Test sever: Old Poweredge or new P4 Desktop

[kh4130]

Right now I am looking for a home test server. Nothing crazy just a server I can mess with AD, Domains, and other small things so I can get used to servers/networking. I have gotten tired of switching out hard drives on my main desktop.

I was originally looking for a used dual PIII (500-800 Mhz)on ebay but I was wondering if getting a cheap-ish Dell or home built desktop would be cheaper/better? The key thing is I dont want to spend too much money. ~$300 MAX -- would like to spend less though --- yeah I'm cheap.

I know a new beater desktop would probally be more than $300 but I just want to know if a dual PIII (500-800Mhz) would be even worth the time.

 

[nweaver]

sure, a dual w/scsi and enterprise H/W would be better, as you get exposere to actual server class H/W. Server's arn't just more expesive cause they make more noise, they have higher quality components and lower MTBF. I use quad 550's and dual 700's for plenty of stuff.

 

[Atheus]

I've got dual tualitan P3s on a serverworks board with ECC RAM and some 10k SCSI drives, it makes a great server, I never come close to it's limit. Perks include the ability to take a processor failure, RAM failure, and a hard disk failure, without shutting down.

 

[kh4130]

Thanks for the feedback. I have decided to look for a Dual processor server; I am looking online for a used server now. Any suggestions on what keep stay away from or try to get? I am leaning towards the Dell Poweredge server just because I am familar with Dells - is this bad reasoning?

 

[keeleysam]

Check out the Dell Outlet.

 

[nweaver]

I like the old Compaq Proliants too, my old 7000 on wheels is my "portable server" and my 8000 is just a beast that could take a slug in it and keep chugging.

 

[spikespiegal]

I think y'all are on crack.

I've set up Windows 2000/2003 on everything from Quad Pentium Pro-200's to home PC based X2's to dual Xeon IBM's to Dell P4's. By far the easiest server to set up and maintain is the desktop hardware.

One of the saddest things in this industry is the way hardware vendors have brain damaged IT people into things that Server Operating Systems belong on server hardware when in fact the OS doesn't give a crap. This is why that over-priced rack of blade servers generating as much heat as a small nuclear reactor can be repalced by a single server running Vmware.

While dedicated server hardware often has more vault tolerance options than desktop hardware, for testing and evailuation purposes it doesn't matter. Nopbody gets a job in IT nowadays fiddling with this junk either.

I strongly suggest getting an AMD 64 workstation with as much ram as you can afford, and load your servers inside VMware Server and actually learn a viable skill. Fartin' around with retired Pentium 3's isn't one of them.

 

[spikespiegal]

I use quad 550's and dual 700's for plenty of stuff.

I'm betting the AMD X2 rig I have at work running Vmware costs a fraction to build what that quad 550 did, and has 10x the transaction performance.

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: spikespiegal

I use quad 550's and dual 700's for plenty of stuff.

I'm betting the AMD X2 rig I have at work running Vmware costs a fraction to build what that quad 550 did, and has 10x the transaction performance.

I bet my 8 way Proliant 8000 has more fault tolerance and more uptime then your AMD X2 rig...I can hot swap processors, drives, memory, PCI cards....You can hot swap...USB, wahoo...

keep your AMD rig up (actual uptime) over 300+ days, cause when we moved my machine, it was sitting at ~390 days uptime in Debian Stable.

Having real experience with enterprise class hardware nets you a bonus in the job interview....