|
Hi, Peter You're asking for experience, so I'd just add my own. I prefer using dual Opteron systems for servers and by the mean of performance, they have never disappointed me. Opteron just has better architecture (NUMA; Non-Uniform Memory Access) compared to Intel's old SMP (Symetric MultiProcessing). With Opteron, every processor has it's own builtin memory controller and own memory slots on mainboard, although another processor can of course ask for data that are stored in peer processor's memory. Each processor is directly connected to another processor. With Intel, everything goes thru FSB (Front-Side-Bus), even CPU-to-memory and CPU-to-CPU communication, so that system easily gets flooded by intense I/O or memory access even if processors don't have much to do. This is also the reason, why it often dosen't make much sense to add more and more processors to Intel SMP box; The problem usually lays in FSB bottleneck, not in lack of processor power. With Opteron, I have never experienced a situation when system was unresponsive. You can really feel the difference against any PC; the FSB is no more the bottleneck. You may want to save some money and build a system at Your own, because branded servers are expensive and hardly You get exactly what You want. On the other way, if You do have enough money, find the configuration that best fits Your needs and buy the HP or such server. Youl'll pay 3-times more, but You have guarantees and warm feeling :o) This is my advice: We have a local supplyer that is able to build systems exactly by our specification. You can use these components: -Tyan barebone system such as http://www.tyan.com/products/html/gt24b2891.html This way You get solid rack case with good power supply and motherboard inside, that altogether perfectly fit each other. Thus You do avoid problems with milimeter-wide disorders and non-fitting components that You'd face if You've built from separate MB, case and PSU components. -2x dual-core Opteron processors (for example model 270) -8x 1GB ECC registered memory (manual should instruct You, how to use the memory slots to gain fast dual-channel memory access) -The Tyan barebones are in several variants, for example the GT24 has a variants for SATA or SCSI disks. I'll go with SCSI, buy some hw RAID controller (for example the ADAPTEC 2130SLP for 64-bit 133MHz PCI-X slot) -4x identical disks (I'd choose Seagate). Install 3 disks in RAID5 configuration and leave the 4th disk aside, unplugged, for the case of malfunction of one of the three. And that's it, server made of quality, professional components for 1/3rd of price of branded server.
I hope these information are of any
value for You. Peter Hieromonk Peter wrote / napísal(a): Greetings. We're looking at buying a new server to use as our LTSP Terminal server, along with all our general server needs such as IMAP email, MySql database, apache webserver for internal web-development use (not external), and the like. It will service about ten concurrent users.We've spec'd out the server below from Dell. It's probably more machine than what we need, but the way Dell has the pricing on this system right now, most of the less powerful systems that I have looked at with similar configurations either cost more, or aren't enough less to warrant getting them instead of this one. In a nutshell, this system Dell PowerEdge 2900 with two Xeon dual core processors, 8 GB Ram, with two 146 GB SCSI 10k rpm hard drives in a hardware Raid 1 configuration, for $3,482.00. Few questions: 1. Someone told me I should not set it up with Raid 1 -- that I should set it up with three 73 GB hd's. He said it would be faster than the Raid 1. I don't know much about Raid, but I gathered that Raid 5 should be slower than Raid 1 -- if not in the writing, than at least in the reading. Which should I go with -- 1 or 5? Any opinions? He also said that in a Raid 5, if one drive went out, the other two would just pick up and run without the other drive until I could replace the faulty drive, without me having to do anything. Is that right? 2. Do the drives in either Raid 1 or 5 have to be *exactly* identical? That is, if a drive fails a few years from now, and I can't get an exactly identical drive to replace it, will I be ok as long as I can get one that is the same size, although perhaps a different brand or model? Or would I have to replace all of the drives? 