Opinions on hardware requested

[donb01]

I would like opinions on the following hardware to be used as a server for ubuntu 8.04. The goal is to have raid mirroring to hopefully give me a bit more of a safety margin in the HD arena. The server will basically be LAMP, plus squid, and a few other things, but I will also need an X environment on it (like KDE) for a couple of other things the box needs to do (run WeatherDisplay software for one). I have experience, but also have experience knowing if I get too close to the bleeding edge I'll have problems with unrecognized hardware, etc. I just don't want to buy the unit and fins out RAID doesn't work, for example.

Here is the list. These are the major components, but I may twiddle with it a bit yet. I'm not mentioning the brand because I'm not trying toplug anyone. When it comes right down to it brand doesn't really matter anyway!

# *BASE_PRICE: [+799]
# CAS: NZXT Zero Aluminum Full Tower 420W Case [+37] (Black/Silver Color)
# CASUPGRADE: NONE
# CS_FAN: Default case fans
# CPU: (Quad-Core)Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz 1066FSB 8MB L2 Cache 64-bit
# CD: (Special Price) 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
# CD2: NONE
# CABLE: None
# FLOPPY: 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE (BLACK COLOR)
# FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
# FREEBIE_VC2: None
# FAN: ($10 off Mail-in Rebate) Thermaltake MaxOrb Enthusiast CPU Cooling Fan(Slient & Overclock Proof w/ Highest Efficiency Cooling) [+45]
# FREEBIE_OS: None
# HDD: High Performance with Data Security (RAID-1) with 2 Identical Hard Drives [+24] (250GB (250GBx2) SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+38])
# HDD2: NONE
# IEEE_CARD: NONE
# KEYBOARD: PS2 MULTIMEDIA INTERNET CONTROL KEYBOARD (BLACK COLOR)
# MOUSE: Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse (BLACK COLOR)
# MODEM: NONE
# MONITOR: NONE
# MONITOR2: NONE
# MOTHERBOARD: Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard
# MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)4GB (2x2GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory [+150] (Mushkin or Major Brand)
# NETWORK: Intel Pro Gigabite 10/100/1000 Network Card [+34]
# OS: NONE - FORMAT HARD DRIVE ONLY
# PRINTER: None
# PRINTER_CABLE: None
# PRO_WIRING: Professional Wiring for All WIRINGs Inside The System Chasis with High Performance Thermal Compound on CPU [+19]
# POWERSUPPLY: 650 Watts Power Supplies [+108] (Corsair CMPSU-650TX - Quad SLI Ready)
# RUSH: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS
# SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS 24/7 LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
# SOUND: 3D WAVE ON-BOARD 5.1 SOUND CARD
# SPEAKERS: NONE [-5]
# TEMP: NONE (AS SHOWN)
# TVRC: None
# UPS: None
# USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
# USBHD: NONE
# VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT 512MB 16X PCI Express (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)
# VIDEO2: NONE [-65]
# VIDEO3: NONE
# VIDEOCAMERA: NONE
# WNC: NONE
# _PRICE: (+1184)
# _view_: detail

 

[danomac]

The hardware looks OK, but I have one question:

If you are building a "true" server, why aren't you using server hardware (server motherboard, ECC RAM, server CPU (like Xeon)? I know cost can be a bugger, but server hardware is usually more optimized.

If hard drive reliability is a real concern, sata is a bit young yet in server environments (IMO). If you do go with sata, make sure you get 24/7 operation drives.

I'd also recommend a redundant power supply. They don't add much to the cost.

 

[donb01]

Thanks for the reply. The number one reason for not going with a true server is the cost. Plus I do a few "user" things on there as well that would probably need capabilities that wouldn't be optimized in a true server.

The redundant power supply is definitely not a bad idea - I'll have to see what cases there are that will take one, and I'll definitely look up the specs on the drive.

While I do want the reliability so as not to lose data, the server is not "mission critical" like in a normal business where having it offline for a couple of hours to swap out a drive, change a power supply, etc would be a huge hassle, but I would still like maximum uptime.

I generally back up my httpd config, named config, postfix config, etc, plus a few MySQL databases and applications that matter. The rest I can put back quickly if need be. Last time I blew an HD 3 or 4 years ago I ran to officemax, grabbed a new drive and had the thing rebuilt back to 90% in about 5 hours. I was lucky though - I didn't have all the data saved back then but I was able to keep the drive running by keeping it "on ice" until I got my data off.

