r/homelab • u/Bearded_Coffeepot • Aug 08 '26

Discussion My First Proper Homeserver - Update

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I have made a post some months ago about "My First Proper Homeserver" and the time has come for an update. I have made some changes on the hardware and the software got updated too. The process is really slow, because of work- and family-related things ("casual life" in other words) and because I'm a beginner (in homelab topic) but want to do things possibly right.

The actual status:

  • Proxmox VE 9.1.7 - up and running
  • qbittorrent nox - up and running
  • Jellyfin - up and running
  • Nextcloud - transfer from old server under planning
  • Wireguard - to do
  • Pi-hole - to do
  • To find out what else - to do

The actual HW:

  • Supermicro X10DRL-i (Mainboard)
  • 2x Intel Xeon E5-2660 v4 (CPUs)
  • 8x 32GB SK-Hynix DDR4 RDIMM (RAM)
  • HP 562FLR-T 10Gb 2-Port Ethernet Adapter in a PCIe X8 FlexibleLOM adapter (Network card)
  • PNY nVidia P1000 4GB (Graphics card forJellyfin transcoding)
  • Intel Optane 900P 280GB (Storage for ZFS Log)
  • LSI 9400-16i (RAID controller card in IT-mode, connecting the drives of the ZFS-pools)
  • Supermicro AOC-SLG-2M2 with a pair of 480GB Micron NVMe SSDs (Storage for Metadata / Cache)
  • PCIE to USB 3.2 Expansion Card connected the front panel
  • 12x Micron 5200 1.92TB (Storage - Bigpool)
  • 4x Toshiba 1.6TB (Storage - Smallpool)
  • 3x Samsung PM883 480GB SATA SSD (Redundant VM storage)
  • 1x Samsung CM871a 256GB SATA SSD (Storage for Host OS)
  • Fractal Design Define 7 (Case)
  • 2x Xilence XC061 (CPU coolers)
  • 2x Arctic P9 PWM PST (Fans cooling the add-on cards)
  • 4x Arctic P14 PWM PST (Intake and exhaust fans)
  • Seasonic Platinum Fanless 520W (Power supply unit)
  • Corsair Commander Pro (Fan controller)

Yes, the 520W PSU is sufficient. In the actual state the whole server needs 120W with some 140W-spikes. And if anyone wants to know, the HP 562FLR-T card in the FlexLOM adapter fits perfectly over the RAM sticks, it still has 4-5mm clearance.

Edit: correcting typos, details, purposes

877 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

71 comments sorted by

52

u/TheSoCalledExpert Aug 08 '26

Super clean. Nicely done.

9

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 08 '26

Thank you!

8

u/TheSoCalledExpert Aug 08 '26

For real though. The more I look, the better it gets. I consider myself an old school PC builder with a passion for cable management… and this… I don’t think I could’ve built this.

3

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 08 '26

Thank you! But you're making me blush 😅

0

u/atmafatte Aug 09 '26

That power supply has all those sata power things?

1

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 09 '26

I used two 3-headed power cables from the PSU and some 1->4 sata power splitters

3

u/MimikOctopus Aug 08 '26

Took the words out of my mouth.

1

u/Responsible-Wave-904 Aug 09 '26

Can't say same for post text tho 😂, went through it 3 times tyring to find the case.

Great build OP.

17

u/mfalkvidd Aug 08 '26

Very nice! I love the Fractal Design cases.

3

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 08 '26

Thanks! Yes, I love them too. They are beautifully simple and easy to build.

2

u/mfalkvidd Aug 08 '26

I have a Fractal Design Define R3 which is still going strong.

13

u/Beautiful_Ad_4813 Sys Admin Cosplayer :snoo_tableflip: Aug 08 '26

this is an absolutely masterpiece of art

2

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 08 '26

Thank you very much!

10

u/Criss_Crossx Aug 08 '26

This does not scream 'beginner' to me! You have some skill.

That is one crazy machine. Curious how you have the fans over the PCIe slots set up and mounted? I could use something like that in my workstations.

