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Other Refurb Servers?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by damien c, 4 Nov 2021.

  1. damien c

    damien c Mad FPS Gamer

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    Anyone got any experience with "Refurb Servers" from the likes of Bargain Hardware or CTO Servers?

    I am going to be building a new "Storage Server" and whilst I have a case and a HBA card already, I am not sure if it's worth just buying a "Refurb Server" or not?

    Main use will be Media/File Storage and I am looking at eventually putting around 10x WD Gold 10Tb Enterprise drives in to the Server.

    Not to concerned around speed in terms of HDD's but I want reliability etc.

    Software wise I am thinking about Unraid or Freenas.
     
  2. saspro

    saspro IT monkey

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    I've purchased plenty of refurb servers & enterprise kit before both companies listed have been reliable.

    Remember, enterprise kit is noisy, sucks a lot of power and wants a cold environment. If it's not in an AC'd room, it gets loud fast. They usually also need to use certified drives from the manufacturer to avoid random errors or more fan noise)

    Generally it won't pass the WAF.
     
    Byron C likes this.
  3. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    I've bought servers from bargain hardware - no problems at all.
     
  4. damien c

    damien c Mad FPS Gamer

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    Thanks.

    As for noise etc, that won't be an issue as it will be in a brick shed.
     
  5. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    I can elaborate, but as I was about to in my last post a thing popped up so I didn't.

    But as above, I've bought from Bargain Hardware:
    - The condition of the server itself may as well have been new, and packed as new as well - not a spot of dusk in sight, clean heatsinks, fan blades. Properly packed in what would pass for OEM packaging - clearly a well sorted operation they have.
    - I didn't have any add in cards, and there was a 3d printed blanking plate where the I/O add in board would have been, which was a nice touch
    - The firmware wasn't the latest, depending on vendor sourcing the latest may be non-trivial. I was able to find the latest without any hassle though in spite of them theoretically being behind a support paywall.
    - You can probably get much better prices for ILO/DRAC/etc buying it separately elsewhere if you need it
    - Experiment with configurations if you can - seems like availability determines price just as much as capability, so the 16 core CPUs that they have 1000 of may be cheaper than the 8 cores that they only have a few
    - If you're buying HP and don't have the drives yet, buy both the
    - A pin on the rackmount slides didn't marry properly to a notch on the server (HP DL380 G9 specifically) - at a guess they were probably rails for the same server, different gen. I just flattened the pin down with a hammer on each one and never thought of it again.
    - Depending on vendor (maybe specific to HP), using third party add-in cards may cause the fans to run at full pelt. Reason being the server doesn't know the thermal profile of the card so assumes it's a literal space heater you've put in there, so getting an appropriate HBA included and selling on the one you have wouldn't be the worst idea, at least in the case of HP.
    - Power utilisation is more of a problem the further back you go - generally the more modern the server, the better it will scale down when idle, and generally as a home server this will probably be a lot of the time. It will still be noisy, but at lower loads a modernish 2u+ server should not be hair-dryer noisy. All bets are off at 1U though.

    Make sure you have some sort of airflow in the shed - in a small space like that, assuming it's not double-garage sized, you could still overheat in warmer months. Even in winter months my rack in a large double garage keeps it at a pleasant climate.
     
    damien c likes this.
  6. play_boy_2000

    play_boy_2000 ^It was funny when I was 12

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    I just swapped over to a used mid size lenovo workstation xeion-e3 1245 v2 for my media and surveillance server. Even with 2 HDDs, it idles at ~20W, compared to a similar 1U rack server I have that idles at 60W. Your biggest problem is going to be your requirement for 10 HDDs, as everybody switched to SANs and don't bother speccing servers with more than 4 drive bays anymore.
     
  7. damien c

    damien c Mad FPS Gamer

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    Thanks @Mister_Tad that is really good to know.

    @play_boy_2000 I wish I could stick with a Tower case but unfortunately for the future need's, they probably won't cut it.

    Just looking forward to getting the money together to get the Shed built (£6K) so I can then get a 47U rack and start working on the Storage that is going to be required over the next few years :)
     

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