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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

#91

Post by the_pwner224 »

justin66 wrote: post #90
novok wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A direct m.2 or sata slot so you don't have to deal with USB annoyances.

Since the Pi people finally got USB boot finished for the Pi 4, I'm not sure what USB annoyances are left to worry about? That's really why I asked the question. A USB 3 SSD seems about as trouble-free as a storage device can possibly be.

A M.2 SSD is more trouble free.

I recently built a desktop computer. It uses a 6x6 inch mini-ITX motherboard. The motherboard has a CPU and 2 sticks of RAM in it, raising the height to about 2 inches. The SSD goes inside the motherboard in the M.2 slot. Aside from this 6x6x2" unit, the only other things are:

- the gigantic graphics card - not necessary on these type of computers - the power supply unit - standard USB unit for these - and the CPU cooler which is a big hunk of metal sticking out and raising the total height to about 6 inches - again not necessary, maybe a tiny passive heatsink

M.2 is faster and lets you put a tiny SSD (literally just a PCB with flash chips on it) inside the thing instead of having a large external USB SSD with a cable to connect. So in the end you have a super compact computer that is basically just one PCB with another PCB inside it and maybe a tiny heatsink.

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#92

Post by ThrowawayR2 »

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?

As someone who's not a huge fan of used laptops as servers (they've already seen hard use and are not really meant for 24x7 operation either), consider the Odroid H2+ instead: https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-h2plus/ Tiny, x86-based, and only $119 plus RAM and storage.

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#93

Post by kingosticks »

LargoLasskhyfv wrote: post #65
ratiolat wrote: post #54

I am waiting for AMD based "NUC", because I don't want to give money to Intel. The reason I want a AMD based computer is to run vanilla Debian on it. Vanilla debian does not run on Raspberry unfortunately. Currently I'm running Odroid XU4, but I need more ram and horsepower.

Maybe not exactly what you are looking for, because larger and more expensive than most systems in this context, but it comes with anything one needs, with the exception of CPU, RAM and storage. https://www.asrock.com/nettop/AMD/DeskMini%20A300%20Series/

I keep almost buying one but never quite get there. An updated version is around the corner and although it will support the new 4000 series APUs (when they become generally available), it's otherwise underwhelming compared to the updated Intel model.

https://liliputing.com/2020/08/asrocks-new-deskmini-pcs-supp...

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#94

Post by elcritch »

ratiolat wrote: post #54

I am waiting for AMD based "NUC", because I don't want to give money to Intel. The reason I want a AMD based computer is to run vanilla Debian on it. Vanilla debian does not run on Raspberry unfortunately. Currently I'm running Odroid XU4, but I need more ram and horsepower.

As another one, there's minisforum on Indiegogo. Still $500 bucks though. Pretty decent specs Ryzen5 and Vega 8 with dual ethernet ports.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-next-gen-minis-amd-ye...

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#95

Post by m-p-3 »

Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #24
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 cleani…

I believe you can boot from USB now, even on the Pi 4. No way I'd rely on an SD card for the OS if this was to be used over a long period. I saw too many of those fail or become corrupted over time, even when minimizing writes.

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#96

Post by m-p-3 »

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…

Does it cope well with on-the-fly transcodes (1, maybe 2 simultaneously) with Plex? Just in case it encounters a client that cannot direct-play a video.

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#97

Post by kingosticks »

zelly wrote: post #40
mastrsushi wrote: post #4

An ARM based server almost sounds like an oxymoron.

I got a Raspberry Pi 4 and naively thought that because it was ARM it used little power and didn't need fans. In a few weeks the board melted and now won't turn on. Was only running a few programs.

How did the cpu throttling not kick-in and prevent this from happening? Mine gets hot and gets slow. It does not melt.

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#98

Post by colordrops »

m-p-3 wrote: post #96
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…

Does it cope well with on-the-fly transcodes (1, maybe 2 simultaneously) with Plex? Just in case it encounters a client that cannot direct-play a video.

I haven't tried, but I suspect it would take a hit.

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#99

Post by colordrops »

wishinghand wrote: post #84
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…

What USB nvme enclosure are you using? And what SSD?

SSK Aluminum M.2 NVME SSD Enclosure Adapter

Samsung (MZ-V7E1T0BW) 970 EVO SSD 1TB

Re: Turning the Raspberry Pi 4 into a Mini Server

#100

Post by fuzzythinker »

elcritch wrote: post #94
ratiolat wrote: post #54

I am waiting for AMD based "NUC", because I don't want to give money to Intel. The reason I want a AMD based computer is to run vanilla Debian on it. Vanilla debian does not run on Raspberry unfortunately. Currently I'm running Odroid XU4, but I need more ram and horsepower.

As another one, there's minisforum on Indiegogo. Still $500 bucks though. Pretty decent specs Ryzen5 and Vega 8 with dual ethernet ports. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-next-gen-minis-amd-ye...

Another one in here. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-new-gen-amd-ryzen-5-m...
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