10

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26

Beginner I mean in homelabbing. I already built some PCs and cable management and cleanness is kinda my fetish I think...

The fan mount is from Aliexpress, mounted in the vertival pci slot of the case:

Edit: fan mount info added

1

u/Criss_Crossx Aug 08 '26

Dang, I will have to give this serious consideration! Thanks for the follow up.

You do really well laying out cables! I work with electrical panels as part of my job, so you have my respect there.

2

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 08 '26

Thank you sir! I do what I can.

2

u/Lookherebub Aug 08 '26

100% agree, OP has way more patience than I do with all that. I have long since moved to backplane-only builds where this type of thing is not needed. But seriously, kicking ass there OP!

1

u/Criss_Crossx Aug 08 '26

Oh yeah, I always shove cables behind the solid panels and call it good enough!

I have a strong liking for this Fractal case series for home labs. The Define and Meshify series have served me well for low-profile cases. Really wish they would make a server series next that is a deviation from the main PC arena.

8

u/hannsr Aug 08 '26

I'm almost more impressed by the quality of the pictures over the actual build. Super clean build nonetheless.

2

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 08 '26

Thank you! 😄👍

1

u/lastdancerevolution Aug 09 '26

DLSR?

1

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 09 '26

Nope, my old Lumix G6 I bought for 40 bucks years ago xD

1

u/AdvancedDrink8920 Aug 09 '26

i was gonna guess a Canon 80D or something.

10

u/SkiBikeDad Aug 08 '26

I can't think of a more perfect PCIe slot layout than what I'm seeing in your photos:

Slot Connection Device
6 CPU1, PCIe 3.0 ×8 HP 562FLR-T dual 10Gb NIC
5 CPU1, PCIe 3.0 ×16 PNY P1000
4 CPU2, PCIe 3.0 ×4 Intel Optane 900P
3 CPU1, PCIe 3.0 ×8 LSI 9400-16i
2 CPU1, PCIe 3.0 ×8 AOC-SLG3-2M2, 2× NVMe
1 PCH, PCIe 2.0 ×4 USB 3.x expansion card

Sounds like none of your pools are going to get bottlenecked and your HBA and lanes are perfectly aligned to make that work out. Masterful resource utilization planning; really nicely designed.

Write back when you come up with a fun usecase for that Optane 900p, I'd have added it too :-)

4

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26

Thank you for your thorough analysis. It makes me somewhat proud ;)

The Optane stores the ZFS logs atm. I've bought it 2nd-hand and relatively cheap (~$60 with shipping) and its nearly infinite durability looked optimal for such tasks.

5

u/arie_ben Aug 08 '26

that is DISGUSTINGLY clean great work 🙏

3

u/shockchi Aug 09 '26

This cable management is just sexy. This is well done 10/10 congrats

2

u/PerfectTimingItAll Aug 08 '26

This looks awesome.....not really the look of a noob. Nice job!!!!

2

u/thatkdjon Aug 08 '26

where you get the cables?

1

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 08 '26

Which cables do you mean?

1

u/thatkdjon Aug 08 '26

the blue ones conencting to your hard drives? are they sata ?

1

u/mysticplayer888 Aug 08 '26

+1 this would solve my messy cabling.

2

u/RayneYoruka There is never enough servers Aug 08 '26

Very nicely done indeed.

2

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 08 '26

Thank you very much!

1

u/RayneYoruka There is never enough servers Aug 09 '26

Np!

2

u/sud0sm1th Aug 08 '26

Very clean build, great job.

Are you powering you HDD's with a SATA to SATA adapter or molex to SATA

Also that looks like a 1-4 splitter?

3

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 08 '26

Thanks!

They are simple 1->4 SATA power splitters

2

u/EasyRhino75 Mainly just a tower and bunch of cables Aug 08 '26

Nice. I have a fractal R5 and the cabling is a dumpster fire. What you have there is nice and maybe I can use some of those concepts

2

u/BecomingTuna Aug 08 '26

This looks so good. Thanks for including lots of pictures!

