9 reasons why I think workstations make great servers | HP Z840 Workstation

Summary

In this video, the creator of 'Art of Server' delves into their experience with using workstations like the HP Z840 as servers. The decision stems from the multifaceted benefits these machines offer for home server setups. It stands out due to its dual-purpose capability: operating initially as a powerful desktop and potentially transitioning into a rack-mount server. With features like hot-swap bays, ample storage options, extensive PCIe lanes, and a user-friendly build, the HP Z840 caters to beginners and seasoned users looking for efficient server solutions. The video intricately showcases the machine's internal design, emphasizing its mechanical proficiency and expandability. For those seeking to balance home computing with server needs, the Z840 presents an enticing option.

Highlights

• The HP Z840 workstation serves both desktop and server needs, offering flexibility for various user scenarios. ⚙️🔄
• For media enthusiasts, it provides ample space and connections for storage expansion, ensuring vast data management. 🎥🗄️
• With its robust performance capabilities, it can handle tasks from simple data handling to complex computational workloads. 🖥️💪
• The tool-free design allows for easy access and component swaps, enhancing its user-friendliness. 🛠️👨‍💻
• Its compatibility with modern hardware ensures a future-ready setup, bridging current needs with future upgrades. 🚀🔮

Key Takeaways

• Workstations like the HP Z840 can double as excellent servers thanks to their build and features. 💻➡️🖥️
• The HP Z840 offers hot-swap bays and extensive PCIe lanes which are ideal for server setups. 🔄💾
• This workstation is versatile, being able to serve as both a desktop and a rack-mount server. 🔄🔁
• The machine's engineering excellence simplifies upgrades and maintenance for server needs. 🛠️🔧
• Great entry point for beginners and scalable for more advanced server solutions. 🌟📈

Overview

Are you looking to set up a server without the constraints of a traditional rack mount system? The HP Z840 workstation just might be your golden ticket! In this engaging video, the 'Art of Server' explains why this robust machine could serve dual purposes - as a high-powered desktop and a budding home server. Imagine not needing to tuck away a massive rack; instead, have a sleek machine sitting comfortably on your desk, running your server needs with ease!

The HP Z840 boasts impressive capabilities, from hot-swap bays for your vast media files to PCI lanes ready for computational performance. Whether you're diving into Plex servers or prepping for virtual environments, this workstation doesn't just meet those demands—it exceeds them. With user-friendly engineering, it's easier than ever to maintain and upgrade your setup without needing a toolbox at every turn.

