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+date = 2022-11-27
+title = "Building a Custom Rack-Mounted Server"
+description = "A retrospective on building my own rack-mounted server."
++++
+
+## The Dilemma
+
+For years, I have been using desktops and a Raspberry Pi as the backbone
+of my homelab. I have always wanted to move toward a single dedicated
+server that could handle all of my tasks, but was often put off by the
+complexity of the choices (and financial roadblocks at some times).
+
+However, after purchasing a small server rack this past year, I have
+been researching to see what kind of rack-mounted server I could buy. I
+initially bought a Dell R720XD loaded up with everything I could ever
+want in a server - but I did not care for it. It was far too loud, and
+the age of the CPU/RAM was something I wanted to improve upon.
+
+After returning the R720XD, I decided that I wanted to build my own
+server with modern, consumer-grade PC components. This time, I am very
+happy with the results of my server.
+
+## Components
+
+I'll start by listing all the components I used for this server build:
+
+-   **Case**: [Rosewill RSV-R4100U 4U Server Chassis Rackmount
+    Case](https://www.rosewill.com/rosewill-rsv-r4100u-black/p/9SIA072GJ92825)
+-   **Motherboard**: [NZXT B550](https://nzxt.com/product/n7-b550)
+-   **CPU**: AMD Ryzen 7 5700G with Radeon Graphics
+-   **GPU**: N/A - I specifically chose one of the few AMD CPUs that
+    support onboard graphics.
+-   **RAM**: 64GB RAM (2x32GB) *Max of 128GB RAM on this motherboard*
+-   **Boot Drive**: Western Digital 500GB M.2 NVME SSD
+-   **HDD Bay**:
+    -   10TB WD White *(shucked, moved from previous server)*
+    -   8TB WD White *(shucked, moved from previous server)*
+    -   2 x 8TB WD Red Plus *(Black Friday lined up perfectly with this
+        build, so I grabbed two of these)*
+-   **PSU**: Corsair RM850 PSU
+-   **Extras**:
+    -   Corsair TM3Q Thermal Paste
+    -   Noctua 120mm fan *(replacement for front case fan)*
+    -   2 x Noctua 80mm fans *(replacement for rear case fans)*
+    -   CableMatters 6Gbps SATA Cables
+
+## Building the Server
+
+This took quite a while for me to build (in my opinion of time),
+totaling around 3 hours from start to finish. The case has some peculiar
+construction, so you have to completely remove the ODD & HDD cages to
+install the motherboard and other components first.
+
+Now, I've never built a computer of any kind before, so I was quite
+nervous. Personally, the only challenging part was getting the CPU
+cooler to screw into the motherboard without sliding the thermal paste
+around too much underneath. I'm still not entirely sure if I did a
+great job of it, but nothing's broken yet.
+
+The main components were all fine and simple. However, installing the
+hard drives is slightly tedious as I need to power off the server and
+completely unscrew the HDD cage to install or remove any drives.
+Additionally, the drives are screwed directly into the metal cage with
+small screws, which are quite a bit different from the HDD trays I'm
+used to in other machines.
+
+Seeing that the cases with hot-swap bays were 3-4x the price, I'm okay
+dealing with the tedium of removing the cage to install new drives.
+
+## Software
+
+I'm not going to dive into the software as I have done so in other
+recent posts. However, I wanted to note that I am using Alpine Linux on
+this server and hosting most services inside Docker. No virtual machines
+(VMs) and very few bare-metal services.
+
+## The Results
+
+How did my build turn out? Well, after migrating my other servers and
+their services over, I found that my server is blazing fast. The
+heaviest of my applications, Plex, is handled with ease. Even 4k
+streaming seems to be effortless.
+
+I am very happy with the results and will likely continue to improve on
+this server as the years go by rather than buying another used server
+online.
+
+### Mistakes I Made
+
+This post wouldn't be complete unless I wrote about the mistakes I made
+while building. The only real mistake I made beyond a "whoops I dropped
+a screw" related to airflow and fan direction.
+
+While installing the two new hard drives that showed up on 2022-11-30
+and getting ready to install the case in my rack, I noticed that the
+hard drive temperatures were quite high.
+
+I used the `smartctl` command for each of my drives
+(`/dev/sda` through `/dev/sdd`):
+
+```sh
+doas smartctl -a /dev/sda | grep Temperature_Celsius
+```
+
+The results were unusual - all four drives were idling at ~44-46
+degrees Celsius. The only drive that was cooler was my 10TB drive, which
+was at 38 degrees Celsius. I noted that this 10TB drive was also closest
+to the case fan.
+
+```sh
+ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
+# /dev/sda
+194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   147   147   000    Old_age   Always       -       44 (Min/Max 22/46)
+# /dev/sdb
+194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   141   141   000    Old_age   Always       -       46 (Min/Max 21/48)
+# /dev/sdc
+194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   144   144   000    Old_age   Always       -       45 (Min/Max 19/61)
+# /dev/sdd
+194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   171   171   000    Old_age   Always       -       38 (Min/Max 14/56)
+```
+
+After looking to see if I could fit more fans into the case, I noticed
+that the 120mm fan used for intake from the front of the case was
+actually pushing air out of the case by mistake. This fan sits right in
+front of the hard drive bay.
+
+Once I flipped the fan around to act as an intake fan, the temperatures
+dropped immediately! They are now idling at ~31-33 degrees Celsius. A
+single fan spinning the wrong way caused my drives to idle 10-15 degrees
+higher than they should have.
+
+```sh
+ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
+# /dev/sda
+194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   209   209   000    Old_age   Always       -       31 (Min/Max 14/56)
+# /dev/sdb
+194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   196   196   000    Old_age   Always       -       33 (Min/Max 19/61)
+# /dev/sdc
+194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   203   203   000    Old_age   Always       -       32 (Min/Max 21/48)
+# /dev/sdd
+194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   196   196   000    Old_age   Always       -       33 (Min/Max 22/46)
+```
+
+This was a silly error to make, but I'm glad I found it today before I
+screwed the case into the rack and made things a lot more tedious to
+fix.