Do those have VT-D and can they accept a decent amount of ram like 16GB or so? Very tempting to build a Proxmox cluster if I can find some here in Canada.
Look for a Lenovo M720Q, M920Q, or M330. All of them not only do VT-D and IOMMU but even have a real PCIe x8 slot. I picked up an M720Q for $220 CDN off FB Marketplace and it’s my Proxmox server running pfSense, Window Server 2016, Turnkey-NAS (using an 8TB and a 16TB USB 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps external hard drives), Pi-Hole, and a battery backup monitor LXC.
I have 32GB RAM in it, but even though the docs say that’s the maximum I’ve been told by several people that you can actually put two 32GB modules in them for a total of 64GB. When the M720Q was released 16GB was the biggest RAM module you could get.
No cluster yet, but someday…
What are you running on them ?
Oh sweet sweet jebus I wish I had those.
I wanna build a cluster so bad!!!
they call it soul train.
Have fun.
Im about to purchase 5 of those as well. They are bios passworded, so I’ll have to put some extra work in de-solder the bios, flash and solder them back. Little extra work, but got a nice deal.
is there not just a simple jumper header for clearing cmos?
That actually sounds like a fun challenge! Good luck to you!
I have been living under a rock lately. Is this the new homelab meta, building a k8s cluster of mini PCs?
Honestly I have no clue why you’d need a cluster at home either. But I guess it’s fun to tinker? A raspberry pi cluster would be cheaper though and have the same result.
The fact Pi prices have been so high is what has driven everyone down the mini pc route. Cheaper, more expandable and more performant.
Cheaper*
* If you live in a cheap used tech market area
Not if you have to run x86 software
Give me back my stack of EliteDesk 800G1s!
Haha… have the same 5-pack… enjoy!
Most of mine eventually ended up with Linux as web browsers nowadays, but one still runs my website and another runs my email.
I’m a Lenovo m715q mini PC man myself, but I really do love the 1L form factor for home lab
My mini pc hypertrain contains 3x Beelink S12Pro Proxmox HA Cluster
Choo Choo, motherfucker!
ELITE
I have a few of these pc’s but i have no idea what to do with it. One runs my home assistant but i could run that on my other server with truenas…
I have the same question. We are about to sunset about 20 of these at work. I could take them but would have no clue what to do with them. I have zero interest in learning Kubernetes as the network I sysadmin for is so dirt simple as far as servers go. VMWare cluster maybe? Proxmox cluster?
Proxmox cluster. And you can run all your services in LXC containers instead. And not have to bother with docker? And have cetralized storage to your NAS?
Lucky you. These are fun machines!
Any solutions to reducing the amount of power bricks for devices like this? I have two of these PCs in a small cupboard along with router, modem, 8 port switch and external USB hard drive. The devices themselves sound take up much space but I have 8 devices with varying sizes power bricks in the same tiny cupboard
A lot of these devices are above 12v so with that said yes it can be done but it would require a special power supply that puts out enough watts and enough volts at whatever the voltage is cut the power ends leaving the ferrite on make sure you keep center Pin Positive or Negative whatever they are or meter to find positive and negative before you fully cut them off the bricks and viola a power supply. I’m guessing a lab power supply would likely come close to what you need its adjustable in voltage and amperage.
I’m currently in the stages of taking the other route I want multiple cores and virtual machines = less electricity. Looking at getting cloudmin running only 75 big ones a year less than I would spend on having another rig up a whole year. IDK just seems like it’d be the way to roll if you ask me beef up one server run KVM and viola done deal. Everything managed from any TV in any room of the house with a video network and a switch 4k management of multiple servers with a single server sipping electricity. The savings in electric will pay for the expense over time. So no point in cheaping out here. Bit of a curve at the moment but I’ll get there.
Perhaps, i tried reading up about it, looks like HP will not just accept 19V and needs some sort of verification of the power supply’s capabilities. It will just run in “Low power mode” if only 19V is supplied and no data signal
You should try maas.io for managing those bad boys