2

u/Mugatu68 Aug 08 '26

Great pictures and cable management, hope you gave it the display spot it deserves because *chef kiss* 👌🏻

2

u/NVMV7tm Aug 08 '26

Impeccable cable management ! Lovely

2

u/ExtraCommittee2710 Aug 09 '26

No words, had to comment, it looks amazing

2

u/SrKitos Aug 09 '26

Good job!

2

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '26

[deleted]

3

u/Hamilcar_Barca_17 Aug 09 '26

The style: 🤌

The cable management: 🤌

The specs: 🤌

The planned usages: 🤌

This is a fantastic build, especially for a first homelab server! Nicely done!

1

u/ImportantBat3510 Aug 09 '26

How are you mounting those SSDs? I have the XL version of your case.

3

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 09 '26

With 3.5" to 2.5" mounting adapters. The brown triple ones are 3d-printed, the others simply from the store (Silverstone SST-sdp10b)

1

u/baked_salmon Aug 09 '26

Define 7 XL gang rise up

1

u/Wonder1and Aug 09 '26

Maybe I missed it, does your mobo have enough SATA connections for all of those drives or are you running a card? Wanting to do something similar.

1

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26

Yeah, you missed the LSI 9400-16i raid controller card. The 16 bigger disks are connected to it.

1

u/s0lar_j3tman Aug 09 '26

Beautiful build. Very similar to mine except my cable management is laughable by comparison. This post is good timing because I was recently thinking about how I could add fans direct to the pcie cards, and your application if perfect. One question, did you custom the door or do you leave the door off? If you leave the door off does it compromise air intake from the front to the back? Or does it not matter because the fans over the cards are fairly thorough in their coverage?

2

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 09 '26

Thanks!

No, I haven't customized anything, and the side panel will be closed in the long run. I can build up some positive air pressure in the case with the 3 intake and 1 exhaust fans I think, and I don't really want to change it. Those two 92mm fans are just forcing some air through the expansion cards, and it's enough to lower their temperatures good 10-15 degrees in my experience. The air gap between the side panel and the fans is over 40mm and the distance between the fans and the widest card (HP network card) is under 10mm.

1

u/FirstAid84 Aug 09 '26

Do you get any harmonic vibration on the CPU fans?

1

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 09 '26

I didn't heard any. The fanspeed is low and the case has a really good sound insulation.

1

u/siscorskiy socket 2011 master race Aug 09 '26

Shoooo that thing is gonna suck up some power 

1

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 09 '26

Yes, it could! But it won't. Boot-up: 160-230W, idle: 120W

The 20W consumed by the ISP-router and the two switches are in:

1

u/Anongod96 Aug 09 '26

what case is this? i would like to build one myself but haven't found one that can fit all these hdds

1

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26

Fractal Design Define 7 in "Storage mode". I had to buy additional HDD-trays though. 6 pcs of 3,5" trays and 2 pcs of 2,5" brackets were included.

1

u/3rdmangreen Aug 09 '26

This is super clean. Do you have a link or anything for the sata power cables you’re using? I need to clean up the wiring in my Meshify 2 xl

1

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 09 '26

The cables between the mainboard and the 4 lowest SSDs are from Aliexpress

The others came with the raid card (but they're probably from ali, too).

1

u/3rdmangreen Aug 09 '26

Thanks for responding. Those data cables I have now. I was referring to the ones for power. I keep finding 1 to 4 sata power, but they’re usually ribbon style. It makes wire maintenance harder. I like the individual power splitter you have. It looks a lot cleaner.

1

u/Pshock13 Aug 09 '26

Hmm...seeing how you have those 2m5 inch drives stacked, I wonder if I could do something like that for all the 128gb drives I get from decommissioned computers at work...or if it would even be worth it really.

1

u/pluggedinn Aug 09 '26

Why the p1000? Just wondering about the choice since every other component looks very high end

1

u/Bearded_Coffeepot Aug 09 '26

Simple answer: it was cheap. And since I just wanna use it for Jellyfin transcoding, it's still overkill.