Server 2008 R2 install on home built server

[goombawaho]

There's no reason why you have to buy a Dell or other name brand server to run Server 2008 is there? If I build a machine with a server motherboard as long as it's compatible with the O.S. then it should be fine - correct?

What about non-server motherboards?

The only reason I ask is that a customer I have may want to "cheap out" on the server and not spend $3500 on a Dell that I spec'd out and I want to be prepared to say, "well, I can build one for $xyz.

 

[technome]

Goombawaho, I know you know much of this...
Used to build many servers from scatch, producing servers with much better components and cheaper. I only used Supermicro server motherboards exclusively, never wks quaility boards; depending on the manuafacturer/price non-server motherboards vary too much in quaility and bios featurers needed for server use, also server motherboard bios are updated for server operations and newer operating system more often (generally).
I have a client with a 2000 Supermicro motherboard which took Windows 2008, no issue with the 2000 bios,( pretty good considering in 2000, server 20008 was not even a dream). A little dig on Dell, they have servers which are a few years old which can not handle the newest OSes, and new servers which can't run 2003..which is rediculous.
That said, the big issue with building your own is support. If the motherboard/power supply should die it takes a few days to get a new one, support is not good from any retail motherboard supplier I have used, generally it take days to get answers if you get one, and RMAs are not quick(generally). Most importantly, if something goes wrong, the client will blame you for the purchase. With litigation these days, you could be liable for the outage, or become involved with lawyers; odds are you would not be held liable, but lawyers cost. The most realistic result, you could loose a client. Overall these are the reasons I stopped building servers for clients; with the realitively fast Dell support, to me the savings are not worth it.
What I do with Dell to cut down the cost is wait for a decent sale, purchase the bare minimun of disk, usually two for a raid 1, then populate the remainder of the slots with retail drives for additional raids, and live with the Dell alerts about using non certified Dell disks, never had an issue with non certified drives, but there is a certain amount of risk using non-certs, the certified drives might have small changes to catch bugs or increase performance. My belief is the only thing changed in the Certified drive firmwares, most of the time, is to add the code to warn of non certified drive usage, so people purchased their uber priced drives.


........................................
Chernobyl disaster..a must see pictorial

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm

 

[goombawaho]

I know this is not the hardware area, but what about something like this vs. a Dell (or other). Still the support/parts down the line problem?

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/server-systems/server-system-p4300cp.html

The other problem is, no equipment usually fails until AFTER the warranty expiration. If you want to keep a server under warranty with Dell for years down the line, it gets EXPENSIVE.

This is a small client and I'm wondering if they will want an el-cheapo "redneck server" option.



Don't talk about lawsuits - that makes me queasy. Nothing ever goes wrong - remember that. Or at least anything attributable to me.

 

[technome]

If you get an Intel system from an authorized Intel dealer, this may be an exception to the support issue; not sure how fast their RMAs works. The few times I have call Intel for support on thier products ( switches or a processor issue) they were exceptional. Had a client call about slow processing of a (scientific) executable, they spent days on the issue, even recompiled the program, on Intels dime. Other odd thing, the times I called they would stay on the phone with you answering ANY questions I had, very knowledgable, no rushing to end the call....phenominal support people.

At this time, with Dell's absurd hard drive prices, you can build a server with better specs for about 50% of Dell's price. If you go raid, then get LSI, they offer a quick RMA option at added cost, support is as good or better then Dell with no "certified drive" BS. If you figure in your labor, it about 20% cheaper, as ordering and receiving parts is time consumming, as is the homework to make sure everything will work together.
I just built a wks for myself a few months back, with an overclocked chip, running at stable 4.8 Ghz, with SSD drives, I would have gone Dell but all their reasonable priced machines lacked enough fast PCI E slots..my luck, I ordered an Asus board from Newegg, came in with a bent socket pin, Newegg blamed the damage on me, I am eating the loss.

"If you want to keep a server under warranty with Dell for years down the line, it gets EXPENSIVE."
I put a client's server under extended about 10 months ago, price not bad if you only extend the hardware, they make it sound like you need to take the 24/7 uber support also, which is a rip... as is regular Dell support is free. If I rememeber correctly, it was $310. covering three years hardware, a 2900 with 7 drives; if I took the total package it was about 800.00 .

"This is a small client and I'm wondering if they will want an el-cheapo "redneck server" option."
I am working with one of these client's at the moment, they had me involved in a new server purchase for 6 months, back and forth, having to completely revise server configurations 3 times before purchasing..thats after allowing a raid system to go belly up as they continued to use a failing raid after I told them to shut it down until new drives arrived.


........................................
Chernobyl disaster..a must see pictorial

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm

 

[goombawaho]

Thanks for all the information. I would hesitate to use non-Dell drives in their servers even if it is a bit of a scam. If you swallow the Dell pill, you probably should just go the whole route.

Didn't you have a post about that one time?

 

[technome]

"If you swallow the Dell pill, you probably should just go the whole route."
There are a lot of believers in the Dell firmware drives, I have been using retail drives for years, maybe I am just lucky; actually I wish my small business clients could handle the extra. Yes posted about Dell's drive pricing a good while back.

You got me thinking about Intel servers (thanks), if they have a good bay server, I may switch over from Dell. They use LSI controllers, and I doubt they proprietize the drives. I am in the same boat as you, Dell's drives make their servers so expensive, I can easily lose a sale, or even a prospective client. On the plus side for Dell, there are times I get a sale price where I know they make very little profit.

Hope your client goes with your proposal.




........................................
Chernobyl disaster..a must see pictorial

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm

 

[goombawaho]

Looks like they're not in the "cheap out" mode - a server in the $3000 range. Waiting to see if I win the job.

I should add that my original question I basically figured out for myself and is answered.