4 ms·

A bit offtopic, but does anybody know a micro server the size of an Intel NUC or Mac Mini, but with 100+W desktop/server (real, not cloud) hardware for use as C

A bit offtopic, but does anybody know a micro server the size of an Intel NUC or Mac Mini, but with 100+W desktop/server (real, not cloud) hardware for use as CI server?

asdkhadsj 7y ago
Good question. I too wonder. To extend your question with my own; What would be a cost effective solution to setting up home servers for CI/storage/whatever? I could of course just buy random PC parts, but I'm curious to hear what people are liking. Are you liking your home servers form factor? Price tag? etc.
- kevstev 7y ago
  I have long been a fan of Synology NAS's for this type of thing (I have been using one since 2007). They offer CPUs these days that should be beefy enough for a CI use case, unless you have a very large project. QNAP offers similar products as well. I bought one as I just wanted a low power always-on server that Just Worked with a software ecosystem around it. You can now run docker containers on them as well easily. I can access at home or via the web- they provide a dyndns service so I can just go to http://quickconnect.to/$username http://quickconnect.to/$username and access from anywhere.
IloveHN84 7y ago
A Raspberry Pi 4 with 4GB Ram or a Intel NUC Skull Canyon
- tannhaeuser 7y ago
  A Pi is too weak for my workloads I'm afraid ;) Actually I considered a Hades Canyon (successor to Skull Canyon) with an early Intel 10th gen part but it has it's iGPU disabled and comes with a Radeon (!) GPU which just calls for trouble and additional cooling, though it's still much better than nvdia for Linux I guess. But then I'd rather go all-in on AMD CPUs which are winning in the bang-for-buck and multi-threaded department anyway. Plus, I don't want lasercut skull-shaped grilles and similar gaming traits if I can help it ;) Edit: also it's already out well over a year, and given Intel's atypical immaturity wrt their 9nm parts, it might be better to skip on this one
  - mvanbaak 7y ago
    After the latest update the mac mini is actually a very fine server. They can be configured to hold a 6-core i7 with 64gb RAM.
    - tannhaeuser 7y ago
      Not bad I guess, though I failed to find a decent review telling even what CPU and wattage the thing has, let alone how to run it with Linux. Haven't considered a Mac Mini for the job since mine is so dog-slow I'd rather run CI on my notebook.
      - mvanbaak 7y ago
        Have a look here: https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-i7-3.2-late-2018-specs.html https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-c...
        tannhaeuser 7y ago
        Seems the new Mac Mini will only run Mac OS or Windows: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/2018-mac-mini-blocks-linux-here-are-alternative-small-form-factor-pcs/ https://www.techrepublic.com/article/2018-mac-mini-blocks-li...
drKarl 7y ago
I wanted also a small, energy efficient server for CI at home. I was looking at SBCs (Single Board Computers) like Raspberri Pi and now others. Most are ARM based and max out at 2Gb or 4Gb RAM. I ended up buying an Odroid H2, which is x86 and takes up to 32GB RAM. I just received it so haven't put it together yet... also depends what you want to do with it how much you want to spend, I bought 32GB RAM, 1TB nvme and 6TB SATA HDD and plan to run everything on containers (docker). Also instead of say, Gitlab, Jenkins and Artifactory I think I'll use Gitea, Drone.io self hosted and I was looking at strongbox instead of Artifactory but not sure if it's production ready.
- lostapathy 7y ago
  Any chance you're going to post updates on this? I would love to hear how this treats you!
  - drKarl 7y ago
    I was considering writing a blog post
- gorbachev 7y ago
  What kind of enclosure are you using for it? I currently use a server I built inside a Fractal Node 304 case for that same purpose. While compact for a regular PC type server, it's still a little bulky for my liking.
  - drKarl 7y ago
    Odroid-H2 Case Type 1
Dunedan 7y ago
Check out ASRock's DeskMini series [1]. While slightly larger than a NUC you can throw in a 65W CPU. Especially the DeskMini A300 [2] for AMD APU's seems to be pretty popular. [1]: https://www.asrock.com/nettop/index.asp#DeskMini https://www.asrock.com/nettop/index.asp#DeskMini [2]: https://www.asrock.com/nettop/AMD/DeskMini%20A300%20Series/index.asp https://www.asrock.com/nettop/AMD/DeskMini%20A300%20Series/i...

