If you are like me, you are a passionate IT guy with a home lab and some servers in it.

I prefer buying used enterprise servers. They are reliable even after years of use and allow you to test things as close to production environments as possible. After all, how many companies are using gamer-class custom-build machines to host their data ?

There are several things that I take into account when adding a server to my home lab:

  • low noise (HP DL360 G7 is as quiet as a desktop, even though is a 1U form factor)
  • low power consumption (I use one Xeon L56xx series CPU on each of my servers, and none of them uses more that 90W of power)
  • management module (iDRAC for Dell, iLO for HP or IMM for Lenovo)

The best compromise between good and cheap, at the time of this article, seem to be the Generation 7 from HP and the Rx10 from Dell. Gen 8 and Rx20 are getting closer, but still cost more that double than their older counterparts. Yes, you can be cocky and buy a 1500 dollars server, and, by all means, do it. But it’s a lab, after all.

In my lab, I have Dell R610, Dell R710 and HP DL360 G7. Very good machines, still have a lot of juice in them and the sound from all 4 doesn’t exceed the background noise from a Star Trek movie.
After all, what’s the point in having a full rack of servers, if they are noisy as hell and make your light bulbs flicker from lack of amperage ?

People on forums say that 2U are quieter because of larger fans, but that is not true. My Dell R710, while not noisy by server standards, is actually noisier that R610 or DL360 G7, that are 1U boxes.

The management modules (iDRAC/iLO) is the hidden gem of every homelab. I use my servers daily, installing Windows, NAS OS, hypervisors and other stuff, but haven’t physically been in the lab for a week. Remote console and virtual media makes my lab work easy and fun !