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Hi there, |
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|
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I'm looking to deploy a couple of servers for Gentoo use & I'm |
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wondering if anyone has any recommendations. There requirements for |
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each are slightly different, but what is in common is that I want |
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hotswap SATA hard-drives (a simple mirror RAID is probably fine) & PSUs. |
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|
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Background / what I've used before: |
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|
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At home: |
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- Compaq Proliant 6500, which I picked up cheap a couple of years |
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ago. This is an older PII quad Xeon with hot-swap SCSI drives on |
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hardware RAID and it has been fun to play around with (I wrote the |
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HOWTO on the Gentoo-wiki for this machine) but ultimately I haven't |
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migrated services to it because it has quirks that I don't seem to be |
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able to overcome. I don't know whether there is a problem with my |
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particular machine or whether the problem is Linux support for this |
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model of hardware - it is quite unusual, sporting big riser cards |
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for RAM and various sub-boards elsewhere in the machine which are |
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cabled to the m/board - but I've pretty much resigned myself to the |
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fact that I've wasted FAR too much of my spare time troubleshooting |
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it & I'm much better off junking the hardware & replacing it. That |
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frees up my time to actually do something constructive on my server. |
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Also new hardware would seem to allow me to use SATA drives, which |
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are much cheaper than the Proliant's SCSI. |
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|
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At work: |
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- I also need a server for a client. Load & data-throughput aren't |
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going to be high, but reliability is obviously important. The client |
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probably doesn't need hot-swap hard-drives & PSUs but can afford to |
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pay for the reassurance that they give him - a £1200 high-end server |
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like this would probably be seen as "more professional" and "better" |
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than two cheap £400 boxes, even though some analyses might reason the |
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latter to provide more redundancy. After all, the PSUs and hard- |
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drives are the components most likely to fail, so this does make |
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sense. About a year ago I chose a Dell PowerEdge 2800 for another |
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customer and although that is running Windows Server what I really |
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like about this system is that it's much quieter than the Proliant |
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(variable speed fans) and a 3-year on-site warranty was quite |
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affordable. |
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|
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|
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So for the home server, big & cheap is order of the day. It just |
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needs loads of space for all the hard-drives I'm going to stuff in |
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there & fill with music & movies, and I want PCI slots so I can stuff |
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TV tuners, wireless cards, ADSL modems & whatnot for my home-geekery, |
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secure in the knowledge that a failing hard-drive won't affect my |
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email server. |
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|
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I know about the 5.25" SATA hot-swap hard-drive trays such as <http:// |
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www.pc-pitstop.com/sata_cages_enclosures/mb455spf.asp> <http:// |
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www.icydock.com/product/images/455_largeview_open.jpg> but I suspect |
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by the time I've bought two or three of them (£80 each at Scan.co.uk) |
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and a honkin' big case to put them in that something purpose made |
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might be better. |
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|
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This Chenbro server case looks extremely tempting <http:// |
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www.chenbro.com/corporatesite/products_01features.php?serno=33>. As I |
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understand it, you choose the empty case AND a backplane suitable for |
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the kind of drive (SATA, SCSI) you want to put in it - presumably the |
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drive doors at the front are just simple doors and the standard |
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connector at the back of the hard-drive needs the backplane (of the |
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suitable variety) to connect to. I've found a number of European |
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suppliers whose webpages say "click for a quote" but the US site |
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rackmountnet.com lists this at $763 including the SATA backplane. |
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|
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It seems to me that using a "standard" server case like this would |
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allow me to repurpose an ATX m/board that I'm not using much at the |
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moment, and after all, the Tyan Tiger 760MPX that I have in mind is |
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"server grade". That has a 64-bit PCI slow, which would enable me to |
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use a 3ware SATA controller - I'm told (via the MythTV list) that |
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these are the bee's knees under Linux, and the PCI version is |
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affordable if I shop around. |
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|
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Finally, for a home-build server, I find PSUs such as <http:// |
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www.chieftec.de/?page=products_big&id=266&k_id=4&language=uk> listed. |
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These appear to be intended as "standard" parts that can be put in |
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your server case of choice - that site's FAQ <http://www.chieftec.de/? |
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page=faq&language=uk&id=34> suggests that they're the same ATX form- |
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factor as the PSU in my workstation, or possibly a little larger |
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"extended ATX", presumably good for the Chenbro. |
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|
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My concerns about these components are: |
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- the price _is_ starting to add up now. It will be ... um ... |
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interesting to see how this stacks up against the off-the-shelf |
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server I spec up for my clients. |
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- the Chenbro has 4 fans across the centre of the case. Is it |
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possible to manage their speed in Linux? |
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- the Dell & Compaq servers have a light & o/s-level notifications if |
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one of the PSUs fail. I doubt if this is the case with the PSUs above? |
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|
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|
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|
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So the office server needs to be available off the shelf, with decent |
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warranty / service options. It doesn't need any PCI space or many |
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hard-drive bays, but things like fan-speed & hard-drive failure |
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notifications (I'd prefer PSU, too) need to be supported by Linux. |
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OSS / main kernel-tree drivers are good. It doesn't matter if this |
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server is quite a large tower or rackmount design, but it needs to |
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sit in the corner of the client's office, so it can't be too loud. 15 |
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months ago we paid about £1300 for the Dell PowerEdge with 3 hot-swap |
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drives, hot-swap PSUs & some bells & whistles - I'd expect cost |
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comparative with that, but using SATA. |
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|
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Thanks for your tolerance over the length of this post. |
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|
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Any suggestions? |
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|
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Stroller. |
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|
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-- |
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