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Re: [PLUG] Server Recommendation
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I think the quality and capabilities of the motherboard are most important
of all. The ability of the motherboard to accept a certain type of RAM or
processor or even storage device is not all that relevant if you do not
intend to use that feature or capability. I had an associate that insisted
he wanted a certain brand motherboard with on board IDE RAID capability. He
then did not install more than one disk drive... ever. That same motherboard
was out dated next production quarter anyway.
Keep in mind, those Compaq, Dell and etc. servers that you may buy fall into
this same bucket. All they are is a PC with a lot of extras designed to work
together. It is not until you start discussing multi-processor (4+ please)
machines capable of running virtual servers that you are really talking
about an enterprise level server. Once you begin talking about 32 way IBM
boxes on AS400 then we enter the realm of mainframe style computing.
Beyond quality and support garuntees, you 'can' make a standard desktop
computer into a sub-server class machine. It really depends on how much
money you are willing to invest. Just like a beat up Nissan Sentra worked
over and upgraded by today's youth -- you can add what you want/need.
ECC RAM is great if you actually put that in (it costs more) and if the case
has redundant power supplies and you power the system with a clean UPS
device. Otherwise, why bother. All of these things are designed to make the
system more fault tolerant against a momentary power loss.
Need some RAID for data fault tolerance? 3ware makes some controllers for
both IDE and SCSI that beat the pants off of many competitors similiar
models. Yes... IDE RAID controllers. Yes... 5 disks. You really should check
their site. For a server with 25 to 50 people asking of it all day it is
enough. The money saved going the IDE route versus SCSI can be applied to
larger disks and a really good tape drive (USB or firewire of course, we
want to future proof ourselves right?).
Need auto fail-over for network cards? Power supplies? Yep. they too can be
added to a PCI slot just like a really kickin' stereo to mom's mini-van.
I have and still actually do perform requests for just what I am talking
about. A client with an old box, lets say an old PII-333 workstation. Wants
a low cost file server that is reliable. Linux I tell him. He says 'cool',
long live the Penguin. I take that old workstation which is nothing more
special than a home PC from that era of computing and add two 80GB IDE
harddisks, max out the RAM at 384MB and install a supplemental harddrive
coolling fan. Attach the works to a nice 500va online UPS and proceed to
install Redhat in a RAID1 configuration with Samba and a few extras. Viola'!
A late model Nissan with new tires. rims and stereo! That box serves over 25
people 365 days a year without one error, lockup, hiccup, or alien
visitation for two years running. Yes, I have performed the same
bastardization of a desktop PC for Windows clients as well... and no, it
does not crash -- at all.
Hope my babbling helps...
If you need some help getting the box together feel free to let me know.
010010110110000101101101
Kam Salisbury
MCSE, CNA, Linux+, Believer in Open Source.
http://kamsalisbury.com
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