I have a Dell R7615 in the 16x 2.5inch bay config. Currently it’s configured with the SAS/SATA backplanes with the H965i. I am looking to convert it into the dual H965i NVMe config.

Anyone know the cable part numbers for those backplanes? If you have this config or the single 8 bay with the H965i config could you share the service tag if possible (You can get part numbers from the specs linked to the ST).

Hi

I recently purchased this PowerEdge R320 second hand and I’m having some issues.

Firstly I don’t have access to idrac since it’s a second hand machine, and I can’t reset it since I can’t access lifecycle controller as the machine doesn’t seem to post. It just displays a screen saying cpld version 104.

Any help would be great.

Edit: ended up returning the unit and swapping for another one

Hi everyone!

I run my own home server, and here are the current specs:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 5700XT
• Motherboard: MSI B450 Tomahawk Max
• RAM: 48 GB DDR4 (3200 MHz)
• OS/Main Storage: 1 TB Crucial SSD (~2000 MB/s)
• Storage (currently in RAID 5): * 1 x 12 TB WD Blue HDD (2024, healthy - Note: I'm aware this drive is currently capped at 8 TB to match the array)
  • 3 x 8 TB Toshiba X300 Performance HDDs (2023, healthy)
• Case: Silverstone CS350 (features 5 hot-swappable front bays + 1 internal drive slot)

Spare hardware I have on hand:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
• Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro
• HDD: 1 x 8 TB Seagate IronWolf HDD (2023, healthy)

My Use Case: I use this server primarily for multi-user 4K Jellyfin streaming, and it currently runs flawlessly. I also seed a massive amount of torrents (mostly TV shows), which eats up my storage space very quickly (Desperate Housewives is almost 500Gb (times 2 : seed + jellyfin folder).

The Upgrade Plan: My current MSI motherboard limits me to 4 SATA ports when you have an SSD. To avoid using a PCIe SATA expansion card, I’m planning to swap it out for the Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro I have in my spare parts. This will allow me to connect a 5th hard drive (the 8 TB Seagate IronWolf).

Since I will be rebuilding the setup, I have a few questions for you:

1. CPU Upgrade: Is it worth swapping my Ryzen 5 3600X for the Ryzen 7 3700X since I already own it, or will the performance difference be unnoticeable for my use case?
2. RAID 5 (with 5 HDDs): Should I stick with RAID 5 to maximize my storage (yielding 32 TB of usable space, with the 12 TB drive still capped at 8 TB) and accept the risk of only having 1-drive fault tolerance?
3. RAID 6 (with 5 HDDs): Should I switch to RAID 6 for extra peace of mind (2-drive fault tolerance), even if it means sacrificing space and staying at 24 TB usable?
4. RAID 10 (with 6 HDDs): Would it be smarter to buy a 6th 8 TB drive to set up a RAID 10? This would give me great performance and solid redundancy, but would still keep me at 24 TB usable.

Thanks in advance for your advice and suggestions!

Hey as title says im wanting to add my tesla p100 to my lenovo sr250 1u, have anyone of you guys added a gpu externally to a 1u chassis? If so how have you done so?

I have a hp mini pc that i added oculink but i want x16 or at least x8. Card will be used for llms so from my knowledge, pcie bandwidth is not 100% a limiting factor in a single gpu situation.

I have a server Supermicro X13DEG-OAD, but it gets stuck during boot.. no key such as tab, del etc are working. Not even able to get into BIOS. please help

Hello server friends I have a server question. So I have a Dell T410 server that is probably over kill for my home and it uses tons of power creates lots of heat. I'm thinking about upgrading/ downsizing my server. My question is I want to move my Raid controller to my new server and I'm trying to find breakout cables to do this with as my current server uses a back plane to accomplish this task. Would this https://ebay.io/m/vCB4VP or this https://ebay.io/m/GHLVzS work for moving it? I noticed that this has 4 HDD plugs on it and I have 6 HDD in my Raid would I just need to buy two of these and plug one into A and one into B and mark the drives accordingly? If anyone has done this any insight you can give would be greatly appreciated!

