboard instead of the nice, hotswap bays the case has built in.

Doesn't that seem a bit crazy and a waste. The hot swap bays are all part of the RAID?!

What if you want to swap out disks for some reason, won't that break the RAID?

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securitybreach

One thing I am not crazy about is the fact that you cannot disable the RAID on the sas drive slots as the RAID controller is built in the motherboard. When I got it, I planned on wiping all three drives but after lots of troubleshooting (and aggravation), I figured out that you have to use RAID on the drives in the slot

 

Actually I could bypass the RAID controller but I would have to use on of the sata ports on the motherboard instead of the nice, hotswap bays the case has built in.

Doesn't that seem a bit crazy and a waste. The hot swap bays are all part of the RAID?!

What if you want to swap out disks for some reason, won't that break the RAID?

 

Yes, they are connected to the RAID controller which is located on the back side of the case and you cannot take that side off. It does have 14 sata connections so there is plenty of room for changing out drives and depending on your RAID configuration, it may not be a big deal. I just have them set as a striped raid so I have access to all the drives. BTW the 4 drives in it are 15,000 RPMs

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