🔱 Neptune Infrastructure Fund

Community-supported infrastructure serving friends and family

Like splitting a meal, we're pooling resources to build infrastructure none of us would create alone.

Current Infrastructure

Neptune Host

ACTIVE
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700G (8 cores)
RAM: 64GB DDR4
GPU: NVIDIA Quadro P2000
Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk
Network: 1GbE + 2.5GbE onboard
OS: XCP-ng 8.3
Storage: 1TB NVMe (VM boot drives)
Base system: Mike (hardware + 2.5GbE upgrade)

Completed Upgrades

Transcoding GPU 2024
NVIDIA Quadro P2000 for hardware transcoding. Supports up to 10 concurrent 4K streams!
$200 goal
Mike — $200

Naiad NAS

ACTIVE
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (6 cores)
RAM: 16GB 64GB DDR4 UPGRADED
GPU: None
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M DS3H
Network: 1GbE onboard + 2.5GbE to Neptune UPGRADED
OS: TrueNAS SCALE
Boot Storage: 256GB SSD

Storage Pool: "naiad"

Vdev 1: 2×18TB Mirror 16.36TB usable
Vdev 2: 2×8TB Mirror 7.3TB usable
Vdev 3: 2×18TB Mirror 16.36TB usable
Total Usable 40.02TB
Base system: Cole (hardware), Mike (drives)

Completed Upgrades

NAS RAM Upgrade January 2025
Upgraded from 16GB to 64GB. Massive improvement in ZFS ARC cache and overall performance.
$115 goal
Mike — $115
2.5GbE Network Upgrade December 2024
Added 2.5GbE NIC to Naiad, eliminating the 1GbE bottleneck to Neptune. Now supporting 4+ concurrent 4K streams!
$20 goal
Mike — $20
LSI HBA Card 2025
LSI 9211-8i HBA card adds 8 SATA ports. Unlocked 4 additional vdev slots for future storage expansion!
$170 goal
Mike — $170
Vdev 3 Storage Expansion October 2025
Added third vdev with 2×18TB mirror. Expanded total pool capacity to 40TB and boosted IOPS with additional vdev!
$600 goal
Mike — $600

Critical Spares Needed

18TB spare drives: 0 available
No spare drives for immediate replacement if vdev fails
CRITICAL: Drive Failures Detected
2 of 6 drives showing early failure indicators

Active Goals

Storage Expansion

Each vdev (2×18TB mirror) adds both capacity AND performance. ZFS mirrors provide 16.2TB usable space per 18TB vdev and linear IOPS scaling.
$600 per vdev
Progress to next vdev: $71.71 of $600 12%
Vdev 1
18TB
Vdev 2
8TB
Vdev 3
18TB
Vdev 4
Empty
Vdev 5
Empty
Vdev 6
Empty
Vdev 7
Empty
✅ HBA Card Funded! 4 additional vdev slots now available (Motherboard supports 3, HBA adds 4 more = 7 total)
Contributors:
Tree — $50 Jake — $21.71

Spare 18TB Drives

Spare drives for quick replacement when a disk fails. Critical for ZFS pool resilience and minimizing rebuild time.
$300 each
Progress to next spare: $0 of $300 0%
Recertified enterprise 18TB drives kept ready for immediate replacement. Reduces risk and rebuild stress on remaining drives.
Contributors:
None yet

Neptune RAM Upgrade

Currently at 81% RAM usage, limiting new VMs. Doubling to 128GB would enable 10+ additional VMs and eliminate CPU wait states.
$350
Progress: $0 of $350 0%
Upgrade Neptune from 64GB to 128GB RAM to unlock more VMs and eliminate CPU bottlenecks.
Contributors:
None yet

Game Server Host

Dedicated host for game servers, no more competing for resources with media streaming!
$1200
Progress: $0 of $1200 0%
Dedicated host for game servers - no more competing for resources with media streaming!
Contributors:
None yet

How to Contribute

Donations help pay for server upgrades. This isn't a business, just infrastructure I run for friends. If you use the services and want to help fund the next improvement, contributions are welcome and always go directly to hardware. Your support is appreciated, thank you!

Venmo (US)
@MadManMike
Phone verify: 8834 • Fee-free
Zelle (US)
bros21@gmail.com
Phone verify: 8834 • Fee-free
PayPal (International)
No fee for international payments
Wise (International)
$10+ recommended (fees make smaller amounts inefficient)

Send your desired amount with a note mentioning which goal you're supporting.

"$50 for Storage Expansion - Mark"
"$25 for Neptune RAM - Anon"

Expand Neptune Infrastructure

Want your own hardware running as part of the Neptune stack? I can design and set up private infrastructure that integrates with the community while giving you dedicated resources and geographic locality.

What You Get

  • • XCP-ng hypervisor setup and configuration
  • • Integration with Neptune's XenOrchestra instance
  • • Centralized management with local performance
  • • Community resource sharing (optional)
  • • Failover and replication capabilities
  • • From hobby scale to small business infrastructure

Service Tiers

Basic Setup ($2,000+)
Single host, XCP-ng install, XO adoption
💡 Bring your own hardware? Possible discount, just covering my time
Extended (Quote)
Multiple hosts, storage servers, custom design
Enterprise-lite (Quote)
Small business infrastructure consulting

Community Integration Benefits

Your hardware joins the Neptune ecosystem, managed through our shared XenOrchestra instance. You get dedicated resources while optionally contributing to community resilience through VM failover, geographic distribution, and shared services.

Geographic Diversity
Reduce single-point failures
Shared Management
Centralized monitoring & updates
Community Resources
Optional VM sharing & replication

I built Neptune and know how to scale it. Whether you want a single development box or multi-host infrastructure, I can design and implement it. Happy to work out maintenance arrangements if you want ongoing support.

The Hidden Infrastructure Costs

The funding goals above cover major hardware upgrades, but there are many hidden costs that keep Neptune running. These ongoing expenses and small components add up but are essential to our infrastructure.

Monthly Costs

  • • Power
  • • Internet bandwidth
  • • Domain renewals
  • • Backup power (UPS batteries)

Small Hardware

  • • Drive cages and trays
  • • SATA/power cables
  • • Thermal paste & fans
  • • Network cables

Time & Expertise

  • • System administration
  • • Security updates
  • • User support
  • • Performance tuning

Thank You to everyone who contributes to these hidden costs, whether you've donated old tower cases, sent drive trays, helped with configurations, or are covering the power and internet bills by hosting infrastructure. Every contribution, big or small, keeps Neptune running!