Node1.daisettalabs.net, my primary PC and the best-equipped server in the homelab, has received an upgrade.
A whitebox upgrade. Literally:
I’m a fan of metaphors and whitebox everything is a powerful one in our line of work, so I figured why not roll my own whitebox server in the lab?
Node1 vitals:
- Motherboard: Supermicro X10SAT with all the PCIe 3.0 slots you’d need, Thunderbolt port, and integrated Haswell graphics plus a pair of Intel NICs
- CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K (Haswell), quad core with hyperthreading
- RAM: 4x8GB Kingston Hyper-X non-ECC
- Storage (Boot): 2xSamsung 850 SSD (240GB) in RAID 0 because
I like to live dangerouslyI’ve just about automated the buildout of this server and most of my data is in One Drive for Business - Storage (Tiered Storage Spaces): 2x 128GB SanDisk Extreme + 2x1TB WD Red 2.5″
- Graphics: AMD FirePro W4100 w/ 2GB RAM makes my Visio buttery smooth.
- Networking: The Supermicro has a pair of Intels, an I-210 and a 217V, both of which connect up to my Cisco 2960S in the garage. To that I’ve also added a Pro1000 PCIe 2.0 card with dual ports, one of which also connects to the 2960S (I only ran 3 cables from the garage to my home office)
- OS: Server 2012 R2 Standard, naturally, with full Desktop GUI and Windows Management Framework February 2015 preview so that I can tinker with DSC
- Case: NZXT 340 something or other. Very nice case for $70. I’ve never wanted to exhibit the inside of a PC I’ve built, but this case makes it so simple to hide the nasty PC underlay (power, SATA etc)
#WhiteboxGlory shot of the innards that make the child partition go “wooooow!!”
Wilson.tech 