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Help building a server...

T

trueimage

Senior member
Hey there thanks for looking! Now than, let's get down to it... I need to put together a server that will be colocated, in a 2U rackmount case. Here are the tasks it will perform:


[*]Fileserver/FTP Server. Clients will login to their accounts and upload work and download finished material.
[*]Webserver. We will be moving the company's website to this machine, little traffic (hopefully to change! 😉)


Thats about it, for now. We are in the process of getting the ftp contents integrated to an online web-based setup, to bypass the ftp clientside use.

So here's what I was thinking:


[*]Athlon XP 1700+. Pretty darn cheap, and very powerful.
[*]Two IBM ULTRASTAR 36XP 36.4GB 7200RPM ULTRA SCSI-2 SCA 80PIN drives (in RAID possibly, for data protection).
[*]1 GB DDR Ram. The Memory will help the performance of the ftp, webserver and database.
[*]Generic CD-ROM and floppy for install/setup and on-site maintenance??


Question marks:


[*]Which is the best server motherboard to use with Athlon XP? Should I go with the Athlon MP to accomadate a better MB?
[*]Assuming you agree with my harddrive choice, what scsi card (or raid card) should I look into?
[*]RAM: Is this enough? too much? etc.
[*]Which rackmount cases should I go with? How much power? Redundant power?
[*]Tape drive? I am going to choose a colocation provider that performs tape backups for me, what is a good tape drive.
[*]What about NICs? One, Two, depends on provider?


As you can tell, Im new to this, please lend your experience and expertise!

Thanks a bunch!

-true
 
What OS are you planning on using? 1Gb of RAM will be more than enough for either a Linux or Windows based Webserver/FTP Server. If you're going the AMD route, which it sounds like you are, look at the Tyan dual mobos. Call me a purist, but I just can't picture an AMD based server. I love them for personal use, but can't picture them in any other role. They are capable, however. Also, depending on the 2U chassis, you have pay more attention to airflow. Most P3 based 1U and 2U servers use passive cooling on the CPUs, but
have good airflow.

 
For a single XP i like the look of the Gigabyte GA7VTX-P. Ive got the GA7VTXH which i use as a Virtual Network server and it copes very well. Im getting the GA7VTX-P myself when it becomes available as i need the ECC support for when my VM Workstation goes 24/7. Apart from the ECC they are the same motherboard AFAICT.
 


<< why bother w/ the heat of an AMD chip?? >>



Not like he's buying a amd chip that runs like it was 5 years ago =).
 
ok, ill look into those boards, and dual setups..

oh and why not use amd for a server? anandtech does i believe 😉

any other info would be appreciated..
 
how bout...
TYAN Tiger MPX
2x AMD 1500+ MP's
Promise SUPERTRAK RAID
2x Western Digital 120 GB Ultra 100 ATA Special Edition

 
Go single CPU on a duallie motherboard and keep a log of CPU usage.
When you see that even the single CPU spends most of its life at ~0-5% CPU usage you may never bother getting the second CPU 😀
 


<< Go single CPU on a duallie motherboard and keep a log of CPU usage.
When you see that even the single CPU spends most of its life at ~0-5% CPU usage you may never bother getting the second CPU 😀 >>



yeah, thats why i was thinking single...

are the MP's better than XP's for server functions?
 
Hey I've got a Tiger MP, and love it was planning on running a webserver but not got the internet connection to do it. The board doesn't support XP processors so i would definetally not get one of those. If you want to spend the money you can go up a step and get the Thunder K7, it has onboard dual channel SCSI, with dual ethernet ports. It's a bit more pricey than the Tiger MP though. If you decide what you want get in touch with me and i can sell you one processor, an MP 1500, because i'm looking to get something new. I have had the processor for only about a month and a half. I'll also sell you a decent HSF for it that does a great job for non-overclocked.

If you want to ask me anything else or maybe buy the processor e-mail me.
 
If i was in your shoes i would take a look at the P4 motherboards that are available on Gigabyte's Neyworking site.
They have a couple of mobo's that are ideal to go with a 512k cache P4 and some have dual intel server NIC's, SCSI, onboard ATI VGA. The best single CPU server platform mobo's i have seen to date 🙂
If you go single you could always add another identical box at a later date to share the load and offer some redundancy.
The model i really like is the 8IDXR (Option B).


<< Single Intel® Pentium 4 (mPGA478) processor
. Adaptec 7899G(U160)ZCR/SO-DIMM Socket
. Dual Intel 10/100 LAN
. MicroATX Form Factor
>>


The ZCR/SO-DIMM socket could be a handy money saver to go the raid way with the SCSI 🙂
 


<< Hey I've got a Tiger MP. . .The board doesn't support XP processors so i would definetally not get one of those. >>

XP's run fine on this board. It is AMD that doesn't support the use of XP's in smp....but they work fine.
 
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