For both newbies in the server world or seasoned tech enthusiasts, the HP Z840 offers a scalable solution that's hard to beat. Its clever design by HP ensures not just current efficiency but future expandability. Ready to transition from desktop to server or even into a more professional-grade setup? The Z840 stands ready to be your partner in tech evolution.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Personal Update The chapter provides a personal update from the speaker. They mention giving their Dell T7910 workstation to their wife, who needs a more powerful computer for her accounting work. In place of the Dell, the speaker plans to acquire an HP Z840 workstation for themselves.
• 01:00 - 02:00: HP Z840 Workstation Overview The narrator introduces the HP Z840 workstation, comparing it to previous models like the Z800 and Z820 which he has used or put together for others. He decides to acquire a Z840 for his personal use, intending it to be his primary editing workstation and main desktop machine. He reflects positively on the machine, suggesting it offers excellent capabilities, although the specific features that make it "wonderful" are not detailed in the transcript.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Workstation as a First Server The chapter focuses on the considerations and advice for individuals building their first server. It mentions the common inquiries the speaker receives through social media, email, and other outlets regarding whether to convert a gaming PC into a server or invest in rack-mounted servers. The speaker often provides insights based on their expertise shared in various videos.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Setting Up a Home Server The chapter discusses the uniqueness of individual's situations when it comes to setting up a home server. It suggests that for first-timers, this is an excellent platform to begin with. It highlights that not many people have a server rack at home and acknowledges that while setting up a dedicated server room with rack-mounted servers and enterprise equipment is exciting, it's also a significant investment.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Desktop Platform Benefits The chapter discusses the benefits of desktop platforms over setting up a server room. It highlights the challenges some individuals face, such as the cost, time, and space required for a proper server room setup, especially for those living in smaller spaces like apartments. It suggests desktop platforms as an alternative for those considering setting up a server at home.
• 05:00 - 06:00: Enterprise Grade Internals The chapter titled 'Enterprise Grade Internals' describes a platform that functions similarly to a desktop PC. Although it's larger and heavier (weighing around 50 pounds), it boasts a nice design akin to an 'oversized desktop PC.' This implies that if someone already has a computer at home, they can easily find a spot for it without needing additional infrastructure like a dedicated closet or server rack. The platform can be conveniently placed wherever a standard desktop PC would fit.
• 06:00 - 07:00: Workstation Design and Features This chapter discusses the design and features of a workstation, particularly focusing on internal components that are suitable for enterprise-level tasks. It highlights the accessibility of certain components while emphasizing the robust configuration of internal parts such as Xeon processors, multiple memory banks, numerous PCIe lanes, and potentially significant storage capacity. The chapter reflects on the author's experience in assisting others with setting up their first servers, which inspired thoughts during the examination of a specific model, the z840.
• 07:00 - 08:00: Hot Swap Bays for Storage This chapter discusses the advantages of using a machine with hot swap bays for those who are building their own servers, whether it's their first or fourth. It highlights the suitability of such a machine for those who prefer a desktop format over a rack mount solution, particularly for a home computer lab. Additionally, it touches on the flexibility of upgrading from desktop-style PCs to more advanced setups in the future.
• 08:00 - 10:00: SAS Controller and Expandability This chapter discusses the SAS Controller and the expandability options available with a server machine that can be converted from a standard desktop PC format to a rack mount format. It highlights the machine's suitability as a starter server due to its flexibility and the benefits of transitioning to a rack mount setup. The chapter also promises a detailed look inside the machine to explain its advantages.
• 10:00 - 11:00: CPU and Memory Capacity The chapter discusses the mechanical engineering excellence of workstation machines, particularly focusing on the ease of accessing the internals using a side panel lever. The HP Z840's interior is showcased, highlighting its similarity to the Z820 model.
• 11:00 - 13:00: PCIe Slots and Bifurcation The chapter 'PCIe Slots and Bifurcation' discusses the design and airflow zones of the z820 chassis, highlighting its similarities to the z800. The chassis features a three-zone airflow design: the top zone for cooling the power supply, the central zone for cooling processors and memory, and a third zone for cooling hard drives and PCI cards.
• 13:00 - 15:00: Power Supply Design The chapter discusses the features of a workstation machine suitable for server applications, particularly emphasizing the hot swap bays. It highlights that the machine has four hot swap bays designed mainly for 3.5-inch drives, but with adapters for 2.5-inch drives as well. This setup is ideal for building a Plex server with ample space for large-capacity SAS or SATA hard drives to store media.
• 15:00 - 17:00: SATA Power Connectors The chapter discusses the configuration and expansion options for storage bays and drives in a system. Initially, there are four bays connected to an onboard LSI SAS controller, which can be converted to IT mode for users interested in CFS or unRAID. Additionally, it mentions two five and a quarter inch bays that can accommodate mobile rack trayless adapters, allowing for the installation of three more three and a half inch drives, bringing the total to seven available drive bays.
• 17:00 - 18:00: Conclusion and Recommendations The chapter discusses the ample storage capacity of new systems, highlighting the availability of 16 and 14 terabyte hard drives that allow for significant media storage. It also mentions the potential for further expansion. The mechanical design of these systems is praised for its superb quality, noting the convenience of tool-less operation.

