Christmas Shopping...

[Paddy]

Right, from my previous threads yule know that santa has found an Asus A7M266-D in my garage

I've spent the past few days verifying that the XP1800, DDR, G400 and mobo are working fine.

The server is going in a cupboard when completed so aesthetics are not a priority, although It'll have to be reasonably secure as undoubtedly some idiot will lob a shoe at it...

In order to get my file/ftp/web/mail server up and running I am going to need:

• a case.. although I have thought about mounting it directly to a shelf...
• More RAM??? I only have 512MB ECC DDR... will that be enough?
• CPUs - I've got my eye on a pair of XP2600-Ms - Cheers to all who helped with that!
• CPU coolers... The mobo doesn't have a lot of space for coolers (and it doesn't't have those holes drilled)
• HD for the OS - I have a 10GB seagate HD from my XBOX, but I can't it to work... The BIOS will see it, but seagate tools won't format it....
• Some sort of HD array for storing the files. It needs to have a degree of redundancy, so I am thinking along the lines of RAID5.
• PSU?? I have a Enermax 330W which is working ok, but when I add the two CPUs I don't know if it will handle the load....
• anything else I can't currently think of...

I don't want to spend too much as I am already grimacing about spending £140 on a pair of CPUs....

I'm assuming that I wont need a keyboard/mouse/monitor as I'll remote admin anything.. although it shouldn't't need much input once setup.

For software, i was thinking along the lines of XP Pro SP2, although I do have a copy of Server 2K3 if I can justify using it....

Any thoughts???

Thre is no real rush to complete this project, but I want to do it before the wiring is completed..

[Paddy]

This is the ram I have.. as you can see, another stick would set me back a fair bit of cash

[Wombat]

That's way more than enough RAM.

Have you tried the HD with a Linux boot CD? See if you can repartition the drive. Also, is your BIOS getting the geometry right?

Oh, you said you're running Windows. Ummm, why?

[Paddy]

I'm not running anything on it at the moment.
I've tried booting from the 'ultimate boot CD' and using the Seagate Drive Master (or whatever it is called). It will read, but not write to the disk... I wonder if this is related the the xbox 'locking' the HD...

I have been looking into ATA RAID 5 as I think this will be the best way to go... the card are very expensive (for a four port card). Well, at lease more than I am prepared to pay... I guess I have two options - buy a the card and four drives (and be out load of cash) or buy two 250GB drives and use them for now...

I do have an adaptec 2110S SCSI RAID adaptor... now buying SCSI HDs are out of the question due to the price, but I wonder if I can get some sort of cable converter...

[Wombat]

Originally posted by Paddy


I have been looking into ATA RAID 5 as I think this will be the best way to go... the card are very expensive (for a four port card). Well, at lease more than I am prepared to pay... I guess I have two options - buy a the card and four drives (and be out load of cash) or buy two 250GB drives and use them for now...

Linux has a solid <B>software</B> RAID 5 implementation. Especially with your dual-proc configuration, I'd go for that. You'll just need a controller card.

[spadnos]

If you'll be serving files to say 10 or fewer people simultaneously, then you already have such overkill it's not funny.

Unless they'll each be on their own GigE line.

Note that a reaonably well-designed "server" application is doing nothing until a client asks for something.

A single CPU at half the speed would be fine. 512M is a good amount. I'd go with a Linux software RAID, as Wombat suggested. Spend any extra money on a big UPS.

- Steve

[High_Jumbllama]

YOu could always have BOINC running in the background to use up those xtra CPU cycles.

[agallag]

For fileserver duty, you don't need much. We used to service 250 clients on a 486-66 server with 128MB ram and Netware 3.1. Never had a performance problem.

Right now, I'm using a P3-600 as my server, and it's waaaay overkill.

[Paddy]

yeah, i know... but I have always fancied a dualie rig
I have found this... Any suggestions on a controller that will work with the 2.1x kernal?

[Paddy]

oh, and its nice to have a semi compentant games rig for those LAN parties - as there is never enough to go round....
OTOH, the server will undoubtedly be used as a game server on those circumstances.

[Paddy]

looking at hard drives.... these seem to be a bargin! this looks to be an interesting product, but it carries a hefty price tag...

Can't grumble to 1TB of storage for under £270!!!

[Wombat]

Originally posted by Paddy
yeah, i know... but I have always fancied a dualie rig
I have found this... Any suggestions on a controller that will work with the 2.1x kernal?

Are you going IDE or SATA?

Also, you can get RAID working on modern kernels pretty easily.

[VJ]

For power supplies, nothing beats PC Power and cooling

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/

(510 W (650 W peak), 1% regulation, 5 years warranty)



Jörg

[Goc]

As for coolers, Thermaltake Silentboosts are the best you can get that will fit on the board without setting you back an arm and a leg....

[Paddy]

well rightly, or wrongly I've gone and got this!!!

As you all thought that the current mobo was overkill (and it would require a resonable amount of cash to turn it into a server) I thought that id go for something a little more old skool!