While it may sound a little outdated, the websites for Hardware Asylum and Ninjalane are hosted on bare metal in a security and environmentally controlled datacenter. We know that many websites have migrated to cloud hosting platforms mostly to save money. Of course, cloud hosting is a rather expensive monthly cost but is often cheaper for companies than paying for IT support staff to manage and maintain physical systems.
This is where having extensive IT skills can actually save you money and afford you more options when it comes to how you handle your systems. For Hardware Asylum, the IT costs are basically the time needed to do whatever needs done. If the system is running fine, then there is no effort to exert. However, when things do go wrong that can often lead to entire weekends being lost or something simple like replacing a bad part.
The one downside to hosting and managing your own hardware is the eventual replacement of the hardware for a new unit and the long process of transferring the data and setting up the new machine.
Dennis indicated that, in the past the servers he picked up off ebay were simply rolled into production with very little modifications. This helped keep the costs low but, often introduced limitations that limited how things could be used.
But, not this time. The new DL360 G10, might be a few years old but, it is still widely supported by HP and there are plenty of spare parts available. This combined with our modding spirit quickly transformed a base model DL360 into an overbuilt powerhouse that is not only considerably faster than before but, has quite a few new features.
The one that is most fun is a functional mod that not only increased airflow but, helped to identify the server and will likely turn some heads when viewed in the datacenter.
Everything else is just your basic mods to improve CPU cooling, increase airflow to the GPUs, support for two GPUs in a 1U server and high-performance RAID arrays to minimize the loading time.
Overall, it’s a box I put together for a little over two grand that would have cost 20k when new from HP. Not to bad for doing things yourself.
Episode 167 featured music:
Little People - Start Shootin' (http://www.littlepeoplemusic.com/)
