Redditor acquires decommissioned Netflix cache server with 262TB of storage

A Reddit user named PoisonWaffe3 recently acquired A 2013-era Netflix cache server that was pulled from service and removed for disposal, marking a rare occasion the public has been able to view the mysterious hardware. Vice report.

The decommissioned cache servers — called “Open Connect Appliances” (or OCAs) — are operated as part of Netflix. Open Connection Content Delivery Network. Open Connect is a network of servers around the world Embedded with local ISPs which contains a local copy of Netflix video content, by placing it as close to the viewer as possible to speed up the delivery of that content to Netflix viewers (geographically and in terms of network hops).

Provides a lot of high-level documentation about Netflix Open Connect On his website, but what Not widely known Certain elements make Open Connect servers tick—especially one that’s nearly a decade old After removing three screws, PoisonWaffle3 took a look inside their unit and discovered a “pretty good” Supermicro motherboard, an Intel Xeon CPU (E5 2650L v2), 64GB DDR3 RAM, 36 7.2TB Western Digital hard disks (7,200 RPM), six . 500GB Micron SSDs, a pair of 750-watt power supplies, and a quad-port 10-Gigabit Ethernet NIC card. The server has “262TB of raw storage,” according to PoisonWaffle3.

PoisonWaffle3 acquired the bright red Netflix cache server because they work for an ISP that is taking devices out of service. “We are retiring/replacing several 2013-era Netflix OCA caches, and I was offered one,” they wrote. “Of course, I couldn’t say no.”

Basically the user Ask for advice What to do with OCA, and suggestions range from mining Chia cryptocurrency (which benefits from a lot of storage space) to run plex Media streaming server. Originally, OCA ran FreeBSD, but the server was completely removed as part of the decommissioning process. Instead, PoisonWaffle3 is installed TrueNAS, an open source operating system designed specifically for network file storage applications. Regardless of the PoisonWaffle3 hardware, 262TB is still a lot of storage for one person—even in 2022.

Interestingly, the now defunct dial-up online service Prodigy It uses a local caching system to distribute data more efficiently, using the same basic principles as OpenConnect in the 1980s and 90s. Instead of streaming video, that service only serves data and text Vector graphic NAPLPS file. Times have changed, but we still want fast data.