9 reasons why I think workstations make great servers | HP Z840 Workstation Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hi guys welcome to the art of server so you guys know that i have that dell t7910 workstation machine from several videos from last year i've decided to give that machine to my wife she's been doing a lot of accounting related work and large spreadsheets and that kind of stuff and so she really needs a more powerful computer and so i'm going to be setting that up for her use so in place of that i've decided to get myself a hp z840 workstation so this here is
• 00:30 - 01:00 my z840 and you guys know my son has a z800 i've also put together some z820s for my friends but i've never actually owned a z8 series hp workstation myself and so i decided to get this z840 for myself and this will be my primary editing workstation and all you know basically my my main desktop machine now as i was looking over this machine i came to a realization that this actually makes for a wonderful
• 01:00 - 01:30 first server now one of the things i do a lot i spend a lot of my day doing is actually answering a lot of questions from people on ebay through the social media outlets in email i get a lot of people asking me hey i'm about to build my first server uh is it you know good for me to use this or that should i turn my gaming pc into a server should i go buy a whole rack set up and buy some rack mount servers like i often show in my videos
• 01:30 - 02:00 and you know everybody's situation is a little bit unique and different but i really think that if this is the first time you're getting or thinking about setting up a server for your home this makes for a wonderful platform to do that and one of the things is that you know not a lot of people have a server rack in their home and so yes you know it's exciting and fun to go set up a server room in your house and install a bunch of rack mount servers and with some enterprise gear and that's all great but it's a pretty big investment and
• 02:00 - 02:30 not just in the cost of materials but also the time in setting up a room properly you know cooled and you know with all the rack equipment and all that stuff and so that can be a little bit daunting for some people and some people have you know they might live in an apartment and or some other place where they don't have the room to install a server rack and so if you don't have a server rack but you're thinking about putting together a server in your home this
• 02:30 - 03:00 platform is really a great combination of all that stuff because for one it's a desktop platform so you basically can treat it like any desktop pc it's a little bit bigger and this particular one is actually really heavy i think it weighs like 50 pounds but it's a very nice design and so it's really kind of an oversized desktop pc really and so if you already have a computer in your home you know where to put this right like you don't have to find a dedicated closet a server rack or anything like that you can basically put this
• 03:00 - 03:30 you know somewhere that's accessible but you know you don't have to find a special place for it but on the other hand the internals of a machine like this is full of enterprise grade gear right xeon processors lots of memory banks lots of pcie lanes and and potentially lots of storage uh capacity so anyway as i was looking at this z840 i just kept thinking about all the questions i've been answering over the years helping other people set up their first servers and i thought you know what i really
• 03:30 - 04:00 want to kind of showcase this machine and let you guys know that you know if you are building your first server or maybe a second server or fourth server whatever it is and you really don't want to go with a rack mount solution you know you're kind of you have a little computer lab at home or whatever and you would prefer a desktop format this makes for a wonderful machine to do that and on the flip side if you ever graduate from just having desktop style pcs and you do want to migrate to
• 04:00 - 04:30 a entire server rack this actually has an option to convert this into a rack mount machine and so that's again another reason why i think this is a great starter it also allows you to transition from a kind of desktop pc format setup to a rack mount setup as well all right let's get into the inside of this machine and i'll show you all the advantages that this has as a server machine
• 04:30 - 05:00 so one of the things i really like about these workstation machines is that mechanical engineering is absolutely superb so just as you saw opening the side panel was very very simple it's a very solid mechanical action here with this lever here all right so as you can see here this is the inside of the hp z840 and this is a very similar to the z820 it's actually almost identical to the
• 05:00 - 05:30 z820 it's also very very similar to the z800 that you guys have seen in the past all right so this chassis has a three airflow zone design there's the top zone which brings in air to cool just the power supply there is a second central zone that cools primarily the processors in memory and then there's a third zone that cools the hard drives and any pci cards that are behind this cover here
• 05:30 - 06:00 okay so one of the things that i think is great about this workstation machine for a server application are the uh hot swap bays so there are four hard drive hot swap bays this one has a two and a half inch adapter in it but these are primarily meant for three and a half inch drives so if you are building a plex server and you're storing a lot of media there's plenty of room for you to put in some very large capacity sas or sata hard drives to store your
