The HP Proliant Gen 8 micro server has 1 x16 low profile PCIe slot. As the server will be a NAS, what shall I use the slot for?
#homelab
@bigcalm there are some interesting cheap 10G / 2.5G 4 or 8 port switches about now.
Also bcachefs got merged too.
@intrbiz Time for me to go and look at 10/2.5G switches :D
I need to read up on bcachefs.
I'm going to use TrueNAS scale, so will be stuck with zfs for some time
@bigcalm eg: https://www.amazon.co.uk/YuanLey-Port-PoE-IEEE802-3af-2500Mbps/dp/B0C64QJXW1/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/VIMIN-Port-2-5Gbase-T-SFP-Ethernet/dp/B0C5D4MYRF/
I think John got the YuanLey cheaper on AliExpress.
Yeh, I need to have a play with bcachefs, I played with bcache in the past, so excited to see it finally got merged.
@intrbiz Saw those come up in my searches, but not the PoE ones. That is _very_ tempting!
Any idea if YuanLey is any better or worse than Vimin?
Same price for 4x2.5 PoE + 2x10G = £79.99 (on Amazon).
Lets see what AliExpress has to offer
@bigcalm no idea on differences. I bet under the hood they are the same or similar Realtek chips.
John A has a couple of the Yuanley ones, which I think at least work.
@intrbiz Couldn't find YuanLey on AliExpress.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006269878598.html appears to be https://www.amazon.co.uk/VIMIN-Port-2-5Gbase-T-SFP-Ethernet/dp/B0C5D5PSS7 with different decals.
Will likely give it a go at some point.
@intrbiz Noted regarding the 4xM.2. I'm getting ahead of myself for the scope of the micro server :)
I am very tempted by your offer of 10G card. Though it would be the only device on the network with 10G. I need to get myself a 10G switch, or at the very least a 2.5G one.
I'll be using EXOS drives in a z2 array. Wondering if it even be able to saturate a 1G connection and so 10G would be overkill.
Looks like I'll be experimenting!