 

[Annihilannic]

My initial feelings were similar to danomac, it sounds more like a gaming rig than a server. That video card is overkill for example.

Also, it doesn't describe exactly what RAID card it is using, does it just emulate a standard IDE as far as the kernel is concerned? Does it require specific software to manage the RAID configuration, and if so, is it available for Linux? Otherwise you may be restricted to managing and monitoring it only from the BIOS level configuration facility.

Annihilannic.

 

[donb01]

I guess that's why I'm asking you guys who know. Back in the day it was pretty easy to pick a system because everything pretty much worked the same. Now there are 5000 options for everything.

I am more than willing to hear suggestions. I have about $1500 to spend on this project. I want Raid 1 (mirrored), 4GB Ram, it needs to have at least 1 serial port, oversized power supply, plenty of cooling, I don't care about sound, video that can do at least 1024x768, but I would prefer 1280x1024, I was thinking SATA drives would be faster than IDE, but I have nothing against IDE. If I could afford it I would do SCSI. Dual network cards so I can bridge my static home network with the DHCP work network and access both, DVD burner for at least minimum backup, I have a brand new Onstream DI-30 tape drive and tapes but I never got it to work under Mandrake 10 I have now, and now it's "old" so it probably still won't work. No printer, needs at least some USB2.0 and in a tower case.

I don't have a rack to put a standard server in, and I don't have the space for it to lay on a desk. The one I have now I paid $1200 for in 2002 and other than replacing the HD once it has been running 98% of the time since then with no down time - it just sits in the corner and does its thing.

I want everything to be new enough to last a while, more than enough memory, and I don't need a ton of storage, but I want the data transfer to be as fast and reliable as I can afford.

THANKS!

 

[danomac]

I thought I'd point out that the motherboard chosen doesn't have serial ports.

Most chipsets (even onboard) can easily do 1280x1024. Actually, my moldy old GeForce 440MX does 1920x1200 on my 24" WS at home. You can probably save yourself some cash on the video card and get something cheaper. I typically use nVidia, but my laptop has the Intel 945G chipset and it works well.

On other thing to point out is that the RAID on the motherboards are "fake" RAID. In otherwards, there's no dedicated device to do all the RAID work, it's all offloaded to your CPU. Linux can deal with this, but if you don't want to be locked in to your hardware you can opt to use linux software RAID. If something happens to your motherboard, your array is basically toast... and if you can't get a replacement you're probably SOL. I actually use linux software raid at home (two raid5 and one raid1.)

Pretty much all the dedicated server boards I've seen have dual LAN and serial ports. Asus does make some that have dual LAN, but you won't find a serial port on those.

As I said earlier, make sure you get the 24/7 operation SATA drives. They don't cost much more... IIRC on a terabyte drive it was $30 more or so.

Most workstation boards now don't have serial ports, so I don't know what you are going to do about that... you may not have much of a choice and have to drop the Q6600 on a server board.

I think I'm starting to ramble now...

 

[danomac]

Ignore the above comment about dropping a Q6600 on a server board - I don't believe you can actually do that...

 

[LawnBoy]

RAID on the motherboards are "fake" RAID

That depends on the m/b. I've got some onboard RAID that's not "fake".


"We must fall back upon the old axiom that when all other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[BobMCT]

FWIW - in my old shop we used Shuttle XPC's running Ubuntu Server which dispenses which dispenses with X11 (no GUI) so we installed WEBMIN as our admin tool. We were able to install a pair of SATA drives and mirrored some, not on others. We ran 2GB RAM and these little units performed flawlessly for several years without ANY incidents. Cost for each box was about $500 as deployed. You can see them at the shuttle.com site and one online source is ewiz.com.

In fact, we're now running a production apache multiple virtual server on one now.

Good luck.

 

[donb01]

OK, here is another possibility. Since this is a rack mount server and I have no rack, and since it has dual redundant power supplies, I would just set it on top of the 2 1400VA UPSs I own and plug one power supply into each UPS....

With 5 drives I can make 2 pairs mirrored and keep the 5th drive for a spare. It seems to have everything else I need except a video card that can run X for some applications I need to run, but I can add a cheap video card in one of the PCI slots.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=DELL-PWREDGE-2650-B&cat=SYS

Thanks again!