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I just won an auction for 25 computers. What should I setup on them?

I placed a low bid on an auction for 25 Elitedesk 800 G1s on a government auction and unexpectedly won (ultimately paying less than $20 per computer)

In the long run I plan on selling 15 or so of them to friends and family for cheap, and I'll probably have 4 with Proxmox, 3 for a lab cluster and 1 for the always-on home server and keep a few for spares and random desktops around the house where I could use one.

But while I have all 25 of them what crazy clustering software/configurations should I run? Any fun benchmarks I should know about that I could run for the lolz?

Edit to add:

Specs based on the auction listing and looking computer models:

  • 4th gen i5s (probably i5-4560s or similar)
  • 8GB of DDR3 RAM
  • 256GB SSDs
  • Windows 10 Pro (no mention of licenses, so that remains to be seen)
  • Looks like 3 PCIe Slots (2 1x and 2 16x physically, presumably half-height)

Possible projects I plan on doing:

  • Proxmox cluster
  • Baremetal Kubernetes cluster
  • Harvester HCI cluster (which has the benefit of also being a Rancher cluster)
  • Automated Windows Image creation, deployment and testing
  • Pentesting lab
  • Multi-site enterprise network setup and maintenance
  • Linpack benchmark then compare to previous TOP500 lists
Boomkop3 ,

25 screens, 25 dancing gandalfs

Charadon ,

distcc cluster?

ricdeh ,
@ricdeh@lemmy.world avatar

I would personally attempt the Kubernetes cluster if I had that many physical machines!

Linkerbaan ,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

I don't understand why people want to use so many PC's rather than just run multiple VM's on a single server that has more cores.

___ ,

Learning.

towerful ,

Having multiple machines can protect against hardware failures.
If hardware fails, you have dono machines.
It's good learning, both for provisioning and for the physical (cleaning, customising, wiring, networking with multiple nics), and for multi-node clusters.

Virt is convenient, but doesn't teach you everything

Linkerbaan ,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

I'm not sure if running multiple single SSD machines would provide much redundancy over a server with multiple PSU's and drives. Sure the CPU or mobo could fail but the downtime would be less hassle than 25 old PC's.

Of course there is a learning experience in more hardware but 25 PC's does seem slightly overkill. I can imagine 3-5 max.

I'm probably looking at this from a homelab point of view who just wants to run stuff though, not really as the hobby being "setting up the PC's themselves".

LukyJay ,

"I don't understand why you'd run so many VMs can you can just run it on bare metal"

It's fun! This is a hobby. It doesn't have to be practical.

Linkerbaan ,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

Of course, but installing everything on multiple bare metal machines which take IP addresses, against just running it in VM's which have IP addresses... It just takes a lot of extra power and doesn't achieve much. Of course that can be said about any hobby, but I just want OP to know that there is no real reason to do this and I don't understand so many people hyping it up.

TseseJuer ,

Damn zuck meta is eating you up. Take a breather it's just for fun. Bro doesn't have to find the cure for cancer just to poke around on some new hardware

Trainguyrom OP ,

I already said in the original post I plan on sellong off and giving away ~15 of them, keeping a few as spares, and only actually leaving one on 24/7

bare metal machines which take IP addresses, against just running it in VM’s which have IP addresses

Both bare metal and VMs require IPs, it's just about what networks you toss them on. Thanks to NAT IPs are free and there's about 18 million of them to pick from in just the private IPv4 space

Big reason for bare metal for clustering is it takes the guess work out of virtual networking since there's physical cables to trace. I don't have to guess if a given virtual network has an L3 device that the virtual network helpfully added or is all L2, I can see the blinky lights for an estimate as to how much activity is going on on the network, and I can physically degrade a connection if I want to simulate an unreliable connection to a remote site. I can yank the power on a physical machine to simulate a power/host failure, you have to hope the virtual host actually yanks the virtual power and doesn't do some pre shutdown stuff before killing the VM to protect you from yourself. Sure you can ultimately do all of this virtually, but having a few physical machines in the mix takes the guesswork out of it and makes your labbing more "real world"

I also want to invest the time and money into doing some real clustering technologies kinda close to right. Ever since I ran a ceph cluster in college on DDR2 era hardware over gigabit links I've been curious to see what level of investment is needed to make ceph perform reasonably, and how ceph compares to say glusterFS for example. I also want to setup an OpenShift cluster to play with and that calls for about 5 4-8 core 32GB RAM machines as a minimum (which happens to be the maximum hardware config of these machines). Similar with Harvester HCI

It just takes a lot of extra power and doesn’t achieve much

I just plan on running all of them just long enough to get some benchmark porn then starting to sell them off. Most won't even be plugged in for more than a few hours before I sell them off

there is no real reason to do this and I don’t understand so many people hyping it up.

