Another older article sheds some light on what goes on inside a Netflix cache server after acquiring a decommissioned unit from a former employer.
Netflix deploys Open Connect Access (OCA) cache servers at major Internet Service Providers (ISPs). These units are loaded with some of the service’s most popular content to allow for faster access by subscribers.
This unit came from a large ISP, which was retiring and replacing a few 2013-era Netflix Open Connect Access caches, and it was offered for sale. Netflix had already wiped the unit as part of their decommissioning process, it ran on FreeBSD and was crammed with drives. All that could be found online was overviews and installation/configuration guides for their proprietary software.
A presentation on Netflix using FreeBSD can be seen here: https://papers.freebsd.org/2021/eurobsdcon/gallatin-netflix-freebsd-400gbps/
Once opened, it looks like this:
The system is powered by an Intel Xeon E5 2650L v2 processor with 10 cores and 20 threads, paired with 64GB of DDR3 RAM.
For storage, it has 36x 8TB 7,200RPM HGST hard drives and six 500GB Micron solid-state drives. It could be used for a simple storage device using TrueNAS.
Using this and booting it up, it showed 262TB of available storage.
At the time of decommissioning (2022) testing showed only only one of the 36 drives was dead or dying. Most of the fans can be replaced.
Anyone need a cheap NAS?