Unboxing and Setting Up Two Dell PowerEdge R720 Servers

[@callmebigpapa]

The miracle of this video is that the ears survived the shipping process!

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Yes, I found one of the ears on the XD a little wobbly.

[@victorcoss2600]

The Windows install taking up ~100GB of storage out of the box is due to the page file. When you have a system with a crap ton of ram, like in your case 192GB, the page file will closely match it. Wears the hell out of an SSD too. I'd change the page file size or disable it completely. I'd also disable the hibernation file.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Thanks for the info, I’ll have to check on that!

[@IslasAutomate_]

CMD as Admin >> powercfg.exe -h off

[@ricsip]

pagefile wont be used anyway, if there is plenty of free RAM. Just because a huge pagefile is allocated, it doesnt mean its content will be frequently changed. Also just because the pagefile is allocated that large, it doesnt mean the ssd wear out sooner. Ssd wear leveling makes sure the writes are spread out on the entire ssd. Dont spread misinformation if you dont have any clue how windows pagefiles and ssd storage wear leveling work in reality.

[@RobinB787]

Thanks for the video. Interesting to see how you set them up.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

I'm glad you liked the video!

[@robertchamberlin2362]

I love these server videos!

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked the video!

[@rdsii64]

You made out very well getting a unit that came with that much storage for so cheap.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Yeah, the prices have been going up and down. You have to watch out for the deals. I want to get another one soon.

[@ebubegideon1060]

This is just amazing to watch. I have been captivated by computer networking but I don't know how to get started. Currently running a VM in my PC to simulate how a network really operates. I will be very grateful to get honest suggestions.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Start small and expand as you get more comfortable. I started with some old desktop PCs at my house, then I got some used servers that were cheap. I started with a cheap unmanaged network switch, then upgraded to managed switches and learned about VLANs. It can be overwhelming to think about everything all at once. Just start small, and get comfortable with one thing before moving on to something else.

[@ebubegideon1060]

@@G6TechnologyServices Thank you. I will try looking for basic materials before expanding. I currently cannot enroll in IT institutes like Cisco. How did you cope learning on your own? What resources helped you? I am sorry for many questions at the same time.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

It was a lot of trial and error. I made a lot of mistakes until finally getting it right. I would spend hours and hours every day working on projects. I had something in my mind that I wanted to do, like make IP phones work, or set up Active Directory, and I kept trying until it worked. I would sometimes have to erase everything and start over if I messed it up badly enough. Now, I have the benefit of utilizing snapshots on VMs, so I can revert to a previous point instead of erasing the whole thing. I would be on Google a lot searching for information, reading forum posts. Sometimes KZbin as well, but I would get frustrated when they skipped over important things, or talked for 30 minutes and never covered what I wanted to hear. That's why I, still to this day, prefer reading articles and forums over watching videos. Unless you get a really good presenter who is concise and doesn't ramble too much, but still covers all the important parts in detail. That's what I try to do when I make tutorial type videos. Good luck!

[@CaleMcCollough]

You can get a drive bay adapter to convert an optical drive to a 2.5" drive.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

That's an idea. Good to know!

[@ronaldtakala236]

I have an R710 running TrueNas from mirrored m.2 drives in the optical drive slot

[@karthanis]

I think the yellow flashing light is because the 'mirror' doesn't have the mirror. Also, on my T320s I have found that the controllers do not like a lot of drives. I had tried to use several HDs that were pulls from various laptops, and the controllers reported that most of them were bad drives. I ended up buying newer SSDs and that cleared up the lights. (with proper mirror...)

[@G6TechnologyServices]

That’s probably the case. I’ll have a follow up video on these servers at some point. I got some additional drive carriers and I want to add a second drive to mirror the boot disk. I’ll also need to see about getting a new storage controller for the TrueNAS server. We’ll see how it goes!

[@damonpence]

Been looking at the 720XD, 730XD, etc. I noticed you have the 710 Raid controller and the only RAID's that allow passthrough that I have found for TrueNas or other software is the 310(720) 330(730) Raid controllers. Also, the 2 rear caddy ports are for 2.5in drives but you would have to also purchase the $35 card that mounts on the inside for those caddies to plug into. you may already know all of this but just hope this is somewhat helpful. good video, enjoyed.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Thanks for the information; it is definitely helpful! I'm glad you enjoyed the video! :)

[@junkyinny]

@@G6TechnologyServices Flashed my 710 raid card to IT mode, do software raid instead.. youtube has vids.

