[ale] [OT] good hardware for a learner!

[DJ-Pfulio]

"Server" hardware has many downsides.
* Power use - often these things have redundant PSUs; Server power use has been
reduced greatly, but is still higher than desktops (for good reason).
* Heat - more power become more heat. Think about the July/August electric bill.
* Noise - ever been inside a data center? Noise isn't **any** consideration.
* Higher cost of upgrades/replacement parts, usually.

A few pluses:
* Huge amount of RAM / ECC RAM
* Server-class CPUs
* Rack mounting (may not be a plus)

But Jim is right. Sometimes there are things that only server machines have
which are worth having hands-on experience with - IPMI for example. How do lock
that down, since almost all IPMI has huge security issues.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_Platform_Management_Interface

Some of the Core i7 and multi-core AMD desktop CPUs are really impressive, so
getting a "server" CPU isn't that important for a home user. Of course, they
will use lots of power too, when a 53W system might be all that is required.

ECC RAM - if you run ZFS, get ECC RAM. Lots of it.  Some desktop MBs support ECC
and I have a hard time thinking of what someone at home would do with 32G of RAM
inside a system.  Met a guy with 96G of RAM in his box, but he was running
Windows. From what he described, sounded like 8G of RAM would have been overkill
to me.  So he was stuck with this server-class box, 5+ yr old CPUs and 96G of
RAM that a new Core i7 would have blown away for $1K total system cost.

The point is that home server hardware to learn on isn't bad when it is cheap,
but if you spend $4k+ on it, you'll find that it is like an albatross following
you around for years.

It is noisy and sucks 2x-4x more power than a desktop system.


On 04/13/2016 11:23 PM, Scott M. Jones wrote:
> Does it have a loud fan? That might be the down side...
> 
> On Apr 12, 2016, at 5:00 PM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com
> <mailto:jim.kinney at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
>> I don't push hardware unless it's mine or I'm just drooling over it.
>>
>> However....
>>
>> http://ebay.to/1VSdviy
>>
>> That's a bitly link to an ebay listing for several Dell 1U systems. They have
>> the basics of everything to get jumping on Linux from power management to
>> virtualization all for $213 (including shipping). These are reliable, solid
>> machines that are out of date for current commercial use (DDR2 RAM is far more
>> costly that DDR3 per GB) but perfect for someone who wants server-class gear
>> at home to learn on.
>>
>> I usually get supermicro but they all have odd quirks that make them a pain.
>> New ones are a great deal on that price/power/pain curve. Dell is over priced
>> when new. IBM is stupidly over priced new (and used!).
>>
>> Just my $0.02