For a long time, there was a website called LabGopher that was one of those quiet tools that many home lab builders relied on to find second hand used enterprise server gear on eBay. It is also a tool that I have written about and mentioned in many of my blog posts. However, LabGopher is no more. The site is still up and running but it is no longer pulling results from eBay. It allowed us to quickly find good server deals. There hasn’t really been anything that has filled that void until now. There is a new site called RackRat that is a LabGopher alternative you need to check out. Let’s look at what it is and how it is different than LabGopher.
Wait shouldn’t we be looking for mini PCs?
It is true in my home lab over the past couple of years, I have fully switched over to running my lab environment on high-spec mini PCs for several reasons. I think most of us though switch to capable mini PCs because these are power efficient and quiet.
However, I do think there is a paradigm shift happening because of the global chip shortage that is affecting RAM availability and even now storage like NVMe drives. I wrote an article recently about this that you can check out here: Has RAM Pricing Just Made Used Enterprise Servers the Better Home Lab Deal?
In that post we look at how the pendulum may have swung back in the favor of looking at used enterprise server gear. But keep in mind this is up to each person and use case as to whether or not you may want to start looking at used enterprise servers.
Why finding used servers is harder than you might think
This isn’t rocket science, right? Finding a used enterprise server is easy on paper. These systems are all over eBay on the secondhand market. So finding just any server isn’t the problem. But there is a problem and hassle with finding “good deals” or deals that actually make sense.
Listings on eBay can be inconsistent and some prices look cheap until you realize it doesn’t come with some of the components or things like rails, drive caddies, or power supplies. Shipping costs might even double the final price by the time you factor that in. These details can be easy to miss.
These are the reasons that LabGopher became popular in the first place. It helped to cut through the noise and help you get to deals that have some value.
RackRat follows that same philosophy but with a more modern approach. Let’s see how.
What is RackRat?
Even without LabGopher, eBay is still full of great hardware. RackRat is not trying to reinvent homelabbing or push hardware you do not need. But it focuses on a simple goal, much like LabGopher had. It is a LabGopher alternative that helps you find genuinely good rackmount server deals on eBay. It allows you to do this without wasting hours scrolling and second-guessing listings. But is this just a LabGopher clone? I think it does things differently in a good way.
RackRat continuously scans eBay listings for rackmount servers and evaluates them using a scoring system. So, you don’t have to compare dozens of listings on eBay. RackRat assigns each server a deal score from 0 to 100. The higher the score, the better the value relative to price and details of the listing. The scoring system is not perfect, but in my playing around with the site, it is really useful.
I think it helps you answer the question, is the server actually worth buying it? RackRat also has filters that are helpful. RackRat also has filters that are helpful in real world homelab scenarios. You can narrow results by form factor, CPU family, RAM size, drive bays, power supply config, and region. That last one matters a whole lot, especially when shipping costs can turn a decent deal into one that is horrible.
Take a look at the official RackRat site here: RackRat – eBay Rackmount Server Deal Finder.
Features of RackRat for finding used servers
There are a lot of cool features I think for the RackRat site. These include the following:
- Scoring system mentioned above
- Great filtering capabilities
- Filter by Region, price, CPU/platform, RAM amount, storage, brand, form factor, shipping/pickup, low power models
- Displays pictures of listings if you want to show
- Can display the descriptions for the items in the search results
- Show detected specs
- You can create a wish list of server listings that you want to quickly revisit later
What is the RackRat deal score?
One of the most important things to understand when using RackRat and an aspect that I think sets it apart as a LabGopher alternative is the deal score. It is not a guarantee that a server is perfect for your lab, but it is a signal or metric that the hardware is reasonably priced compared to similar listings. According to the site’s developer the score is descriptive not prescriptive.
Here is the scoring system:
- 100 – Probably one of the strongest deals out there
- 90–99 – This is an price/performance item
- 70–89 – Holds good value
- 50–69 – These are going at market rate
- Below 50 – Probably overpriced compared to peers
What factors does the score take into consideration?
- CPU generation and config – If a system has newer, higher core counts this will generally result in a higher score
- Is RAM included? – Now, this is more important than ever before. Systems with a good amount of memory footprints earn more on the overall score
- Storage capacity – The amount of terabytes matter because most buyers need at least a boot volume to get started
- Shipping – Shipping is a big factor and may equal a huge unseen expense. The score always uses out-the-door cost, which includes shipping.
What does the score not include?
- Seller reputation and certain trust factors
- Any cosmetic or physical details beyond what’s in the specs
- Any warranty promises and “extras” that are hard to verify
- Power usage, how loud it is, or rack depth
- Your unique workload or homelab goals
When you are looking at several servers that are similar listing, the score helps you spot which one is priced reasonably and which one that maybe you should avoid.
How I recommend using RackRat
As a LabGopher alternative, RackRat works best when you have an idea of what you are looking for. Before you go to the site, take a minute to think about your goals for the hardware. Think if you are building a virtualization cluster? Are you looking for a storage server? A kubernetes lab? Obviously, the end goal will probably affect what specs you might look for in a server.
I would recommend starting broad and look at the top scoring servers overall in the category you are looking in to get a sense of the current listings. You may be surprised at the hardware that is within your budget. Once you get an idea of which listings might be in your budget or what you are looking for, then you can further use the filtering functionality to narrow in even more.
I like that RackRat gives several filters that are helpful. If you want to only look at listings that are within a certain range of “deal score” you can do that too.
Here are a few tips to help you filter down based on what you are looking for:
- If you care more about noise and power consumption, you can use the filters to filter form factor and generation
- If memory is more important (may be for all of us now), set a minimum RAM requirement or range you want to look for listings for
- If you already have spare parts for a particular vendor, then narrow in on that specific vendor ecosystem
Below shows the ability also to filter based on region which will directly affect your shipping costs most likely.
Things to think about before buying an enterprise server
Even with tools like LabGopher (now unmaintained) or the new RackRat site, there are still pitfalls that you need to keep in mind when buying used servers. RackRat definitely helps to find good deals, but you still need to read the listings carefully.
Always check what is included. A high deal score doesn’t mean that the server is just right for you or that there may be a detail that you need to still pay close attention too. Some listings advertise a platform instead of a specific configuration.
Also, I think one of the huge unseen costs of a used enterprise server is power, noise, and heat. Be sure to think about these on any server that you are considering. This is what has drove many of us to mini PCs in the first place. Enterprise servers are not designed for living rooms bedrooms, or tight closets. If your home lab is in a shared space, make sure the hardware you are buying is something you can realistically live with.
Wrapping up
RackRat is a LabGopher alternative that helps to fill the gap of having a resource where we can find good home lab server deals on eBay. There are tons of listings on eBay that are a great value, but there are so many that it is often hard to know which are good deals compared to other listings. This is the challenge I think that RackRat is helping to solve. Now with RAM prices sky high, I do think that RackRat helps us to have a good resource to find used enterprise server gear that are often still listed with a dense amount of RAM.
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