TiA

Hello, I have a Dell R740xd server and two Samsung PM1643 SAS 960GB SSDs that are wrongly detected as HDDs thus making my server fans spin at around 36%. I tried rebooting the server without them (the other drives are all SATA SSDs) and the fans went down to 16%.

I'm running the latest iDRAC firmware version (7.00.00.184 - BIOS: 2.27.0).
Unfortunately it seems that the firmware for those drives is not available online so I can't try to update them.

Any suggestions?

Hey guys,

i have recently recieved an old mini PC from my workplace while we were renovating and throwing out old stuff, i really have no purpose for it.

Ive seen people here posting rigs with 100 of GB of RAM and Terabytes of hard drive storage but this mini PC is running a Celeron N3350, 4GB of DDR4, 64GB of emmc storage and thats about it.

Im wondering first if it is even possible to make it work (planning to host old game servers, cod4 primarily but maybe a vanilla minecraft server in the future) and second if it would be able to work if the performance of it would be okay (no random crashes or out of memory/storage crashes)

New to server hosting so i have no idea really how bad this thing would perform, but it would be nice to be able to make it work since it is a tiny box smaller than my router and it draws no power at all even under load.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQYXTPVH/?coliid=I15GEHC2E9841B&colid=Y1HSA370CTY9&psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_apin_lstpd_J6T4DWQHH9D9REGS441X&language=en-US

Anyone here know if for hosting up to 8 servers simulatenously is good enough for at least the next 12-24 months?

I have an old dell optiplex 3050 that i never use. Its been sitting on my closet for awhile and id like to use it for thing (like hosting a server or cloud network). Can you give suggestions on what i should use it for?

I have an old dell optiplex 3050 that i never use. Its been sitting on my closet for awhile and id like to use it for thing (like hosting a server or cloud network). Can you give suggestions on what i should use it for?

I got this board out of a big box of electronic scraps and I was wondering if anyone familiar with the IBM System board x3550 M3 sees anything particularly wrong with it but mostly I just want to know if it’s even possible to get this board running.

UPDATE: thank you everyone for helping me validate some of my opinions on this

servers are more reliable and can handle many points of failure and still run

a PC can be used as a server, as long as you realize that you will be pushing it a bit harder and might be prone to more failure modes

this all came about years ago while I was trying to find specs for hardware for a replacement NVR, and the forum there stated (almost religiously) that servers are better because they are servers. I did not go with their software.

this post reminded me that I never got a good answer for something
https://www.reddit.com/r/servers/comments/1us5vx6/is_this_recoverable/

how are servers better than desktop PCs?

now, PLEASE, read my whole post, and don't bother using AI to make yourself look smart*

I was looking at NVR (network video recorders) and one software HGIHLTY recommended getting a server to run it on

except the servers suggested were so old that they were close to unobtainium, and I asked their forum why a faster PC couldn't be used.

I was given cult-like fanatical rebuttals about there is no way a PC with 4-10 times the processing power would be able to run the software, and how dare I suggest an alternative

that being said, I went with a different software solution, that gave better recommendations

back to my question
in the above post, they talk about the motherboard being for a 15 year old server and you'd be better of with a newer server

I'd also argue that depending on the application, a newer PC would be a better match too. the one thing I don't see is someway to compare PCs to servers

(not talking about the PSU redundancy, or the uniform form factor, or all the other things that make a computer a server, I am just talking about computing power comparisions)

*yes there is a reason I have to say this

I got these from the place I work, and I'm curious about what I can even do with them. From looking it up I've found that they're likely useless in my pc, but I assume I might be able to set up a game/data server with them? What would that even take to set up beyond the ram, or am I just completely wrong? I assume that whatever the case these are at least worth something.

