System Builder Tips

8 posts

AMD EPYC or Intel Xeon? Some Thoughts

The discussion around Windows or Linux can be religious. As can be the discussion around which platform to use whether it be Intel or AMD. Qualifier: We’ve been in the System Builder Channel since the late 1990s. Intel System Builder When we started MPECS in 2003 we were an all […]

AMD EPYC and Ryzen ThreadRipper Cooling: It’s Important to get the Right Cooler!

We’re in the process of building an AMD ThreadRipper based system. One thing to keep in mind when it comes to either AMD EPYC or AMD ThreadRipper is that they are _big_ processors! So, when looking to cool the processor it’s important to make sure the cooler is designed for […]

Azure Stack HCI/Storage Spaces Direct: Optimal Network Configuration

There are many ways one can go about setting up the networking for an Azure Stack HCI (ASHCI)/Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) cluster. TL;DR Our rule of thumb is to start with four 25GbE ports via two network adapters for multiple nodes requiring switches or even in smaller […]

Custom Build S2D: The Elusive SlimSAS 8x (SFF-8654) Cable

Server and workstation boards have had SlimSAS 8x connectors for dual NVMe drive setups for quite a long time now. ASRock Rack EPC621D6U-2T16R (BTO Board) The SlimSAS SFF-8654 connector is to the right of the PCIe x16 slot. When they started appearing on server and workstation boards, we began trying […]

TYAN RMM TIPs: Default Username and Password Plus Set Up Tips

TYAN has an excellent built-in Remote Management Module (RMM) that does not require an extra license like some Tier 1 vendors do. TYAN Default Administrator Username and Password The default TYAN username and password is: Username: root Password: superuser The first thing we do when we sign in is create […]

System Builder Tips: Intel R2208WFTZSR Maintenance Free Backup Unit Integration and New RMM iKVM

We completed a custom server build yesterday. Intel R2208WFTZSR 2U dual Intel Xeon Processor Server System Dual Intel Xeon Processor 6240Y 192GB ECC RAM (12x 16GB) Intel RAID Controller and Intel RAID Maintenance Free Backup Unit (2) 240GB Intel SSD M.2 RAID 1 (2) 3.8TB Intel SSD D3-S4510 SATA RAID […]

Data Centre SSDs: No Power Loss Protection (PLP) Means No S2D Deployments

Reading this article on Serve The Home this morning: Kingston DC450R SSD Released SATA and 3.84TB Maximum. The Kingston DC450R SSD is being released with “Data Center Series” on the sticker. But, it does not have power loss protection (PLP) so how could this be? The suspicion here is that […]