Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers
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I agree that this is likely an expensive way to go. Two servers instead of one, lots of parts instead of purpose built, investing in old gear (technical debt) that isn't too old to use, but is probably too old to invest into. This will cost nearly as much to buy as a new, proper server, might actually cost more due to being stuck with smaller drives and such, will require more power to operate, more complexity to deal with multiple devices and so forth.
By the time you are switching out for PSUs, getting new drive cages, etc. you'll have more than bought a real server. It's hard to believe that this is a "buying less" option in the long run.
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This one is actually pretty easy - build both solutions on paper. See which one comes out on top.
For your current servers, you already said you want to buy the extra 8 drive bay, you will need two different power supplies to hand the full load of 16 drives on a single Power Supply. And the RAID controller P411 only supports 8 ports, so you'll need another controller.
Toss in the cost of drives, and bob's your uncle.Or find the parts you need, then get a quote from XByte for those more modern parts.
Also, do you know what your storage requirements are? what your IOPs requirements are? What are you storing on these servers?
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
(the original two drives will still host the OS, and the remaining 14 drives would be pooled into one big RAID 10 array; on each server).
this seems like the wrong way to go. You should likely run the entire array as a OBR10, install a hypervisor on it, then build giant storage VMs as needed.
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@dashrender said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
(the original two drives will still host the OS, and the remaining 14 drives would be pooled into one big RAID 10 array; on each server).
this seems like the wrong way to go. You should likely run the entire array as a OBR10, install a hypervisor on it, then build giant storage VMs as needed.
It's for backup, so OBR6 most likely.
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Thanks for all the feedback guys! I got on a live chat this morning with xByte and will be getting a quote later today. Can't hurt to at least see what they have to offer and get a price ;).
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
Thanks for all the feedback guys! I got on a live chat this morning with xByte and will be getting a quote later today. Can't hurt to at least see what they have to offer and get a price ;).
Awesome. I bet that they can beat any piecing together of parts for old gear.
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Here's what they quoted me:
- R730XD-2CPU Dell PowerEdge R730xd Server ( 2 CPU Version) (1)
- Dell PowerEdge R730xd 3.5" Chassis with up to 12 Hard Drives (1)
- Intel E5-2609v3 1.9GHz/15M/1600MHz 6-Core 85W (2)
- Dell PE R730 Normal Heat Sink (2)
- Dell 4GB DDR4 Reg (4)
- PERC H730P Mini Mono Controller 2GB NV Cache (RAID 0/1/5/6/10/50/60) (1)
- Dell 4TB 3.5" 7.2K NL SAS 12Gbs HDD (10)
- Intel Ethernet I350 QP 1Gb Network Daughter Card (1)
- iDRAC8 Enterprise (1)
- Dell 2U Sliding Ready Rails (1)
- Dell 13th Gen 750W Redundant PSU (1)
- 5 Year Dell NBD Onsite Warranty (1)
Total: $6,152.00
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
Thanks for all the feedback guys! I got on a live chat this morning with xByte and will be getting a quote later today. Can't hurt to at least see what they have to offer and get a price ;).
I've always found that Dell beat xByte when its their end of quarter and end of year; you then get all new kit rather than refurbished. Of course you do have to haggle. From memory, Dell operate Feb - April = Q1, May - July = Q2, Aug - Oct = Q3 and Nov - Jan = their end of year... if you can wait until the last week of each you get great sales usually where they hit low prices to nail their targets.
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@shuey why 2 cpu for a nas?! Wasn't 1 just enough?
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@matteo-nunziati It wasn't an option of 1 or 2. If you look at their product page, they ONLY sell a 2 CPU configuration (at least for the models I reviewed).
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@Shuey also how much do you can afford for offline? NBD for backup seems ok to me. But Maybe you would consider prosupport?!
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
@matteo-nunziati It wasn't an option of 1 or 2. If you look at their product page, they ONLY sell a 2 CPU configuration (at least for the models I reviewed).
Ok! I Never look at xbyte: customs + shipping are too high from america to europe
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@matteo-nunziati said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
@Shuey also how much do you can afford for offline? NBD for backup seems ok to me. But Maybe you would consider prosupport?!
I agree, consider moving to NBD support. Compare as much apples to apples as you can.
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@jimmy9008 said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
Thanks for all the feedback guys! I got on a live chat this morning with xByte and will be getting a quote later today. Can't hurt to at least see what they have to offer and get a price ;).