Because it's fun? I got 25 computers for a bit more than the price of one (based on current eBay pricing). Why not do some stupid silly stuff while I have all of them? Why have an actual reason beyond "because I can!"

25 PC’s does seem slightly overkill. I can imagine 3-5 max.

25 computers is definitely overkill, but the auction wasn't for 6 computers it was for 25 of them. And again, I seriously expected to be out of and the winning bid to be over a grand. I didn't expect to get 25 computers for about the price of one. But now I have them so I'm gonna play with them

Linkerbaan ,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

I see I was picturing a 25 pile stack of PC's this makes a lot more sense thanks for the explanation.

deFrisselle ,
@deFrisselle@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

https://lemmy.sdf.org/pictrs/image/c393cf07-37a4-4514-8c28-570da29bc022.png

possiblylinux127 ,
@possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip avatar

Do a giant Proxmox cluster. You are going to need one hell of a switch though

bradorsomething ,

Put a different operating system on each one, and make each a gateway to access the next. See who can make it through.

billwashere ,

HungerGamesOS. I love this idea!!!!

solrize ,

25 machines at say 100W each is about 2.5KW. Can you even power them all at the same time at home without tripping circuit breakers? At your mentioned .12/KWH that is about 30 cents an hour, or over $200 to run them for a month, so that adds up too.

i5-4560S is 4597 passmark which isn't that great. 25 of them is 115k at best, so about like a big Ryzen server that you can rent for the same $200 or so. I can think of various computation projects that could use that, but I don't think I'd bother with a room full of crufty old PC's if I was pursuing something like that.

Trainguyrom OP ,

I won't be leaving all of them on for long at all. I've got a few basically unused 15A electrical circuits in the unfinished basement (can see the wires and visually trace the entire runs) I'll probably only run all 25 long enough to run a linpack benchmark and maybe run some kind of AI model on the distributed compute then start getting rid of at least half of them

FryAndBender ,

UK here, we could run that from 1 plug.

11111one11111 ,

Psh 1 plug aint shit. Every Pic I see from anyone who lives out in those ghettos of India, Central America or any spacific islands they also only rock 1 plug but theyre running the corner store, the liquor store, the hospital, their style of little school middle school and old school, 3 hair salons if Latin or 3 nail salons if spasific, Bollywood, every stadium from every country in the world cup, and always 1 dude trying to squeeze 1 more plug in cuz hes runing low bats. Idk why the American ghetto is so pussy. One time i seen a family that fuckin put covers over empty sockets?!? Come on dog thats like wearing a condom jerking off. NGL tho, I get super jelly seeing pictures from those countries thp with their thousands of power lines, phone lines, sidelines, cable lines, borderlines, internet lines... fuck I don't know much about how my AOL works but those wizards must be streaming some Hella fast Tokyo banddrifts with all them wires.

ulterno ,
@ulterno@lemmy.kde.social avatar

those wizards must be streaming some Hella fast Tokyo banddrifts with all them wires.

That part is wrong for India, at least.
Here's a random site with some stats
India, you can expect ~100Mb/s with FTTH and 50Mb/s otherwise. Reliability is even worse.

Rest is right.

MenacingPerson ,

India has gigabit fiber

ulterno ,
@ulterno@lemmy.kde.social avatar

And Japan has a 300+ Tb/s connection. Your point?
My point is that the average Indian is not doing "Hella fast Tokyo banddrifts" (not sure what banddrift even means, but no).

And yes, a 1Gb/s connection is theoretically available, but how many people are using the ~₹4000/month connection?

