Oct 28, 2022 12:30:00

What are the specs of Netflix's original cache server that you got for free?

A user of the online bulletin board site Reddit has released details of its hardware configuration, saying that he got an old Netflix cache server for free. This cache server was part of a proprietary content delivery network (CDN) called '

Netflix Open Connect '.

So I got a Netflix cache server... : homelab
https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/ydollm/comment/ittgzsq/

How a Redditor Ended Up With an Industrial-Grade Netflix Server
https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7bkev/how-a-redditor-ended-up-with-an-industrial-grade-netflix-server

PoisonWaffle3, a Reddit user who got the server in question, works for an Internet service provider (ISP), and this ISP is releasing an old Netflix server to upgrade to the latest equipment. It seems that one of them was handed over, but it seems that there was no specification at all.

Below are the Netflix servers published on Reddit. Built in the red case is

Super Micro Computer 's motherboard, Intel's Xeon E5 2650L v2 , 64GB DDR3 memory, 10 Gigabit Ethernet card. And 36 HDDs with a capacity of 7.2 TB and 6 SSDs with a capacity of 500 GB were installed, and the total storage was 262 TB.

PoisonWaffle3 says that if you replace a noisy fan and one failed drive, you may be able to use it as a NAS, but he is also showing a positive attitude toward uses other than NAS.

According to Dave Temkin, former senior vice president of network system infrastructure at Netflix, the server PoisonWaffle3 got is one of the servers that make up Netflix Open Connect. If you actually look at the commentary page of Netflix Open Connect, you will see an image of a large number of servers that seem to be the same type as the one PoisonWaffle3 got.

Netflix | Open Connect
https://openconnect.netflix.com/ja_jp/

Netflix Open Connect is Netflix's own CDN that caches Netflix content and reduces the load on the network by incorporating a server provided free of charge into the network of a major ISP. Since all the data handled by Netflix, a video streaming service, has a large data size, using a CDN shortens the time required for data transfer and greatly improves the user experience.

Mr. Temkin said, ``There is nothing very mysterious about what the server itself can do.However, it greatly contributes to improving video streaming by shortening the transfer time of content.The server is only an Intel-equipped FreeBSD machine. It is configured, but it was also running Linux, ”he commented.