[@ks0z3]

720xd is more desirable for diy NAS and typically sell for more thab the reg r720 sibce you get 4 more 3.5 drives. Just order extra trays. the rear drives requires a kit and prerty handy. internally the mb and rest of stuff are the same. the 720xd is a good find, provided everything else works. fan noise ramps up with the last dell bios upgrade once you add non dell drives. if you find that is the case, you need to manually override the fan speeds using IPMItools.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Good to know, thanks!

[@tg9754]

Great video, I use to have a client with R710's so I'm very familiar with those servers. They are slow by today's standards, but still good work horses. See you next time!

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Thanks for watching. I’m glad you liked the video! I like my Dell servers a lot. They are very reliable!

[@Ata5ll]

You can use a imbus for a torcks but I don't remember if it was a bigger or a smaller size.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

I'll get that handle put on eventually!

[@gglsniper]

I don't have a R720 but it loos similar to the R730s I have. First if you want to use the two 2.5 bays in the back, you will need to get the backplane kit with cables, if they plug straight into the motherboard I believe they are only SATA, and only software raid. However, if you plug them into a Dell PCIE raid controller, you can have use either SATA or SAS with raid, or you can use HBA cards. As for using the server for TrueNAS, ZFS really don't like raid controllers, so you need to check if H710 raid controllers have Enhanced-HBA mode, my H730 have, but I don't have a H710 to try. You can check in BIOS Device Settings, and find the raid controller, should be a setting in there. If it doesn't support it, you should change it to a SAS HBA card, or flash the H710 to IT mode.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Thanks for all the information! I ended up repurposing them so I didn't put TrueNAS on either one. I do want to get another one for TrueNAS and I'll have to use one of those options to pass the drives through and not use the hardware RAID.

[@faizalraazy91]

Good informative video brother appreciate your effort

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Thanks, I’m glad you liked the video!

[@rdsii64]

My Dell R720 serves as my nvr server. I'm running windows server 2019 on bare metal and the only service running on it is blue iris. Believe it or not, it is surprisingly quiet even if it's only running once service. That may change as I add cameras but for now its its office desktop quiet.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Yeah, these are nice and quiet once they settle down after booting up. I went cheap and just put Windows 10 on mine for Blue Iris. I'd like Windows Server, but the licenses are too expensive last I checked.

[@reinekewf7987]

50:35 this is a real concern but you had might be getting the key from and installed a fresh one and had to used that key, but personaly for me i dont use windows i am a ubuntu server guy i know this system but on windows i am lost.

[@info-ti]

Great video. It's very good.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!

[@claudioinostroza2286]

Hey, great detailed video!! The setup of the first server is really good. Can you provide the link of the vendor on Amazon you purchased it from. Based on the hardware included and the packing material, it seems like they would be a good vendor get good used equipment from.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Here is the listing. Make sure to select IT Superstore as the seller. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075Z3F37Z/

[@freddyhardware840]

I have a 4 bay R620. I was thinking of doing the same but don't know where to start. I'm also wondering if the controller that came with it will support the 8 bays and if not, what controller do I need to get. It's got 2 CPUs, 88Gb RAM and two X 750W PSUs

[@PeterBatah]

Thank you for sharing. Did you find the R720 to be louder than you had expected? This is what concerns me somewhat.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Glad you liked the video! It was as loud as I expected. The XD stayed pretty loud, but the regular one quiets down a lot once the OS boots up all the way and everything calms down.

[@chrisKnapp-d3c]

this is the pickiest person ive seen review a used server geez

[@G6TechnologyServices]

What can I say 🤷‍♂️

[@AllanteLexus]

Great video my friend!!!

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!

[@Jampyr]

Hi g6, I got a question :) I got a deal on an r720 with originally 2.5 bays and the seller is saying its not going to work for my 3.5 drives. Any suggestions I've never touched these type of computers before so I dont know if im missing something obvious. In a normal computer its just a cable i plug it to a 2.5 or 3.5 no fuss but I'm not sure if dell's require an hdd bay . I dont mind frankesteining it a bit and just having mypair of hdd drives sitting there without being secure. Any recommendations?

