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Is an ARM cluster a good idea? (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by bobdvb@alien.top to c/homelab@selfhosted.forum

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I have the possibility of getting my hands on a practically unlimited supply of S905X2 Android boxes, they have 2GB of RAM and 8GB eMMC, only 100Mbit LAN but USB-3 as well.

I was joking around with colleagues, what about making an ARM cluster out of them? Use the 100Mbps port as a management port and add a USB3 Gigabit or 2.5G adapter for general traffic. Power the cluster by PoE using PoE to 5v splitters from a smart, management switch with PoE (10W each box?).

Lets say I got 40 boxes with 4 cores, that's 160 cores and 80GB of RAM. It could run Armbian with Kubernetes or something lighter. I personally have no use for it, but it could be a fun proof of concept?

Tell me why I shouldn't do this! Tell me why it won't work and why I'd be wasting my time.

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[–] bobdvb@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

£5 for a USB NIC - £100 £3 for a PoE to 5V DC splitter - £60 £2 in short cables - £40 Shelf? £20-50

PoE Switch I already have spare Leaf switch I already have spare Network storage I have in abundance.

Cost wise it's not prohibitive, about £250

I think the biggest worry is, as you say, it might not be the most stable or impressive compute.

[–] Malossi167@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

£5 x 40 = 200. £3 x 40 = 120. Seems like you calculated with 20 and not 40. This helps to bring the cost down but even for 250 you can at least a single decent NUC.