Jarvis

My Personal Home File Server "Jarvis" named after the super computer featured in Ironman that runs the house, my aspirations for this server are nothing less. This server will eventually have control over the Fans, air conditioner Blinds, and Alarm Clock. Eventually I want Wireless temperature sensors and microphones so that I can verbally control the automated systems in the house.

I started with a SuperMicro motherboard, 2gb corsair Twinx DDR2 ram, an Intel Pentium D 3.0GHz processor, Thermaltake Silent 775D CPU Fan. And an Adaptec 2610SA raid card with 5 sata 512gb Seagate hard drives (1.8TB). I got a hotswap 5 drive caddy and a sata dual layer DVD burner, with a sata 200gb system drive, all powered with a 400w antec power supply. I also purchased a Matrix Orbital MX5 - 4 x 20 VFD (Vacuum fluorescent display).

Once I had the hardware I needed a case. I had some specific requirements for the case I needed; I wanted something that had 5.25" drive bays down the entire front of the case, which also had a removable front bezel. After some searching I found the Lian Li PC-A16 Aluminum Mid Tower Classical Series Case. This would work perfectly for what I needed; the power/reset buttons and usb ports were even on the top of the case!

Once I received the case I began installing components and doing cable management, after I got everything installed just the way I wanted it I was able to take measurements for the laser cut acrylic face plate. I wanted a "sleeper" look to the server, all gloss black when powered down, when powered on a white hard drive led, and a VFD like on a DVD player that "float" on the front of the case. The idea behind this is that you are able to just look at the server and know what’s going on inside it. All of the important statistics are displayed here; I am working on a way to display critical system errors.

This is a PDF of the AutoCAD file I drafted to sent to the lasercutter. I used my micrometer to measure the tolerances that would be required for the face plate to fit properly, and allow the cd rom to open and close properly. When closed most people don’t even know that this machine has a cd-rom; that is until I push down on the acrylic in the center beneath the cut for the cd tray and it pops open.

I am quite pleased with how this project came out. The final product is exactly as it appeared in my minds eye. Jarvis is a prototype for Small office servers both tower and 1/3u rack mount models. I have plans to launch a small computer company that builds these scaled to small office needs, and sells them across the country.