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Server Project

Got a Netapp DS4243, and am now just looking to get the Xeons next. I'll hold off on getting the server until 2023 if necessary, to let prices drop.
 
claes said:
Gotta ask, where’d you grab these for such a great price?!
Click to expand...
eBay, with a ton of Best Offers and patience. Many sellers don't even respond to offers unless it's less than 15% off, so you'll wanna split your required quantity amongst multiple sellers. If you need 16 items in total, and have 3 possible sources, make an offer involving quantities of 5 per seller. Eliminate the sellers that ask for the highest price or won't budge, and increase unit count with each offer to the remaining sellers.
 
I try my luck with any sale I'm after simply because if you don't ask you never know :)

The HGST's I'd bought recently where about £65 for 8TB each and I can honestly say I couldn't find them cheaper. I managed to get cash off of them as well which was great but very happy with the drives :) Need to get 8 installed in my homeserver as that seems to have taken a bit of a dive... More fun to deal with! :cry:
I know my mate in the US does sell HDs and he's great bloke :) He might be able to help if you need any details he's a member here, so I can tag him if need be :)
 
I grabbed the Xeons and the RAM today. Now just waiting to see if I can get a decent offer on the server/chassis itself. That should help to keep the price on it low.
 
Decisions, decisions...

I have a few small decisions to make,…

I have a few small decisions to make, pertaining to the next version of the server project: Should I implement VDI (VMware Horizon) ? Should I attempt to implement Android app streaming (Android-x86) ? Should I merge the two Linux VMs, or leave them as they are? The first 2 both require creation ...
linustechtips.com linustechtips.com
 
I've got everything but the server and its rail kit at this point. Bumped RAM up to 384GB. I'll wait until 2023 if necessary, to get a good price on the remaining pieces. More pre-planning underway - stay tuned...
 
Currently looking into switching from Remotix (bought out by Acronis) to RustDesk. RustDesk isn't as fast or performant as the former, but it is free and open source. Also won't have to worry about changes in licensing. Only issue is, it's not working on my current tablet. The app glitches out on it, so I have to go back to managing everything on just PC. Also considering using MikroTik's Dude instead of LibreNMS. Getting the DL580 Gen9 looks like it will most likely have to wait until late 2022/early 2023 at the earliest. Most sellers want at least 700-800 USD for a barebones config, which is kinda tough to pull off at the moment. Also wishing I could have gotten the Radeon Pro v340, but those are going for 1.5k USD currently. My current objective is to work on prepping the containers and VMs for when it's finally time to pull the trigger on getting the Gen9 in-house. Moving Nextcloud's db to Docker is going to be nerve-wracking for me, since if anything goes wrong, I may have to rebuild that instance from scratch. Not a fun idea. Open Street Maps + OSMR (Docker stack) and FreePBX (VM) tasks are next...
 
The memory requirements for the Linux VM appear to have more-than-doubled. I may have to give it upwards of 80GB of RAM to get OSRM past the extraction stage...
 
Pertaining to the next phase...

The Linux VM, without YaCy, will need at least 80-96GB of RAM. I think the dedicated DB host will have to go, seeing that 85% of that RAM will be OSRM alone. YaCy will need some for web crawls and indexing as well. Those two are very heavy. Also very close to just yolo'ing the Bliss OS VM and going for it either way. At least I may end up with some resources to spare as a result.
 
August has been a long month, and it's been a long time coming.

Back in early-August, I ended up delaying the purchase of the DL580 Gen9. This threw a wrench into my previous plans since I had the Gen9 planned with over 300GB of RAM. I was depending on the larger pool of RAM being available for things like OSRM, YaCy, Android VM, etc. The first thing I did was update Windows Server 2016 to 2019. I finally got dark theme, but my previous license had to be replaced. Still a little peeved about that unexpected cost. Kicked out Technitium DNS since it was redundant to AD DNS at this point, and added OCCWeb to Nextcloud for easier updates in the future (running commands after initial update).