Considering how many people tend to just not have Broadband at home, relying just on mobile internet, we can see how things compare with others.

Also, to point to the tread starter, most of the "thousands of" cables that you see on poles in congested areas, are just abandoned cables from older installations which nobody cared to remove.

MenacingPerson ,

I'm not the same dude that was talking about banddrifts and congested poles.

Indian, btw.

MenacingPerson ,

Also ~100Mb/s is in no way the average speed in an Indian household. It's usually lower. I also don't see any specific mentions of india in your link up there to that random site.

ulterno ,
@ulterno@lemmy.kde.social avatar

Also ~100Mb/s is in no way the average speed in an Indian household.

You're right. It's not.

I also don’t see any specific mentions of india in your link up there to that random site.

I don't see any either. Guess why. Because it only has the top 10, further emphasising the point that :

the average Indian is not doing “Hella fast Tokyo banddrifts”

billwashere ,

This is only about 21 amps. Most outlets in a home are 15amps but 20amps isn’t unheard of. From one outlet doubtful but yes one house would provide that much power easily if you split them up to three or 4 rooms on different breakers.

Now it would be fun to watch his electric meter spin like a saw blade … (yes I’m old .. I remember meters that had spinning discs)

Zorg ,
@Zorg@lemmings.world avatar

Just two 15A breakers is enough actually. Outlets are supposed to be able to sustain 80% power, so you should be able to pull 1.44kW from a singly puny Nema 5-15.

billwashere ,

Well true but I was assuming the circuits had some things drawing a little power. Flipping on a device and tripping a breaker with 12 machines on it wouldn’t be ideal :)

I have done this before in my upstairs home lab. 3 beefy ESXi machines, some nas storage, and a basic 10gbe switch eats up a lot of a single 15amp circuit. And apparently turning on a TV pushes it over the edge. Luckily the UPS saved my but while a reset the breaker and shut some stuff off.

possiblylinux127 ,
@possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip avatar

Jack into the local coffee shop

rsolva ,
@rsolva@lemmy.world avatar

I have a couple of these (only the G2 and G3 SFF) and they consume between 6-10w when not under load, and they max out at 35w (or 65w depending on CPU). I run proxmox with 64gb ram and they are surprisingly efficient.

Blackmist ,

That's less than a kettle, in the UK at least.

Of course I wouldn't want to be running that all the time, because electric ain't cheap.

h3ndrik ,

Hmm, get 25 monitors and friends and play one of those starship bridge simulators like https://smcameron.github.io/space-nerds-in-space/

fed0sine ,

You made me remember PULSAR - Lost Colony which is a decent iteration of co-op space bridge sim!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/252870/PULSAR_Lost_Colony/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwj0mZ6uoNSFAxW9K0QIHcXLC0QQFnoECAUQAg&usg=AOvVaw0CFefNXsaZDgCiaIDnHoF1

Bahnd ,

Oh, that one was a blast! I need to get my nerd herd to revisit it... Although all we did was play liars dice while the ship was on fire.

GhostTheToast ,

I volunteered as tribute to be one of these 'Friends'

cmnybo ,

I certainly wouldn't want pay the power bill from leaving a bunch of these running 24/7, but would work fine if you wanted to learn cluster computing.

You could always load them up with a bunch of classic games and get all your friends over for a LAN party.

Blort Bot ,
@Blort@social.tchncs.de avatar

@Trainguyrom

Mango ,

Xonotic!

solrize ,

Do you have particularly cheap or free electricity?

Trainguyrom OP , (edited )

12 cents per kilowatt-hour. I certainly don't plan on leaving more than a couple on long term. I might get lucky with the weather and need the heating though :)

Bigoldmustard ,

If you purchased them from the federal government they won’t have hard drives.

Trainguyrom OP ,

State government, and it says they come with SSDs. They came from a school so presumably they're from a lab or are upgraded staff PCs, both would be pretty low sensitivity. Maybe I'll learn the final test answers for Algebra 1 at worst!

Might be fun to do some forensic data recovery and see if anything was missed though

Bigoldmustard ,

Ooh, or behind the scenes email drama from staff!

empireOfLove2 ,
@empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

BOINC! Do some science. :)

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