Best practices for building servers

[ryrae]

Is there any best practices documentation from Dell, HP, etc. for building server from scratch? I have built several servers for my company, but I have always wondered if there is a "right and wrong" way. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Ryan A+, Network+, MCP

 

[TheLad]

I think the setup and configuration documents are a bit bland from that perspective, and there is very little you can do wrong when building a server because processes like SmartStart are designed to be easily installed and configured.

The only wrong thing I would suggest is a server without any hard disk resilience (eg a server without a RAID config of some sort). At the end of the day, a server has to be a high availability machine and the more you can do to enhance this (eg 2nd power supply etc...), the better service you can provide.

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[blister911]

If you're looking for a general guideline, this is how I set my servers up:

1. Assemble everything (install add-ons, plug into power & network, rack mount, etc.)
2. Boot the server from the most current Firmware Maintenance CD, using supplemental firmware if available
3. Boot the server from SmartStart CD and configure array(s)
4. Install the OS
5. Install the HP support pack for the OS
6. Apply any needed patches to the OS
7. Install Apps

 

[ryrae]

Thanks guys.....I just always feel like there is something I am missing as far as locking down/securing the system. Users scare me sometimes.....Thanks again.