New Server Build Pt2: Putting it all together
969In this middle segment, the server gets all the main parts added in and tested. It goes less than smoothly.
I'll again point out, all three of these parts were filmed at the same time. YT just choked on the full upload and I had to put it up as parts.
I've received a lot of recommendations on ways to troubleshoot the VGA problems in the last video. Let me just quickly run through some info here so you can know more than what was said in the video:
- The mobo has its own onboard GPU. It doesn't use a GPU in the CPUs
- It's not the monitor
- It's not jumper settings on the motherboard
- CMOS has been cleared and I have replaced the battery.
- I have removed the CPUs and inspected all the socket pins
- I have tried different E5-2690s in this mobo
- I have tested every stick of RAM individually
- IPMI is updated to the most current correct version
- IPMI takes SIGNIFICANTLY longer to initialize when onboard video doesn't work. 26:09 in pt1 shows a full boot with working VGA. It's a lot faster. The problem is likely some kind of general failure of IPMI. IPMI does eventually start working, but the web KVM never does, but that is because there is a PCIe GPU in there. Possibly, if I left it alone to to boot with no GPU the onboard VGA might start working after a while. That is something to try.
Also, as I mentioned I want this to be a render server...eventually. I do not think I'm going to do any rendering on that tiny Radeon. I will be getting an Nvidia(I'm on linux, Nvdia works better with what I do there) GPU with an absolute minimum of 6GB of VRAM, probably more though. But that's very far off. This is a pricey build and I can easily render on my desktop until I'm ready to get another big GPU(I just got a 1080ti for editing after buying the camera, my wallet could use a break). Additionally, low profile water cooling solutions are still not low enough. If I don't get a GPU that is extremely short, then it must be put on an PCIe extension.
Why render on the server? Rendering takes 4-7hrs with the processing I'm doing on the video. That means my desktop is tied up all that time and can do nothing. I can't film because the fans make too much noise and it can't do anything interesting because it's using all the resources for rendering. If I render on the server, the desktop is always free. Additionally, I can queue renders on the server for the main video, and the previews I like to put on twitter. Also, I could have my h265 conversion script wait until the video is done being rendered, and then have it start after that. So I could have a lot of scheduled tasks that I normally do manually, all happen one after another. On my desktop there's usually something I want to do that will interrupt that.
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V67YPVKQsSQ
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyhEtor-d8A
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cfW5WRO6HY
Playlists of more stuff like this:
Computers: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJVwF78cppBjb_EinOYA2QnzaNwryOvfE
Linux: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJVwF78cppBilgBI_zCy1hqiuEMAzSFSK
2010s: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJVwF78cppBhEDg1B1A0LUkBHIxqzyBh6
Other Links
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/AkBKukU
Github: https://github.com/AkBKukU
Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/AkBKukU
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AkBKukU
Discord: https://discord.gg/E6xgGs6