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Zimaboard: The closest thing to my dream home server setup

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Re: Zimaboard: The closest thing to my dream home server setup

#11

Post by newsclues »

paldepind2 wrote: post #7

One thing I don't really understand about the Zimaboard is why it comes in such a good looking enclosure? If you want to use it with stuff connected to the PCIe/SATA ports you'll always need some extra enclosure/case anyway to keep things clean. At that point why not just ship a board like a Raspberry PI, etc? > btrfs has had some issues in the past, especially with the RAID5/6 setup I'm pretty sure that btrfs still…

It’s proprietary and easy mini homelab equipment for people who have an interest in home servers but not the time, skills or skills to setup their own.

Re: Zimaboard: The closest thing to my dream home server setup

#13

Post by smoldesu »

WJW wrote: post #10
lakomen wrote: post #3

A server without ECC RAM is not a server, sorry. It's a catastrophe bound to happen.

This makes me think: is there some sort of kernel plugin that ECC-ifies existing memory in software? Similar to how you can implement RAID in software. I even vaguely remember a kernel module (?) that transparently performed in-RAM compression so that you effectively used less memory at the cost of increased CPU usage. Can't find it anymore though.

> remember a kernel module (?) that transparently performed in-RAM compression

Zram? https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/blockdev/zram.html

It won't ECC your memory, but it can handle compression just fine.

Re: Zimaboard: The closest thing to my dream home server setup

#14

Post by [deleted] »

WJW wrote: post #10
lakomen wrote: post #3

A server without ECC RAM is not a server, sorry. It's a catastrophe bound to happen.

This makes me think: is there some sort of kernel plugin that ECC-ifies existing memory in software? Similar to how you can implement RAID in software. I even vaguely remember a kernel module (?) that transparently performed in-RAM compression so that you effectively used less memory at the cost of increased CPU usage. Can't find it anymore though.

[deleted]

Re: Zimaboard: The closest thing to my dream home server setup

#15

Post by okramcivokram »

zokier wrote: post #8

I do think that in 2023 1Gbe is starting to feel bit outdated when 2.5(/5/10) Gbe is becoming commodity. Something like NanoPi R5S has 2x2.5Gbe, and a nvme slot, all in nice little low power package. Sure, it doesn't have sata slots that OP wants, but I'd imagine similar ARM/Rockchip devices are available in all sorts of configurations.

This one is x86 architecture, and if you need more speed, there's one 4x PCIe slot available for expansion.

Re: Zimaboard: The closest thing to my dream home server setup

#16

Post by hddherman »

justinclift wrote: post #6

> This variant of the board costs 200 USD ... Doesn't sound like a good deal when compared with 2nd hand microservers and small form factor PCs from Ebay. Things like these: ∙ https://www.ebay.com/itm/175917817224 ⇦ 2x NVMe slots ∙ https://www.ebay.com/itm/204477355543 ⇦ 4x 3.5" drives, ECC memory capable Note - I don't know those sellers.

Author here. Yes, you can get a better deal if you don't care about the noise, but I value silence higher than having the best performance per dollar.

Re: Zimaboard: The closest thing to my dream home server setup

#17

Post by densh »

justinclift wrote: post #6

> This variant of the board costs 200 USD ... Doesn't sound like a good deal when compared with 2nd hand microservers and small form factor PCs from Ebay. Things like these: ∙ https://www.ebay.com/itm/175917817224 ⇦ 2x NVMe slots ∙ https://www.ebay.com/itm/204477355543 ⇦ 4x 3.5" drives, ECC memory capable Note - I don't know those sellers.

While comparing server prices it’s useful add 3-4 years of electricity cost of running it mostly idle 24/7. In europe new small power efficient SoC boards often win in such comparison over used socketed systems.

Re: Zimaboard: The closest thing to my dream home server setup

#18

Post by paldepind2 »

newsclues wrote: post #11
paldepind2 wrote: post #7

One thing I don't really understand about the Zimaboard is why it comes in such a good looking enclosure? If you want to use it with stuff connected to the PCIe/SATA ports you'll always need some extra enclosure/case anyway to keep things clean. At that point why not just ship a board like a Raspberry PI, etc? > btrfs has had some issues in the past, especially with the RAID5/6 setup I'm pretty sure that btrfs still…

It’s proprietary and easy mini homelab equipment for people who have an interest in home servers but not the time, skills or skills to setup their own.

Yes, I get that and I think it's a very cool device (given that it has sufficient IO for ones purpose).

What I don't understand is why the casing around the board itself is so well designed and good looking. To me it looks like a "finished" self-contained device on its own. But if you use it together with, say, 2 3.5" HDDs you'll surely need some enclosure around the enclosure. At that point an "ugly" Raspberry PI-style board would have been just as good.

Granted, OP makes good use of the board enclosure, but needs to DIY a case in order to do so.

Re: Zimaboard: The closest thing to my dream home server setup

#19

Post by linsomniac »

justinclift wrote: post #6

> This variant of the board costs 200 USD ... Doesn't sound like a good deal when compared with 2nd hand microservers and small form factor PCs from Ebay. Things like these: ∙ https://www.ebay.com/itm/175917817224 ⇦ 2x NVMe slots ∙ https://www.ebay.com/itm/204477355543 ⇦ 4x 3.5" drives, ECC memory capable Note - I don't know those sellers.

I have a couple of Dell versions similar to your first link, the Micro form factor. They are nice and compact, but they have heat issues. I have one running BlueIris security camera software and have to run it with the case off and an extra fan to keep it from going into thermal overload.

The next step larger systems are probably a better bet.

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