3. If I go with a Raid 1, is one hd Raid controller enough, or should I get two? I know one will do the job, but would two be better? (Like I say, I don't know much about Raid. This will be my first experience with it.) 4. Should I load the 64-bit version of SuSE on it, or the i386? From what I understand, there are fewer software packages available for the 64-bit system. (Do I even have the choice with Xeon processors?) I need Java, OpenOffice, a web browser (preferably Firefox), MPlayer plugin, Perl, and Php to work. 5. I thought I read somewhere you can run 32-bit software on a 64-bit system, but that it only runs in 32-bit mode. What's the deal with that? (First time for 64-bit for me, too.) 6. I've priced systems with HP and Gateway, too, and they seem to cost more than Dell for less powerful systems. Where do you all get your servers? Do you build them yourselves? If so, is there a better place to get the components than Tiger Direct, PC Connection, JDR, and CDW? What processors do you all recommend? 7. The 5-year old Dell PowerEdge 1400SC server we have has never really been all that stable. I have to reboot it every week, and sometimes it still hangs during the nightly processing (backups, etc.). And this is true regardless of what flavor of Linux I run on it. It runs ok once I reboot it, but it's a pain in the neck. Does anyone else have problems with Dell PowerEdge servers? 8. Any other comments / suggestions about the system we're looking at buying? I would greatly appreciate any and all advice. I don't know that much about all this kind of stuff, and these are some of the questions and concerns I have. I wanted to run it by some others who do know about this stuff, and you all are the nicest group of people I know that I can ask. So like I say, I'd really appreciate any advice you all offer. With very kind regards, Peter, hieromonk ---- Dormition Skete Our Monastery Website: http://www.DormitionSkete.org Our Catechetical Website: http://www.TrueOrthodoxy.Info GOC of Greece Website: http://www.omologitis.org ---- GROUP: 1 QUANTITY: 1 SYSTEM PRICE: $3,482.00 GROUP TOTAL: $3,482.00 Base Unit: Dual Core Xeon Processor 5130 4MB Cache, 2.00GHz, 1333MHz FSB, PE 2900 (222-3392) Processor: Dual Core Xeon 2nd Processor 5130, 4MB Cache, 2.00GHz 1333MHz FSB, PE 2900 (311-6229) Memory: 8GB 533MHz (8x1GB), Dual Ranked DIMMs (311-5732) Keyboard: No Keyboard Selected (310-5017) Monitor: NO MONITOR OPTION (320-2968) Video Card: Broadcom TCP/IP Offload EngineNot Enabled (430-1765) Hard Drive: 146GB, SAS, 3.5-inch 10K RPM Hard Drive (341-3030) Hard Drive Controller: PERC 5/i, Integrated Controller Card (341-3018) Floppy Disk Drive: No Floppy Drive (341-3052) Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise Linux, No Operating System, Utility Partition (420-4104) Mouse: Mouse Option None (310-0024) NIC: Dual Embedded Broadcom NetXtreme II 5708 Gigabit Ethernet NIC (430-1764) CD-ROM or DVD-ROM Drive: 48X IDE CD-RW/DVD ROM Drive for PowerEdge 2900 (313-4313) Sound Card: Tower Bezel Included (313-4363) Documentation Diskette: Electronic Documentation and OpenManage CD Kit, PE2900 (310-7402) Additional Storage Products: 146GB, SAS, 3.5-inch 10K RPM Hard Drive (341-3030) Feature Integrated SAS/SATA RAID 1 PERC 5/i Integrated (341-2998) Feature Tower Chassis Orientation (310-7489) Service: Dell Hardware Warranty Plus Onsite Service Initial YR (984-1467) Service: Basic Enterprise Support: Business Hrs 5X10 Next Business Day Onsite Service Post Problem Diagnosis Init YR (970-4650) Service: Dell Hardware Warranty, Extended YR (984-1469) Service: Basic Enterprise Support: Business Hrs 5X10 Next Business Day Onsite Service Post Problem Diagnosis 2YR Ext (960-8852) Service: Basic Enterprise Support: Business Hrs 5x10 Hardware Only Tech Phone Support, 3Yr, Declined Software Support (960-8882) Installation: On-Site Installation Declined (900-9997) Misc: Redundant Power Supply with Y-Cord for PowerEdge 2900 (310-7405) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Using Tomcat but need to do more? Need to support web services, security? Get stuff done quickly with pre-integrated technology to make your job easier Download IBM WebSphere Application Server v.1.0.1 based on Apache Geronimo http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=120709&bid=263057&dat=121642 _____________________________________________________________________ Ltsp-discuss mailing list. To un-subscribe, or change prefs, goto: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ltsp-discuss For additional LTSP help, try #ltsp channel on irc.freenode.net |
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Using Tomcat but need to do more? Need to support web services, security? Get stuff done quickly with pre-integrated technology to make your job easier Download IBM WebSphere Application Server v.1.0.1 based on Apache Geronimo http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=120709&bid=263057&dat=121642
_____________________________________________________________________
Ltsp-discuss mailing list. To un-subscribe, or change prefs, goto:
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ltsp-discuss
For additional LTSP help, try #ltsp channel on irc.freenode.net