[@G6TechnologyServices]

3.5" drives won't fit into the 2.5" drive bays. There are no cables in the drive bay. It is a SAS expander backplane (circuit board with connectors on it). It is designed for the drives to slot in and plug right onto the board. You might be able to get an extension cable like this and plug it into the backplane where the drive bay is and wedge the 3.5" drive in or set it on top of the server to make it work, amzn.to/4889lg4 but I can't say for sure it will work. You might also be able to get the 3.5" drive cage and backplane online some where and switch them out. Either way, I'm uncertain and it is somewhat of a risk. Good luck.

[@10rdrivers78]

what kind of a electric bill you get ? Also what do you use for backup of that operation?

[@G6TechnologyServices]

I don't pay for power in this building; it is included in the rent. I back everything up to my TrueNAS server which then backs up encrypted copies of everything to Backblaze B2. Thanks for watching!

[@hefeydd_]

As a Network Engineer, I've done this so many times I could do one blindfolded.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

I completely understand. I’ve unboxed hundreds of laptops at a previous job and it gets old fast. Haha

[@reinekewf7987]

ok the second one is not quite that what you ordered but it is a 12 + 2 bay system. i kinda like this one even it is in a rough shape but those dell servers are build like a tank so nothing to worry about. the internals drives are connected to the blue an white sata2 ports and for power there is a connector near that ports you need a cable for it cost around 10€. those internals drives are normally used for the os therefore sata2 is fine. thats the 4 bays in the front are not covered is a ugly move but no big deal caddys are cheap i think 14€ or so and the blank cost 10€ or so. if i would refurbish old dell servers i would sell them with caddys instead of blacks also having the blanks in the ram is nice to. i dont know about the idrac but i think the cover does mean nothing. i have a r630 with enterprise idrac8 and it had a rubber cover in it too but it worked also all ports where covered in mine even the usb, vga and serial. about the usb in the first one dell dont use coloring for some reason. the r630 has 2 usb3 ports on the back, one inside and 2 usb2 on the front. none of them are colored. mine was also not that what i ordered but they said on the order page all are 8 bay systems but configuration varies i got the 44core xeon e5 2699v4 monster but only one 16gb stick of ram per cpu and one sas drive but with windows server 20 and idrac8 enterprise and a h330 drive controller and 4 10gbit network. but i got the 3 pcie model. this system was clean and had all covers and inserts. i was happy whith that and payed only 600€ for. ok i spend afterwards nearly 1000€ for 24 used 32gb lodrim ram sticks and used 1.8tb sas drives but this was worth it for me. i needed the performance. i also had be unlucky and get the dual 4 core v3 models with no drive controller only the hba and standard idrac7. afterwards i discovered the 2699v4 are rare so i got realy lucky with this ^^ i had thinking about to buy a h730 controller but i do not really need those funktions so the h330 is fine

[@HaloWolf102]

I have 3 HITACHI and 2 HGST. They display as 'FAILED' for the state in the PERC 6/i Integrated BIOS Config. These drives work perfectly fine as boot devices and storage media outside the server. How do I remedy these problems?

[@G6TechnologyServices]

I would highly recommend checking the SMART data with a disk check tool like CrystalDiskInfo to verify the drive health. It is possible for disks to be in a state of impending failure but still function. You don’t want to be caught off guard. If they pass the disk check, you might just need to clear the config in the PERC card.

[@HaloWolf102]

@@G6TechnologyServices Just realized PERC 6/i can't handle 2Tb+ drives. I ordered a H700 with the appropriate cables.

[@Waltkat]

That Dell looks almost exactly the same as a Cisco UCS series server.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Could be. Dell does white label servers for many companies.

[@creamonmynutella2476]

Hello, I recently purchased a dell poweredge r720 that did not come with any drives at all. I installed two sata ssds and I am having a very hard time with getting the system to detect them. The server has a dell perc s110 raid card. When i go into the raid card configuration, it only shows my DVD drive. I have zero experience with servers

[@G6TechnologyServices]

I'm not sure what's going on. There are a few things it could be. If you ordered drive caddies for it, make sure to use the correct screw positions so the drive actually seats into the connector on the backplane. If it is too far forward in the caddy, it won't plug in to the backplane.

[@jashpindersinghgill3661]

beautiful stuff

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Thanks!

[@ioxmedia]

If they had left the handle on and it smashed up the chassis you would have been pissed. Also 18 gauge wire can handle 1680 watts at 120V or 3080 watts at 240V.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

I see your point. It was thoughtful of them to remove it. I'm just complaining because I don't have the right tool. Not a big deal.

