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FileServers... Have a few older machines

T

TechBoyJK

Lifer
I have a few Dell PowerEdge 2300's.

Specs

Dual p2 400mhz
6xHotswap SCSI backplane
2xHotswap SCSI backplane

I'm going to need a fileserver for a website I'm launching soon, and I'm wondering if I should keep these (1 active, 1 for parts, etc) or just get something better, newer, etc.

I would put something like Ubuntu/OpenFiler on them. They would just need to be able to be mounted by a windows server (share) to hold photos.

I would have

2x18GB 10k rpm scsi drives for OS (hotswap)
6x36GB 10k rpm scsi drives for data (hotswap)

However, this is all old equipment, as much as ten years old, so I'm wondering how reliable it is, and if its worth putting back into production. Not to mention, the drive size on the old SCSI drives, while faster, is limited. The cost of throwing in 300x6 scsi's is high, compared to other options. So these wouldn't last long assuming content filled up the drives.

My other option is to take a 4U case I have, put in a P4 2.4GHZ MB with 1GB ram, and just do like 3x500GB 10k SATA drives (or even SSD's). They wouldn't be hotswap though. I would put them in raid5 probably. I could even do two of these machines, having one in standby and used to backup the data on the primary one. Not to mention, higher capacity sata drives are pretty cheap.

Ideas? I have to move these servers and I need to decide I want to put in the effort (they are heavy as hell) to move them and get them in storage for now, or just dispose of them and cut my losses.
 
Cut your losses on what? A 10 dollar P2 machine? Would not build a server, or anything that needs to be used out of 10 year old parts...

It sounds like you already figured this out though...
 
Originally posted by: Gunbuster
Any production machine should have active maintenance/warranty. End of story.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm thinking. The machines are there and useable, but the fact that the value of the machine could be absorbed in just a few hours of BS downtime and having to rebuild on a new server during production, makes them not worth using and jus owning up to the idea its mandatory to invest in a machine with currently available architecture.
 
can you reliably keep your uptime at 99% or higher with these machines? If you don't think so, then don't bother. save yourself the headaches and do it the right way. you could use those machines for offsite storage maybe?
 
I agree with all of the above, however, I will say it depends on where this is hosted. If you are doing a home-hosted site, that you are really just testing the waters with at first, then I would say use the cheap hardware but make sure everything you do is planning to upgrade soon. Shoestringing is not ideal, especially as a long-term solution, but if you just need something simple, then it isn't a horrible alternative. Especially if this website is say a blog about your miniature wood carvings of tomatoes. You don't need to spend thousands on a hobby server.

On the other hand, if this is for an existing site (that generates decent revenue), or if you are co-lo'ing the box, then you need to be sure something is reliable as heck... see above.

Then again, at a low bandwidth/utilization, you are probably better off getting a shared hosting solution when you consider power costs. At 200w draw and 720 hours of use per month (30 day month) it will be cheaper, faster, and more reliable (in most cases) to get a good shared hosting plan.
 
Originally posted by: JackMDS
An ATOM based WHS with 1TB drive cost to put to work for about $350.

The electricity saved in few months would pay the expense as compare to the planned above.

Computer devices are just pieces of plastic with some silicone and a little metal.

I have less feeling for them than to my old sneakers,😉 let it go.

Example, http://www.homeserverhacks.com...mediasmart-server.html

http://www.ezlan.net/WHS.html
Click to expand...

haha good point. Yea, I was staring at the machines last night, and decided to pull out the drives and hot swap caddies (to ebay) and pitch the machines. It's just not worth the hassle. The most I could get out of the raid array was like 6x36GB so in raid 1 thats like 100GB.

 
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