
Server Build and Install - Sami_Lehtinen
https://blog.mojeek.com/2019/12/100-server-build-and-install.html
======
lazylizard
Just saying. The decision is cost vs effort vs time to recovery. We dont
build. Its a toss up between keeping spares of everything and next business
day warranty. We went for the warranty. But we keep spare disks and switches.
I'm totally curious about the servers that didn't work out and building your
own with the parts you wanted...shouldnt there be any number of systems
integrators who will build to whatever you like?

~~~
h2onock
It's a long story and not completely the integrator's fault but in the end we
had to replace all of the memory. Since then we have stuck to the same part
manufacturers where possible. We don't know whether we've just been lucky or
simply haven't reached a critical mass where it becomes a common problem, but
it's been extremely rare for a part to arrive in working order and go on to
fail within the warranty period. Maybe that's a testament to Supermicro, we
have had some problems with their power supplies but all sometime after the
warranty period has ended.

------
nubb
Reading this gave me PTSD flashbacks of sleeping on datacenter floors doing
grueling build outs. I can (kind of) appreciate saving money by building these
servers manually but the work is so terribly boring.

Plus, doesn't self building these boxes put the liability on the company
rather than the manufacturer? If a server dies, you can't just rma it in this
case, no? The ability to just box up and rma a server was something I loved as
dcops.

~~~
h2onock
We (Mojeek) got our first batch of servers complete and it didn't work out so
since then we have built them ourselves with the parts we want and that have
been reliable for us.

It's an exciting time for us so it wasn't boring, but ask again after the next
few hundred and you might get a different answer.

~~~
nubb
Glad you're having fun with it. Congrats on your success so far!

