Small form factor, very low power servers?

[Phil]

I have been reading a number of articles on small form factor, very low power servers. As they use very small amounts of power they could be used at little cost for an always on simple low traffic server. Do any of you have experience of these devices?

I have heard about:

Sheevaplug (Wallwart) - its RISC based and only 5-10 watts. Wont run PCLOS.

Mini ITX form factor boards usually using Intels Atom chip (maybe 30 watts)
(Perhaps add in memory, case, solid state drive, usb dvd for say £200)

Perhaps boards exist with other chips such as AMD Geode or VIA Nano? Much lower wattage

Mac Mini allegedly uses 20 watts, nice but expensive.

I see Acer have the Revo and Veriton - unclear about wattage, maybe 30-40 watts. Possible?

Might be fun to play with something like this. Best to ask before jumping in feet first......

Phil

[OldJimbo]

You'll have to be specific about just you expect the server to do. That will allow people to figure the power needed to do it.

[kjpetrie]

Do I have experience of any of these devices? Read the spec in my signature.

It runs pclos current very well, and I do start servers (postfix, apache, smb and nmb) occasionally for local testing of websites or communication with a win virtual machine running on the same hardware. It handles them well.

I am waiting to see how it will run the new release.

[Phil]

Thanks kjpetrie, that answers my question. Looks as if lower wattage chipsets are imminent and solid state drives are dropping in price. Looks as if the parts to build an ok system would cost say £200ish (board, 1GB ram, case, SSD drive to reduce power consumption) Install system via a USB "live" drive.

OldJimbo to answer your point these systems look like fun. In due course I might set one up facing the world and see how long it lasts. Maybe apache, ftp, ssh and whatever. Low power means low operating cost, same as a 40 watt light bulb. Will run PCLOS so nice and easy.

Phil

[OldJimbo]

As you'll see by the note at the top of the page - this site is being run on a Sheevaplug:
http://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-SheevaPlug-setup.html

In due course I might set one up facing the world and see how long it lasts.

If you are learning as you go these days, then having a small server separated from your main computer by a firewall makes a lot of sense. I'd guess older routers such as the WRT54GL are getting to be available cheaply as people move to draft N. With third party firmware and "web admin" disabled, they make super low power/low cost firewalls. Then even if people cause problems, it's simply a great learning experience.

If you want to practise your networking and have a server with a graphical interface, you won't need it running except when you want to practise - so an old box would work well for now. Obviously that situation would change in a hurry with 24/7 use. But best to network behind the firewall if learning.
I'm just throwing up ideas, so forgive me if I seem to be oversimplifying.

[T6]

in one of the posts you mention the idea of assemble your own server with low power consumption

this could give you some ideas

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/25w-performance-pc,2551.html

[OldJimbo]

I think I would want to check out under-volting and under-clocking some older free systems - but the notion has merit! You won't be able to get away from buying a new 80+ power supply - but some can be both surprisingly cheap and surprisingly good, now. I'm blown away by the price and efficiency of the Corsair I'm presently using.
Such a system would let you check out firewalls first.
- I learned a lot when I used a private tracker for KTorrent - set up UPNP port forwarding on the DD-WRT firmware on the router and used Firestarter on the local machine. I used an unorthodox port.
then you could play with stuff like the server parts of these podcasts:
http://www.linuxreality.com/
I really enjoyed them!

[Phil]

Please could you verify my cost calcs for running a small server 24x7 for 365 days.....

Local company charges 15 pence for a kilowatt hour.

10 watts x 24 x 365 = 87,600 watts or 87.6 KWh

87.6 KWh or units at 15 pence is £13.14 per annum.



Say you use a small server at realistic 30 watts thats £39.42 a year to run, maybe....

[kjpetrie]

Yes, but it depends which room you put it in and how you heat your house!

For instance if you spend most of your time in a room heated by a thermostatically controlled electric heater, and the server is in that same room, it won't cost you a penny while the heater is on! (Nor would a bigger computer.) You would only pay for energy used by the server when the heating is off.

If your heating is gas and it's in the living room (and that's where your thermostat is), your house will probably use less energy and other rooms will be slightly cooler. There will be a shift of the amount the server uses from gas to electricity for the living room and the effect on your bill will be the difference in price less the reduced use for the rest of the house.

So it's not such a simple calculation.

[OldJimbo]

That sounds about right - but note the fact that in winter the computer is being used to heat the home - as kjpetrie said.So use the computer instead of a heating device. I have some tips for bread, too.
Here in British Columbia where we are punished for living in the north, we have a dual scale 59C per kwh  then 82c per kwh. Even in an apartment I've gone into the 82c range this winter. Probably the major expected earthquake will remove the need for a revolt or even election....
Your 10 watts range means a plug computer and basic router firewall for 13 pounds ($20.30 US or $21.40 CAN).
So you can see how costs cause problems in summer where even here we need to escape the heat for two weeks/year.
Computer projects are for those snowy days. After a wonderful spring (two weeks in Feb) with no snow on sidewalks, we're back to snow.
Now you do have to get one of those Kill A Watt's to see what your 1000Watt PS is actually drawing (not 1000 watts.) but you are on the right track. Just figure in heating the place against cooling it. Here - a few hours drive from Alaska, heating is half the year.
Sourdough - and even long rise time/little knead bread is too good to discuss unless you own and use a bicycle
Yes we recognize that computer power costs add up!