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Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

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Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#21

Post by colordrops »

rumanator wrote: post #20
colordrops wrote: post #9

A lot of skepticism in this thread. I've got a pi4 4GB running Ubuntu server, acting as a SMB file server, Plex media server, Mopidy music server, Spotify Connect endpoint, video recorder for my two outdoor IP cameras, and a Minecraft server for my kids, all running simultaneously. And it's not breaking a sweat, not even getting close to full memory or CPU utilization. I do use a USB nvme SSD enclosure for storage to…

I have a couple of RPis running Raspbian with a SMB server, and they keep on ticking without a hitch. The only problem I ever experience was when I tried to run a RPi4 as a desktop with a 4k tv. Although everything worked out of the box, sometimes the system stopped responding.

I have a 4k monitor and it works but it's too slow with Minecraft so we run it at 1080p

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#22

Post by [deleted] »

vaxman wrote: post #6

Don’t do it! For (your own) source code or valuables, you need ECC memory and a capacitor on the power supply for your storage device which, by the way, should not be prone to corruption when the device is vibrated a little too hard causing electrical shorts in the SD-card or USB connectors! Backups aren’t the answer either, in fact backups can trigger RAM errors (especially with encryption and compression enabled) t…

[deleted]

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#23

Post by rumanator »

tyingq wrote: post #14

Used Lenovo Tiny M92p/M93p units make a nicer solution for this, to me. The enclosure is already there, and no janky USB storage to deal with.

A Lenovo M92p is about 6x the price of a RPi, and the noise/form factor can't possibly be compared.

If you really want to compare a 200$ desktop with a 40$ SoC then you should aim for stuff such as those mini PC's/thin clients from Asus, which nowadays even ship with Ryzen processors.

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#24

Post by Abishek_Muthian »

colordrops wrote: post #9

A lot of skepticism in this thread. I've got a pi4 4GB running Ubuntu server, acting as a SMB file server, Plex media server, Mopidy music server, Spotify Connect endpoint, video recorder for my two outdoor IP cameras, and a Minecraft server for my kids, all running simultaneously. And it's not breaking a sweat, not even getting close to full memory or CPU utilization. I do use a USB nvme SSD enclosure for storage to…

I've had encrypted USB storage on a Pi 2, as a Git server for over 5 years, used by several users for large projects, when the commit size was large there were some CPU bottleneck(it's Pi2 after all), but never had any reliability issues although I had daily backup to another USB storage on the same device and a remote-backup pushed from the device. I might have rebooted it 3-4 times over past 5 years just for cleaning.

As long as there is proper storage (Reliable SD card for boot/root [I prefer Toshiba], USB storage for other files) and Power supply (Official RPi power supply) Raspberry Pi's have been the most reliable computing platform to me.

With current generation Pi's, it's much more easier to even boot from SSD, have better filesystem like btrfs, zswap, ArchLinux ARM etc.[1].

[1]https://abishekmuthian.com/getting-smoother-desktop-experien...

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#25

Post by Legogris »

m463 wrote: post #16
Legogris wrote: post #2

Unless you specifically need the 8GB RAM (where Rpi 4 is the only contender in this range as of right now AFAIK), IMO for server use-cases it'd be better to consider either Odroid C4 or Rock Pi 4 - both offer better storage interfaces than USB/microSD natively. Also easier to run vanilla Debian/Ubuntu (or Armbian, which is very close to vanilla but can be easily built custom for either board preconfigured with necess…

I have many pis, but when it comes to making a mini server, wouldn't it be worth it to spring for a low end intel machine, or used mini-pcs? They already come with things like power supplies, RTC+battery, on-off switches, sata and/or m.2, expandable memory, etc.

Maybe, depends on what your priorities are!

Personally I use ARM SBCs to get physically separate hosts for things like Consul/Vault/Nomad servers, k8s control plane, some monitoring instances, workers for loads that don't need blazing single-thread performance, etc. This way I can run something close to "best practices" HA redundant clusters while staying low on purchase and electricity costs, and my whole setup can fit in a suitcase if I need to move.

Some of the things you mention (m.2, RTC, switches) are things that are either included or cheap and easy add-ons to the boards I mentioned.

Another nice upside is the low power means it's easier to power them via PoE, so you don't need a power supply in the first place.