A bit offtopic, but does anybody know a micro server the size of an Intel NUC or Mac Mini, but with 100+W desktop/server (real, not cloud) hardware for use as CI server?

asdkhadsj 7y ago

Good question. I too wonder. To extend your question with my own; What would be a cost effective solution to setting up home servers for CI/storage/whatever? I could of course just buy random PC parts, but I'm curious to hear what people are liking. Are you liking your home servers form factor? Price tag? etc.

kevstev 7y ago
I have long been a fan of Synology NAS's for this type of thing (I have been using one since 2007). They offer CPUs these days that should be beefy enough for a CI use case, unless you have a very large project. QNAP offers similar products as well. I bought one as I just wanted a low power always-on server that Just Worked with a software ecosystem around it. You can now run docker containers on them as well easily. I can access at home or via the web- they provide a dyndns service so I can just go to http://quickconnect.to/$username http://quickconnect.to/$username and access from anywhere.

IloveHN84 7y ago

A Raspberry Pi 4 with 4GB Ram or a Intel NUC Skull Canyon

tannhaeuser 7y ago
A Pi is too weak for my workloads I'm afraid ;) Actually I considered a Hades Canyon (successor to Skull Canyon) with an early Intel 10th gen part but it has it's iGPU disabled and comes with a Radeon (!) GPU which just calls for trouble and additional cooling, though it's still much better than nvdia for Linux I guess. But then I'd rather go all-in on AMD CPUs which are winning in the bang-for-buck and multi-threaded department anyway. Plus, I don't want lasercut skull-shaped grilles and similar gaming traits if I can help it ;) Edit: also it's already out well over a year, and given Intel's atypical immaturity wrt their 9nm parts, it might be better to skip on this one
- mvanbaak 7y ago
  After the latest update the mac mini is actually a very fine server. They can be configured to hold a 6-core i7 with 64gb RAM.
  - tannhaeuser 7y ago
    Not bad I guess, though I failed to find a decent review telling even what CPU and wattage the thing has, let alone how to run it with Linux. Haven't considered a Mac Mini for the job since mine is so dog-slow I'd rather run CI on my notebook.
    - mvanbaak 7y ago
      Have a look here: https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-i7-3.2-late-2018-specs.html https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-c...
      - tannhaeuser 7y ago
        Seems the new Mac Mini will only run Mac OS or Windows: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/2018-mac-mini-blocks-linux-here-are-alternative-small-form-factor-pcs/ https://www.techrepublic.com/article/2018-mac-mini-blocks-li...

drKarl 7y ago

I wanted also a small, energy efficient server for CI at home. I was looking at SBCs (Single Board Computers) like Raspberri Pi and now others. Most are ARM based and max out at 2Gb or 4Gb RAM. I ended up buying an Odroid H2, which is x86 and takes up to 32GB RAM. I just received it so haven't put it together yet... also depends what you want to do with it how much you want to spend, I bought 32GB RAM, 1TB nvme and 6TB SATA HDD and plan to run everything on containers (docker). Also instead of say, Gitlab, Jenkins and Artifactory I think I'll use Gitea, Drone.io self hosted and I was looking at strongbox instead of Artifactory but not sure if it's production ready.

lostapathy 7y ago
Any chance you're going to post updates on this? I would love to hear how this treats you!
- drKarl 7y ago
  I was considering writing a blog post
gorbachev 7y ago
What kind of enclosure are you using for it? I currently use a server I built inside a Fractal Node 304 case for that same purpose. While compact for a regular PC type server, it's still a little bulky for my liking.
- drKarl 7y ago
  Odroid-H2 Case Type 1

Dunedan 7y ago

Check out ASRock's DeskMini series [1]. While slightly larger than a NUC you can throw in a 65W CPU. Especially the DeskMini A300 [2] for AMD APU's seems to be pretty popular. [1]: https://www.asrock.com/nettop/index.asp#DeskMini https://www.asrock.com/nettop/index.asp#DeskMini [2]: https://www.asrock.com/nettop/AMD/DeskMini%20A300%20Series/index.asp https://www.asrock.com/nettop/AMD/DeskMini%20A300%20Series/i...