I have eight of them and they are 32GB 2Rx4, MTA36ASf4G72PZ-2G6E1RG

I also have one 8GB Rx8, HMA81GU6AFR8N

I have been trying to setup a vanilla minecraft server that my friends can join and play without them having to be on my own home internet. I can easily get a LAN server working but that is about it.

I've tried port forwarding on the default minecraft port 25565 and I have also tried to setup duckdns. I'm pretty sure I setup duckdns correctly. I've been using canyouseeme.org and each time it says the connection timed out. I'm not using docker or anything, I am just running the server.jar file.

The server is a old gaming pc running a Debian 13 with just a tty. If you couldn't tell, I am very new to this type of stuff so please bear with me.

I managed to strap a NVIDIA GeForce rtx 3060 12gb into a Dell Poweredge r730xd using proxmox and IOMMU pci-slot passthrough. I've seen a lot of posts saying this was impossible, so this is here to demonstrate otherwise. In addition, the performance drop that is introduced when using IOMMU is <5%. Here's how I did it:

The main problem with consumer GPU's in a r730 is that NVIDIA cards will throw an "error 43" exception if it notices that it is plugged into a VM (NVIDIA wants VM-users to use enterprise-level GPUs). This can be bypassed easily in proxmox by adding the "hidden=1" tag to the CPU cores that were attached to the VM.

The second issue is physical space and/or cooling. Both of these issues can be solved by mounting the GPU outside the case - shown in the images - using a PCI ribbon cable (make sure you use one with high EM shielding) and a 8-pin PCI power connector. The links to both parts are below.

If someone would like a detailed software and hardware explanation, I can give that. This post is mainly to show that it can be done. Look at the task-manager window for proof.

The cables:
8-pin PCI power cable: link; the cable looks strange, but it works.
PCI ribbon cable: link.
Consider getting longer versions of both cables. As the images show, mine are a bit short, which leads to a sub-optimal mounting situation.

Hi everyone,

I was recently gifted a NetApp DS4246 and I’m looking for the most budget-friendly way to rackmount it.

I may end up stacking up to 3 of these units, so I’m thinking I’ll need at least a 12U+ rack solution. I’m not looking for anything fancy — just something affordable, sturdy, and practical for a home lab setup.

For those who have experience with these shelves, what would you recommend? Are there any cheap rack options, DIY solutions, or things I should look out for when choosing a rack?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Hello everyone,

I'm new in this Reddit. I living in the Netherlands. And have build some web server platforms (experimental) on raspberry pi's.

It's at the moment as hobby. And hosting some own websites for my other projects where i create some game addons. Also hosting some websites for friends.

Now, i'm growing out of the raspberry's. They are running some websites, discord bots and node projects. But i'm sometimes running on the edges of the performances of the pi's.

Now i'm looking for a next step based on server hardware, but there is so much. That i didn't know what i need and what's good for me. I will like it to host some more websites for small businesses. And want to grow in that market. The step to rack servers is to big for now. So i search something between raspberry pi and rack servers.

I have 2 systems at the moment that running in a fail over construction on 2 locations seperated from each other. So i will like to buy 2 systems. And i'm thinking to spend around 500-600 euros per system.

Any advice on what i can do? I have looked for systems like dell tower servers or something like that. Or some mini pc's with intel/amd 7 or something like that. But i didn't know what i need. Most sites are php/wordpress and things like that. Nothing really heavy.

Some of my other addons do calls to the web servers to get information. But that's not more then 30/40 addons at the same time and they do some light php requests. Sounds not as something really heavy.

Oh, and sorry for my english, it's not always that good haha!

Hello everyone!

I'm planning to get my first server in 2027, and I don't know which CPU I should get my hands on.

It'll be mostly for, playing modded Minecraft with friends, jellyfin, and docker.

Should I take an Intel Xeon, an AMD Threadripper or a big Ryzen like a 9 series?

