I’m not tech illiterate, but it’s also not my job or anything. That said I managed to figure out how to get a synology up and running and it hosts my Jellyfin and *arrs. Nothing too exciting. I also have a couple of vps’s that I use for nextcloud, a recipe server, all in docker containers. Not nothing but also, not the hardest thing to accomplish.
Well, my manager gifted me an old Dell PowerEdge R720 and 4 hard drives. Yeah, this is way more than I know what to do with, or even where to start. Do I need to plug both power cables in? I still need to figure out how to get a monitor hooked up to it with what looks to be a VGA cable. And even then this thing is a behemoth and what do I even do with it?? My manager was so excited to talk to me about it and I’m all 😵💫
Where do I start?
VERY IMPORTANT PAY ATTENTION TO THIS SENTENCE OP
Yeah, I’m glad I don’t work with enterprise gear anymore, I swear I have permanent hearing damage from the server room…
My current setup is an old PC, a Raspberry Pi, and a Mikrotik router. Oh, and a VPS because CGNAT. Everything is quiet, and soon I’ll replace the old PC with something more power efficient (currently sucks 50W or so idle for no good reason).
I had an used R710 I used for a good 8 years and just updated it last fall.
I calculated that the power savings alone would pay for my hardware in about a year. And I get much more power out of a modern system for about 1/3 the energy usage.