[@YLprime]

I think the Cisco ram came from UCS

[@G6TechnologyServices]

That’s a possibility.

[@cd819]

To bad you're missing the flex bay for the r730xd

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Yeah. Oh well.

[@dillard715]

you can remove the disc drive and put an SSD adapter there

[@G6TechnologyServices]

That's an idea.

[@horst.zimmermann]

​​​@@G6TechnologyServicese disc drive bay is the correct way to put an SSD in place, then you need a sata cable Dell Part Number is : GP703. The power connector for this cable goes under the fan tray. You canqlso flash the integrated Perc H710 mini to IT mode, look on youtube for @ArtofServer, he has the flash how to in a video

[@mamdouh-Tawadros]

You got a steal of a deal. If you want an internal booting drive, try to remove the dvd drive (mostly you will not need it) and place an SSD with or without a cage.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

That’s a great idea!

[@TheTrulyInsane]

You could have recovered the license key from the windows server install before blowing it away and used that to install a fresh licensed copy.. For the SSD, you could get a PCI adapter card for single or dual drives The Cisco ram was originally used in a Cisco UCS, Unified Compute System.. Cisco's answer to esxi, etc.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

It wasn't activated or I would have done that. The PCIe adapter is a good idea. There are also some native PCIe SSDs that aren't too expensive. I may end up doing that. Good to know about that Cisco RAM. I didn't know they made a product like that. Thanks for the comment!

[@paul-lx7kf]

what nvr software u using thanks

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Blue Iris blueirissoftware.com/

[@beforeyourimmigrants8471]

What's behind the name G6

[@G6TechnologyServices]

My last name starts with a G and a 6 kind of looks like a G. Not much to it. Just thought it sounded cool. lol

[@mrtxgamerofficial7293]

why windows 10 in server, am confused.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

I don’t have a license key for Windows Server 2016 or newer. I guess I could have just left it unactivated and had the watermark.

[@mrtxgamerofficial7293]

@@G6TechnologyServices Recently I tried KMS38 Activation and it worked perfect for datacenter version 2022. You should try as well.

[@rlmtech]

Those HP drives are quite possibly the same exact Seagate drives just labeled HPE…

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Good to know, thanks!

[@luciferxxluciferxx9340]

im so jealous of that price , always wanted one but they cost 3-4K $ with almost no drives nor ram ,sad

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Check Amazon or eBay. Sometimes GovDeals has some good prices too.

[@luciferxxluciferxx9340]

@@G6TechnologyServices its a tax/costums issue , even if i pay like 600$ for it ,when it ll arrive i ll pay x2 or even x3 times the price of it , its rough haha

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Oh, sorry about that.

[@mukithasan9684]

0:13 the reason i have two In my mind: because me rich u poor 😢

[@mohannadamouna7358]

Hello sir how are you? I have a application mobile and I want create a server as back end but I don't know which hard disk should I choose so can you give me your advice? Someone said to me seget x16

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Personally, I would get some SSDs. They will be faster and use less power.

[@theoldrook]

0:49 seconds in and we already have redundancy...

[@meulinuxaqui]

muito bom!!!

[@CherryModzGaming]

I can’t even find a rack that fits my r720

[@G6TechnologyServices]

That's strange. Servers and racks are a standard size. Sometimes you have to adjust the depth, but they should all be 19 inches across. amzn.to/3rdotIB

[@guytech7310]

I never understood why people like dell so much. Cheap & a pain to work on. "Dude! your getting a HeLL!" (1990s Dell Commericals).

[@G6TechnologyServices]

I have been using Dell equipment forever and I've always liked it and found it easy to work on, but to each his own I guess. Funny reference to the old commercials. I remember those.

[@StenIsaksson]

These days it's not recommended to install any OS on a USB stick. They are way to unreliable. I don't know why they recommended that in the first place. Especially on servers.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

I'm using SSDs now. I've never had one of my Patriot flash drives fail on me, but I totally agree with you in principle. I wouldn't use one again or recommend that anyone else does. Apparently it was popular enough to do that for Dell to put a USB port inside the case. They were big on SD cards as well, having dual SD slots.

[@barnaczukor4235]

Very noisy. I cannot tolerate this. 😢

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Sorry, this type of equipment isn’t designed to be quiet. Data centers are quite loud and often recommend or require hearing protection.