At about half-way through August, I decided to put OSRM on the table. After a bunch of reading, interpreting, getting help, and guessing, I finished figuring out that thing late last week. Didn't even find this page until I was near the end. I'd say kill the page being used on Docker Hub for OSRM and replace it with that instead. Would have saved me a ton of time last month! By the way, I ran into this little issue in the middle of troubleshooting OSRM. No biggie, finally finished getting OSRM to work at the end of August.

I was supposed to get started with FreePBX back in August, so the I could work primarily on YaCy this month and into October. That's not going to happen. At least I managed to shove RustDesk in there somehow. I also had to re-build xBrowserSync, since I accidentally broke that container while trying to change its IP address. Also had time to setup GPO for local admin account(s). So it wasn't a complete bust in falling behind.

Still need to look into using custom tile servers with Nextcloud Maps (unknown) and PhoneTrack (yes), finish setting up FreePBX, switch Google Voice to VoIP.ms (port my number over), start working on YaCy Grid, Convert Windows Server and Windows 10 VMs to GPT/UEFI, Update Nextcloud, and buy a bigger SSD for my current laptop. Wait - almost forgot that I need more EaseUS backup licenses for my setup. This all needs to happen before mid-2023, preferably.

I'm also considering doing a clean install of Artix OpenRC, due to a small issue I've been having since 2021. On the bright side, I kinda want a new desk and rack!

Something tells me that I'm more than a month behind XD
 
btdubs, vSphere 6 is now considered old - welcome to vSphere 8! But the Gen9 is only scheduled to run vSphere 6.7.

What is sleep?!
 
Finally managed to get incoming calls working (albeit with meh audio quality) on FreePBX. Tested using MicroSIP for softphone. Still need to get outbound calls working. Used this tutorial to get everything configured properly. Once FreePBX is working as intended, it'll be time for YaCy Grid...
 
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Summary of recent changes thus far:
  • Finally found an easy DDNS solution.
  • Still troubleshooting that issue with FreePBX
  • Converted Windows Server, Win10, Artix to UEFI
  • Troubleshooting potential permissions issue in elastisearch (YaCy Grid)
Still have to convert/reinstall FreePBX to GPT/UEFI this weekend. After that, I can start working on the Bliss OS VM...
 
I was supposed to troubleshoot the outbound calling issue on FreePBX this weekend, but ended up going out-of-town to a place where WiFi and cell reception were meh. I enjoyed myself and got to see a movie. When I got back (last night), I stayed up way past midnight to backup>reinstall>restore FreePBX on UEFI. Did not feel too hot at work today, but that's one less task left. Once outbound calling works, I need to port my Google Voice number over and work on configuring SMS. Then I'll be working on the YaCy Grid container. I'm considering putting Sunshine onto all GPU-equipped VMs in the near future. It'd be a nice alternative to RustDesk, until they finally introduce GPU acceleration. Still need to plan out the Bliss OS (Android) VM, and that could use a GPU (Rx 6700?). Should I move the G7 to ESXi 6.7, and have the Gen9 running vSphere 7?

I may have forgotten something(s) at this point, but gotta keep moving...
 
Finally resolved the outbound calling issue. Now I'm focusing on an issue with background noise during calls. Once I get SMS working, I'll make the decision on whether to port my Google Voice number over to VoIP.ms. After that, I'll be working on the YaCy Grid container. While I would like to have Sunshine on all GPU-equipped VMs, I'm not sure how practical it'd be to implement (esp. seeing that I already have RustDesk). The Bliss OS (Android x86) VM will be coming later this year, and will be using a GPU (Rx 6700 XT). Once all VMs are ready, I'll move from ESXi 6.5u3 to 6.7u3. Still need to purchase EaseUS Backup Server licenses for my remaining devices (that have no current backups). Still haven't figured out how VDI will happen on the Gen9...

On a side note, I now wonder if the Linux version of Sunshine can be built to run on Android...
 
Another day, another FreePBX issue to troubleshoot. This time, trying to configure SMS/MMS.
 
Should I kick out the Radeon Pro v320, in favour of the Pro Duo (Fiji) instead? Keep in mind, the v320 is supposed to replace the GTX Titan Z (a dual-GPU card). Dual-GPU cards can potentially be used in 2 separate VMs simultaneously, without the need for SR-IOV or GRID. The only issue would be video output(s).
 
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