Lab · Sheet 02
The server.
A Dell PowerEdge R720xd that thinks it’s an R720. The RAID card is gone, and ZFS sees every disk.
| Rev | Description | Date | By |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | First issue | 2026-09-28 | TD |
| B | As built | 2026-09-29 | TD |
- Project
- HOMELAB
- Title
- The server
- Scale
- AS NOTED
- Units
- mm
- Sheet
- 2 OF 3
- Rev
- B
- Date
- 2026-09-29
- Drawn
- TD
- Checked
- TD
- Dwg no
- TD-LAB-02
Bay 0 · SATA SSD
Gigastone 256 GB SSD
- 256 GB, one of rpool’s three copies.
- Holds Proxmox and the ISOs.
- Shares a serial number with its twin in bay 1.
Bay 1 · SATA SSD
Gigastone 256 GB SSD
- 256 GB, one of rpool’s three copies.
- Holds Proxmox and the ISOs.
- Shares a serial number with its twin in bay 0.
Bay 2 · SATA SSD
Crucial MX500 500 GB
- 500 GB, one half of the fast mirror.
- VM disks, the Talos nodes included.
Bay 3 · SATA SSD
Crucial MX500 500 GB
- 500 GB, the other half of the fast mirror.
- VM disks, the Talos nodes included.
Bay 4 · SATA SSD
Crucial MX500 1 TB
- 1 TB, all of bulk.
- Scratch and sandboxes. One disk, on purpose.
Rear bay 24 · 15k SAS
Seagate ST300MP0004
- 300 GB, spinning at 15,000 rpm.
- rpool’s third copy. It can boot the server too.
Rear bay 25 · removed
Seagate ST9300653SS
- 300 GB 15k SAS, half of the old RAID boot pair.
- It was failing. Pulled in the swap, not replaced.
Boot · 3-way mirror
rpool
- Bays 0, 1 and 24, about 220 GiB.
- Proxmox itself and the ISOs.
- Every member can boot the server.
VM disks · mirror
fast
- Bays 2 and 3, about 450 GiB.
- Where the VMs live.
Scratch · single disk
bulk
- Bay 4, about 930 GiB.
- Scratch and sandboxes: losing it costs nothing.
Storage controller · now
Dell HBA330
- LSI SAS3008 in pass-through: ZFS sees every disk.
- In riser 1 since 2026-09-28.
- UEFI boot worked, and the fans didn’t even notice.
Storage controller · before
PERC H710P Mini
- Hardware RAID: the OS saw virtual disks, not drives.
- Came out 2026-09-28, with its cable.
Cable 1 · removed
Mini-PERC SAS cable
- From the board’s J_SASX8 to backplane SAS A and SAS B.
- It belonged to the RAID card, so it left with it.
Cable 2 · new
SFF-8643 → SFF-8087
- HBA330 to backplane SAS A.
Cable 3 · new
SFF-8643 → SFF-8087
- HBA330 to backplane SAS B.
Cable 4 · untouched
Flex-bay SAS cable
- Backplane SAS A1 to the rear flex bays.
- The backplane’s expander feeds all 26 bays from two cables.
The server
Dell PowerEdge R720xd
- The firmware says it’s an R720.
- The 24 + 2 drive bays say it’s an xd.
CPU1
Intel Xeon E5-2690 v2
- 10 cores, 20 threads.
- One of two: 40 threads between them.
CPU2
Intel Xeon E5-2690 v2
- 10 cores, 20 threads.
- One of two: 40 threads between them.
Memory
128 GB RAM
- 128 GB of ECC DDR3.
- Enough for three Talos nodes at 24 GiB each, with room left over.
Cooling
6 fans
- One fan wall between the drives and the CPUs.
- Still at baseline after the swap.
Backplane
24-bay backplane
- Its SAS expander feeds all 24 front bays and the 2 rear ones.
PCIe · low profile
Riser 1
- Three low-profile slots. The HBA330 lives here.
Power
2 power supplies
- Redundant: either one can run the server.
Network
4 × 1 GbE
- NIC 1 goes to the gateway’s port 3.
- The other three are free.
Line key
- Object
- rpool
- fast
- bulk
- Went in
- Came out
- Cold air
- Hot air
At a glance
- CPUs
- 2 × E5‑2690 v2
- Threads
- 40
- Memory
- 128 GB
- Storage
- 6 drives in 3 ZFS pools
- Controller
- HBA330
Six drives, three pools, twenty empty bays. Plenty of room for bad ideas.
The pools
-
rpool
3-way mirror · about 220 GiB
Boot and ISOs
- Bay 0 Gigastone 256 GB SSD
- Bay 1 Gigastone 256 GB SSD
- Bay 24 Seagate ST300MP0004
-
fast
2-way mirror · about 450 GiB
VM disks
- Bay 2 Crucial MX500 500 GB
- Bay 3 Crucial MX500 500 GB
-
bulk
Single disk · about 930 GiB
Scratch and sandboxes
- Bay 4 Crucial MX500 1 TB