Low Power System - Below 20watts (yes, that's 20, not 200)

[ianj14]

Hi,

This is my first post here, so apologies for any errors of protocol. I've checked the stickies and couldn't immediately see anything obvious I might not get right. I've also done a search and couldn't find anything obvious, but I didn't look that hard.

I'm looking to set up a low power server 'farm', where no single server uses more than 20 watts on average. Currently my eye is on getting Acer Revo R3700s, as they consume around 18 watts by my measurement.

However, I'd like to know if there are components out there that have equivalent capability or better, but are cheaper (sub 200 GBP in total) and use even less power.

The spec is something like this:

Approximate Purchase Date: within the next month or two

Budget Range: <200 GBP

System Usage from Most to Least Important: (each of these on a separate computer) Domain Controller; Web Server; Proxy/Firewall (x 2); Exchange Server; WSUS Updates Server

Parts Not Required: keyboard/mouse/monitor already acquired through KVM

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: eBuyer.com for the UK, but others considered if feedback strong

Country: UK

Parts Preferences: No preferences

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: 1680 x 1050

Additional Comments: need to be near if not absolutely silent; x64 compatible; can accept less memory to begin with but it needs to be upgradeable to at least 4GB; power <20 watts

 

[Raiddinn]

Just wondering, is there a good reason you aren't making one beastly computer and then virtualizing everything?

 

[ianj14]

One beastly computer still uses way more than 110 watts, which is the combined power draw of the six Acer R3700s, which in total would be 12 core, 24 thread, 24GB. Also, I believe the networking topology really needs the machines to be physically separate, though I'm open to change my mind on that if it can be demonstrated otherwise.

 

[Raiddinn]

The traditional network setup would require 3 PCs. Two of them could be your Acer 3700 Revos (proxy and domain controller).

Cloud
State Based Packet Filter
1 PC with DMZ systems virtualized (email, DNS, web server, WSUS, honeypot)
Proxy Firewall
1 PC with internal systems virtualized (Domain Controller)

Sure you could leave off the honeypot if you want. I wouldn't suggest it from a security perspective, though. It is a valuable part of a solid first line of defense.

That is maybe 140w if you can get the full systems under 20w each. I am just not sure if you really can keep these computers that low while still allowing them to do their necessary functions.

The TDP on the Atom processors in the Acer Revo 3700s is 13w itself which doesn't leave much room for the rest of the system to operate in if you want to achieve 18w total.

At 300 euros each with 7 computers that's 2100 euros. Even if you couldn't get the same total wattage (call it 140) the hundreds of $ you might save combining 5 computers into 1 might pay for the extra wattage.

If you decide to bring down the network later, the beastly PC would be useful for something else too.

Anyway, If you take that 2100 and shave off 2x 300 for the Proxy Server and Domain Controller that would leave 1500 to make a PC that could keep 4 of the virtual PCs working and give it about 100w to play with.

It is worth considering at least.

 

[ianj14]

Hmm, food for thought.

I'm not entirely convinced by the virtual systems idea though, I'm perhaps a bit too old school to trust many systems to one set of hardware.

Regarding performance, I have the web server already and under load it's about 18W and handles the relatively light traffic without issue. All the machines will be relatively lightly loaded so the Atom should be able to handle what's going on. I suppose part of my OP was to see what alternatives to the Atom exist within the same price/low power spec.

The price of each machine is around 160 GBP (VAT reclaimed), somewhat less than the 300 Eur you have mentioned. I've no interest in using a beast later on, so that would be a waste. Total cost of the five additional PCs in my original plan would be around 760 GBP though some memory upgrades would be required later on but should only add about 40 GBP so total maybe 800 GBP.

 

[Raiddinn]

The first price I found on a UK website (aria maybe) was 300 GBP, but I guess if you could get a better deal elsewhere then that would change some things.

Anyway, you may have trouble getting a system that can run 5 virtual servers easily for 160 GBP x 5 so maybe not.

If you do go that direction, though, if one server crashes it doesn't affect the underlying PC any. You would just have to bring up that virtual "tab" and reboot it.

I haven't heard of a PC with a virtualized environment crashing both itself and the underlying PC it is hosted on unless there was a hardware failure somewhere.

Be that as it may, I don't think anything else can really compete with atom processors for low wattage.

 

[ianj14]

It was the hardware failure bit that I'm concerned about. The virtual machine principal has much to commend it, with perhaps the main thing against it being the hardware failure taking down all VMs on the underlying host.

Still, your replies have given me a useful perspective, so kudos for those.

 

[Raiddinn]

You can figure out within a week or two with stress testing if your 1 PC with 5 VMs on it will crash from hardware failures.

If not, then you would be 5x less likely to have hardware failures later having 1 PC instead of 5 with parts possible of breaking.

 

[synthaside]

I have just got to ask , is this going to be a solar / alternative energy powered farm ? If so I'd love to see how this works for you especially , If you do go the physical route .

My experience of the Revo's isnt too bad i picked one up of Ebuyer to use as a very basic web box which i could heavily lock down , expect very long install times , for windows OS , what were you planning on running on these machines ?

 

[synthaside]

You could try these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zotac-ZBOXSD-ID12-B-ZBOX-Mini-Barebones/dp/B004OBZC9K

supposely the same TDP of 13w as the revo , but a touch cheaper .

 

[ianj14]

Hi synthaside,

Not for a solar or other energy farm, just an aim to keep the power usage for 24/7 servers to a minimum so the leccy bill doesn't get stupidly high.

I'm already running a single Revo R3700 from eBuyer with WS2K8R2 Web edition on it. Works fine for me. The install times for an OS are irrelevant as it's only done once, so it could take a day for all I care, though I'd rather it didn't

The other servers would all get Windows OSes, though at some later date I may switch to Linux.

The Zotac box doesn't come with any HDD so that's probably why it's somewhat cheaper, but it seems also to only have one DIMM slot, against the Revo's two. Of the two, I'm still inclined towards the Revos.