I've always found that Dell beat xByte when its their end of quarter and end of year; you then get all new kit rather than refurbished. Of course you do have to haggle. From memory, Dell operate Feb - April = Q1, May - July = Q2, Aug - Oct = Q3 and Nov - Jan = their end of year... if you can wait until the last week of each you get great sales usually where they hit low prices to nail their targets.
Only for new, and he should not be considering new here, only refurb.
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
Here's what they quoted me:
- R730XD-2CPU Dell PowerEdge R730xd Server ( 2 CPU Version) (1)
- Dell PowerEdge R730xd 3.5" Chassis with up to 12 Hard Drives (1)
- Intel E5-2609v3 1.9GHz/15M/1600MHz 6-Core 85W (2)
- Dell PE R730 Normal Heat Sink (2)
- Dell 4GB DDR4 Reg (4)
- PERC H730P Mini Mono Controller 2GB NV Cache (RAID 0/1/5/6/10/50/60) (1)
- Dell 4TB 3.5" 7.2K NL SAS 12Gbs HDD (10)
- Intel Ethernet I350 QP 1Gb Network Daughter Card (1)
- iDRAC8 Enterprise (1)
- Dell 2U Sliding Ready Rails (1)
- Dell 13th Gen 750W Redundant PSU (1)
- 5 Year Dell NBD Onsite Warranty (1)
Total: $6,152.00
So here are my thoughts, and call your rep, don't just go by what the site list.
- Why R730xd instead of the R720xd which is still overkill. This isn't the right model for you.
- Are you totally sure that the R520 won't do what you need? I think that it likely will, and will cut the cost by a lot.
- Two sexacore procs is twelve cores. That's a LOT. One quad core is plenty. Have them check on a single, small proc R520.
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@scottalanmiller said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
Here's what they quoted me:
- R730XD-2CPU Dell PowerEdge R730xd Server ( 2 CPU Version) (1)
- Dell PowerEdge R730xd 3.5" Chassis with up to 12 Hard Drives (1)
- Intel E5-2609v3 1.9GHz/15M/1600MHz 6-Core 85W (2)
- Dell PE R730 Normal Heat Sink (2)
- Dell 4GB DDR4 Reg (4)
- PERC H730P Mini Mono Controller 2GB NV Cache (RAID 0/1/5/6/10/50/60) (1)
- Dell 4TB 3.5" 7.2K NL SAS 12Gbs HDD (10)
- Intel Ethernet I350 QP 1Gb Network Daughter Card (1)
- iDRAC8 Enterprise (1)
- Dell 2U Sliding Ready Rails (1)
- Dell 13th Gen 750W Redundant PSU (1)
- 5 Year Dell NBD Onsite Warranty (1)
Total: $6,152.00
So here are my thoughts, and call your rep, don't just go by what the site list.
- Why R730xd instead of the R720xd which is still overkill. This isn't the right model for you.
- Are you totally sure that the R520 won't do what you need? I think that it likely will, and will cut the cost by a lot.
- Two sexacore procs is twelve cores. That's a LOT. One quad core is plenty. Have them check on a single, small proc R520.
Yeah that's a lot of computing power just for storage. You didn't list any other uses so all that just to store backups is overkill.
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@matteo-nunziati I don't follow what you mean for "do you can afford for offline?" and I don't know what "NBD for backup" means.
@scottalanmiller I contacted xByte directly and the guy I spoke with (Ernesto) said he wouldn't recommend refurb (an R510) because "the hardware is 6-9 years old" (I guess I shouldn't be surprised by his comment...).
I'll definitely look into the R520 - thanks for the tip Scott!
The default onboard NIC on the R520 is a "Broadcom 5720 Quad Port Gigabit Ethernet". Should I just roll with that, or should I consider upgrading that? The options to choose from are "PCIe Riser Full Height" and "PCIe Riser Half Height". I'm not sure which one I would choose :-x... (other than the "full height" and go with the "Intel Ethernet I350 QP 1Gb Server Adapter").
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@shuey I mean that uptime is important but for a backup NBD SLA should be enough, anyway move to a "prosupport" level could be considered.
Prosupport is a marketing term from dell. -
@shuey the broadcom chip is enough to me.
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
The default onboard NIC on the R520 is a "Broadcom 5720 Quad Port Gigabit Ethernet". Should I just roll with that, or should I consider upgrading that? The options to choose from are "PCIe Riser Full Height" and "PCIe Riser Half Height". I'm not sure which one I would choose :-x... (other than the "full height" and go with the "Intel Ethernet I350 QP 1Gb Server Adapter").
I'd stick with the stock one. No reason to change it.