• 06:00 - 06:30 large media content now there are four bays here these are all connected to a onboard lsi sas controller that can be converted to it mode for those of you who want to use cfs or unraid but in addition to the three base we have two five and a quarter inch base and you can add one of those mobile rack trayless adapters that will allow you to install three more three and a half inch drives as well so you can have a total of seven three and a half inch drive bays and so
• 06:30 - 07:00 that is quite a bit of storage especially now that we have uh 16 and 14 terabyte hard drives there is going to be plenty of space for you to store a lot of large media but there's actually further expansion that we'll get to in a little bit here as we open this up all right so to open this machine up first we open this cover and again the mechanical design in these systems are superb there's almost almost everything you need to do in this uh it can be done completely tool-less
• 07:00 - 07:30 and so i've opened up the cover to the pci slot i don't have a lot in this machine right now this machine is still in the process of being set up i will be making a series of videos showing how i set up this machine from my workstation uses but anyway i just want to show you guys what we have in here so in this machine there is i believe it's this chip if i'm not mistaken is an lsi sas 2308 chipset and so as you guys know that is a sas two six gigabit uh sas controller
• 07:30 - 08:00 it will accept sata drives all sas controllers can work with sata drives and it actually uses instead of normal sas connections it uses these eight sata connectors and you can see that the first four here are labeled uh base zero one two and three and these basically connect to the four bays here and like i said you can add three more bays to the two five and a quarter inch bays here and
• 08:00 - 08:30 simply connect them to the uh remaining sata ports here that are part of that sas controller and so you can expand to seven now you can actually expand further outside the chassis this this machine is designed to accommodate an external sas port right over here and so you can connect that to these four ports as well for a jbod extension so basically you can run an external sas cable and through this hole
• 08:30 - 09:00 and connect to a jbod chassis and in that case you probably want to convert this into a rack mount configuration which is an option as well so that's one of the primary advantages of this type of machine is that you get hot swap bays okay these are hot swappable bays with removable trays and you can get a lot of them for your large media file storage right that's one of the things a lot of people set up a home server for is this it is
• 09:00 - 09:30 to run a plex server to store your multimedia uh files and stuff like that okay so when you pull this massive uh fan shroud here this is a wonder of engineering um i call this the the chamber of air coercion because uh basically you know instead of just allowing air to flow from from front to rear this basically forces the air into all the various places
• 09:30 - 10:00 and it's kind of a brute force design but it works well okay so here we see the main motherboard and we have two sockets so you have plenty of cpu uh compute power in this and you can start out with one processor and as your your home lab is growing and you're perhaps setting this up as a virtual machine and you're running uh various virtual machines as you need more compute power you can always expand with a second processor
• 10:00 - 10:30 and in addition to that there's very high uh memory capacity in these you'll see that there are eight dimms per socket there's a total of 16 dimms and you can use some very high capacity dimms for a lot of memory so if you are planning to set up a virtual machine hypervisor this is also a great platform for that but more importantly not only do you get a lot of compute power and memory capacity out of this but remember in this generation in a lot
• 10:30 - 11:00 of modern compute platforms the pcie lanes are attached to the processors and so in a way that's been one of the most limiting resources of most computers so one of the most frequent questions i get from people who are setting up their own server for the first time is that they're telling me oh i'm using my gaming pc and i've only got one by 16 pcie slot for the gpu and i have another by one or by four pci slots so a lot of gaming computers
• 11:00 - 11:30 and this is the reason why i really don't recommend people use their gaming computers for server setup is that the resources are just very very limited and you'll usually find yourself if you get into this hobby or you you find uh setting up a home server to be really useful over time you'll quickly kind of realize that your gaming pc's motherboard is really not set up uh well for a server configuration you'll run out of pcie lanes quicker than you would expect so one of the things that is wonderful
• 11:30 - 12:00 about these workstation platforms is that because it has dual sockets there are a lot of pci lanes and so if you look over here there are a total of one two three four five six seven pcie slots and at least three of them are by 16. and so that's great not just to install a graphics card for use as a workstation but a lot of times people are installing graphics cards to accelerate their plex