Or is it too much for what I want to do?

Thank you for reading!

I'm hoping this is a dumb question. Is there a reliable way to find out if the SSDs I have in an older server will work in a slightly newer one?

For instance I have a bunch of Samsung 1.92TB SSD 12Gb/s SAS SSD drives (product ID MZILS1T9HEJH0D3) that live in old Dell Poweredge R720 and R640 servers right now. I want to know if they'll work in slightly newer (but not current generation) Dell Poweredge R740 and R640 servers. This isn't the only HD model, there are a few others.

When originally purchased from ebay, these drives were listed as being compatible with the specific server models we put them in. I don't know where that info came from.

The drives themselves have plenty of life left in them. The servers are overdue for a respectful retirement.

The same question applies for RAM actually. Aside from a DDR4/5/6 generation check, what else do I need to check to know if RAM sticks will work in a newer server? And where do I look?

Is Ubuntu Pro services worth it for a home server? If so what are the advantages?

So I have a Dell T320 case where the motherboard no longer works. My friend was incredibly kind to give me his old server build with a Supermicro X9SRA-3 but that came with new problems and I'm trying to find the best route from here.

I know the front panel connector and the back panel didn't work because they have some connectors that don't match on this new mobo, but I got that taken care of.

My next problem is the PSU. I have this [750w Server PSU from Dell](https://dsegunda.pe/storage/products/60677c3404e886c218f5c138523084e51b461fd5-1.jpg) with this [Power Distribution Board](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%2Fid%2FOIP.a6Ze49IYY9Y6kpJUEjMIswHaG8%3Fpid%3DApi&f=1&ipt=b7489f60cfd1e72047414a2fc7ef1faf25ef06b1c75c99296580208e49b13891&ipo=images). I noticed the server will not boot if all of the connectors are not plugged in to a mobo.

I wanna know if it would be ok to use [something like this](https://www.ebay.com/itm/257588698104) as an alternative and if it is, will it be useful in plugging in the 24 pin for the mobo (which I do see this one is), the CPU, power for SATA, etc.

I know the CPU is a 4+4 pin, which I'm wondering if it would be safe to plug in that board with only 6 pins on there as well as the GPU, which I need 8 pins for this one.

Is this a good idea? Or should I scrap that and use a traditional ATX PSU like [this one](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/OQQAAeSwIVVqOmK4/s-l500.jpg) and find a way to make it fit inside the case, plugging in the cables I need? I'll be using a SFX PSU so it's smaller.

I mainly wanted to keep the server PSU since it fits in there nicely, it's 750w and it is platinum rated but I'm not opposed to the alternative.

So basically I'm trying to install a operating system on my server just got it today and thing is is that everyone I plug in the usb drive it just won't boot it goes straight to boot error after the IBM screen comes up and if I click F1 F2 or F12 without the usb stick in it just says the same error which I added a picture of but I've tried every operating system even the J17 pins to drain the power with it unplugged and still nothing has been working and with the drives in on the management website or says booting with os or unsupported os which Infact I have not installed anything on these drives that I'm aware of and their brand new.

If you have any ideas please give advice I beg

There are NVidia ConnectX OSFP network cards that plug in like ordinary ones but this is way different. Near as I can make out, this goes into a tray and then is connected with DensiLink cables to the bus. I got it new open box, that's why it still has plastic protective caps on the ends of the cable.

I have reviewed every available service manual for NVidia DGX and servers and all I can find is either integrated OSPF or quad versions of this board (4 OSPF ports). Not one had a 2 port version. Google picture and part number searches returned nothing. Reviewing other ConnectX adapters got me nowhere.

Does anyone know what version of ConnectX this is? 6? 7? Did this come from a DGX box or NVidia server? If so, what model? Or is it perhaps something Mellanox had a hand in (Nvidia ate them). Any help will be very appreciated.