I also try to go as far as I can in the direction of libre/open software/firmware/hardware, which means I try to minimize the reliance on Intel and AMD CPUs.

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#26

Post by tyingq »

rumanator wrote: post #23
tyingq wrote: post #14

Used Lenovo Tiny M92p/M93p units make a nicer solution for this, to me. The enclosure is already there, and no janky USB storage to deal with.

A Lenovo M92p is about 6x the price of a RPi, and the noise/form factor can't possibly be compared. If you really want to compare a 200$ desktop with a 40$ SoC then you should aim for stuff such as those mini PC's/thin clients from Asus, which nowadays even ship with Ryzen processors.

The $40 SoC isn't $40 after you the drive, power supply, enclosure, etc. There's a parts list in the article. I don't think the 4GB bare RPi is $40 anyway, it's higher.

And a used Lenovo Tiny is easy to find for much less than $200. $100 shipped without an SSD, $140 with one.

You're exaggerating both ends.

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#27

Post by pengaru »

rumanator wrote: post #13
pengaru wrote: post #3

I don't understand why you would bother with this when you can pick up a second-hand Thinkpad for so cheap which brings a builtin UPS and far more performance, RAM, and IO options.

I don't see where it makes any sense to compare an ancient used end-of-life x86 laptop with a brand new ARM SoC in any of the relevant categories, such as price, form factor, power consumption, availability, and even support. Just for context, you can fit about 10 raspberry pi 4s in the same volume you fit your used laptop, and for the price of an old end-of-life Thinkpad you can buy 5 or 6 RPis. Hell, you can go to…

What do I care how many Raspberry Pis I can fit in the same space as a used Thinkpad which brings a display, keyboard, battery backup, and myriad high-speed IO ports beyond just USB, when we're talking about a stationary server role?

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume the average HNer already has numerous retired laptops collecting dust in a corner, all more powerful and better suited to connecting high-speed storage to than any Raspberry Pi. They're already wasting space and have already been manufactured, instead of adding more e-waste piecing together Pi-based storage contraptions just turn one on and set it up for server duty already.

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#28

Post by jmnicolas »

vaxman wrote: post #6

Don’t do it! For (your own) source code or valuables, you need ECC memory and a capacitor on the power supply for your storage device which, by the way, should not be prone to corruption when the device is vibrated a little too hard causing electrical shorts in the SD-card or USB connectors! Backups aren’t the answer either, in fact backups can trigger RAM errors (especially with encryption and compression enabled) t…

I hear about ECC since 15 years now but I have yet to encounter a case where I had data corruption (on any machine ECC or not).

It's not that I don't believe, but the occurrence seems to be ultra rare.

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#29

Post by snypher »

rumanator wrote: post #13
pengaru wrote: post #3

I don't understand why you would bother with this when you can pick up a second-hand Thinkpad for so cheap which brings a builtin UPS and far more performance, RAM, and IO options.

I don't see where it makes any sense to compare an ancient used end-of-life x86 laptop with a brand new ARM SoC in any of the relevant categories, such as price, form factor, power consumption, availability, and even support. Just for context, you can fit about 10 raspberry pi 4s in the same volume you fit your used laptop, and for the price of an old end-of-life Thinkpad you can buy 5 or 6 RPis. Hell, you can go to…

People need to stop thinking in terms of -ancient -used -end-of-life -old

..when describing hardware used for mostly trivial purposes. The mentality of just clicking up some new hardware with no consideration of e-waste has to stop.

Anecdote; my last laptop was a used T420. $80. You're lucky to get two Pi+SD card+power supply for that.

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#30

Post by mclehman »

WaxProlix wrote: post #8
pengaru wrote: post #3

I don't understand why you would bother with this when you can pick up a second-hand Thinkpad for so cheap which brings a builtin UPS and far more performance, RAM, and IO options.

As someone who's grown tired of a flaky rpi connected to an external drive, is there a generation to shoot for in terms of low price to reasonable performance?

I was able to swing $230 total for two x230s with the base i5 and ssds last fall/winter (actually three, but the third doesn't really count (arrived damaged, seller initiated a refund then ghosted, got a full refund from ebay)). If you're really lucky, you can find a computraced one for super cheap ($85 in my case) and then coreboot it.

That said, x220s and x230s seem to have gotten more expensive since then, I haven't seen any similarly good deals lately.

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