• 12:00 - 12:30 transcoding right and so you have plenty of room for this not in fact this is actually a really good balance because a lot of server platforms for example are not designed to accommodate for gpus and so it's a little bit hard sometimes to install a graphics card in a server platform but because this is a workstation that uses server components in a desktop format this does have plenty of by 16 pcie slots making it extremely easy for you to add several graphics
• 12:30 - 13:00 processors if you need them and you also have these other pci slots that would be great for adding additional storage or any other type of peripherals you might want to add to this machine now in particular for the z840 and this doesn't apply to the z820 but for the z840 this platform does support pcie uh port bifurcation and because of that these by 16 slots
• 13:00 - 13:30 can actually accommodate uh a one of those cards that has uh four m.2 nvme ssds allowing you to add extremely extremely fast storage to your system in addition to the bulk storage that you have in the drive base so that's also another advantage of having the by 16 slot and in particular having the port uh pcie uh bifurcation feature in this platform okay so the next thing i want to talk about is the power supply and so this is
• 13:30 - 14:00 both a pro and a con but basically these machines are designed to be very easily maintainable and so this up here this kind of very funky long shape is the power supply and you remove it by pulling up on this lever and pulling it out and the entire power supply comes right out so this makes it very easy for you to replace a power supply should it fail you basically just order another one pull this out plop it back in in a normal desktop pc case and depending on the type of psu or power supply you have
• 14:00 - 14:30 you might have to unplug a whole bunch of cables sometimes depending on the case configuration you might actually have to remove a bunch of components in order to get to the power supply and remove the power supply to replace it so this has the advantage of having a easily swappable power supply and that's one of the things that i really love about server platforms in a server platform you actually have one additional advantage other than having a very easily swappable power supply they're usually
• 14:30 - 15:00 also hot swappable and and dual and redundant so you have two power supplies and you can you can if one fails you can pull it out while the system is still running and just replace it and everything everything's good to go you don't have the dual redundancy here because this is a desktop configuration but you do have an easily swappable power supply now on the other hand one of the the kind of drawbacks of this is that this doesn't obviously accept a standard atx power supply and
• 15:00 - 15:30 so these power supplies sometimes can be rather expensive because they're kind of exclusive to this machine instead of being a standard power supply so that's kind of a pro and a con but overall since these machines are getting a little bit older now the components the prices on the components are actually coming down and so it's not necessarily a huge expense to get a new power supply all right and one other thing i want to point out here
• 15:30 - 16:00 is these uh sata power plugs so these sata power plugs are meant for powering any devices that you put in these five and a quarter inch bays and you'll notice something kind of unique here you'll you'll notice that it's missing a wire right so that is the 3.3 volt wire that's missing from these plugs and so if you guys have been uh shucking those drives from best buy or buying any other kind of modern
• 16:00 - 16:30 sata 3.2 drives that have power disable feature you know that sometimes when you plug the power into those drives if your power supply supplies 3.3 volts it immediately shuts down that drive won't allow it to power on okay this is one of the problems i have a lot of customers uh contact me about they're setting up their server for the first time and they're plugging in their hard drives and they're saying hey none of my hard drives are showing up and of course you know they bought a it mode hba from me so they're kind of wondering did i send them a bum hba or not and
• 16:30 - 17:00 after some troubleshooting usually we come to the conclusion that it's because their power supply was supplying 3.3 volts to a power disable uh feature of the hard drives and not allowing the hard drives to power up so if you're using some of the modern hard drives that have the power disable you don't have to tape those 3.3 volt pins in order for it to work these static power connectors will work just fine as well as the back plane power in these four drive bays so that is
• 17:00 - 17:30 again another advantage of using a workstation class machine as a server it basically adds a convenience that you don't have to worry about those type of little gotchas all right guys that's pretty much it those are the reasons why i think this z840 makes for a great server platform for the home i hope uh some of those reasons have given you some food for thought and if you are planning to get a new machine to set up a home server i hope you'll consider the hp z840 as a candidate for your new server build
• 17:30 - 18:00 all right guys that's it for today if you like this video make sure to give me that thumbs up and if you're not subscribed to my channel yet be sure to subscribe also if you'd like to support my channel check out my ebay store i've got all sorts of server and computer goodies i'll leave a link down in the video description so please go check that out alright guys thank you very much and have a good day bye bye