Looking for server

This forum is for site announcements. Please go here to read the SITE & FORUM RULES.

Postby Daku-Tenchi » Mon May 12, 2003 7:59 am

i thought ai had already talked to you Phade, i own white dragon computers. tell me what you want and i'll build it at cost. e-mail: raitonotenshi@msn.com :wink:
Daku-Tenchi
 
Joined: 01 Aug 2002
Location: Gilbert, AZ, USA

Postby Phade » Mon May 12, 2003 9:33 pm

Hey,

Ohhhh yeahhh... Just like my avatar's character, I forget things. ^_^ Check the requirements I've listed in this thread. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks again and have fun!! ^_^

Phade.
User avatar
Phade
Site Admin
 
Joined: 20 Oct 2000
Location: Little cabin in the woods...

Postby Gimpy » Sun May 18, 2003 10:52 am

In response to your debate over the 120 GB vs 200 GB, the 120's right now have the best cost per MB (or per GB). If the cost of a 3U case is not much higher than a 2U then it might not be a bad idea to do that and just get one, two, maybe three more 120 GB drives. Of course this is assuming that the place providing your colo is okay with using 3U instead of 2U, and also assuming that the RAID card in question can support more than 8 drives, since I was too lazy to read the specs on it. :D I'm not too up to date on rack mount case prices, but besides the places other people have suggested, there is also http://www.servercase.com. I don't know how their costs stack up against others though..
There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who know binary and those who don't.
User avatar
Gimpy
 
Joined: 14 Mar 2002

Postby gman4471 » Mon May 19, 2003 8:39 pm

You may want to consider using a SCSI RAID controller SCSI drives tend to be more reliable than IDE and faster too. You may want to check out www.mylex.com I use there raid controllers in all of the servers I construct, although the WD2000JB is a very good choice.

Also I noticed many of the prices that were listed above quite inflated- I am a licensed direct reseller for many different companies and I can get parts much cheaper than retail

You may also consider getting a removable backup system such as a tape drive or CDRW though it holds very little, to re-secure passwords, usernames, transactions, ect. But depending on what you may be using the server for, this may not be necessary.

As for a redundant power supply you may want to look into buying an external UPS. It is sometimes cheaper and you can power more than one server on it. I have an APC back-ups Pro 1000 and it provides redundancy to my two Unix servers just fine.

--Zak
If olive oil comes from olives…….
And peanut oil comes from peanuts…….
Where does baby oil come from?
gman4471
 
Joined: 19 May 2003

Postby Phade » Mon May 19, 2003 9:16 pm

Hey gman4471,

If you can get a terrabyte SCSI array for the price of an IDE array, I'm all for it!! I haven't been able to find anything close so far, thus I was suggesting the IDE array.

A removable backup system really wouldn't work too much for me. I'm in North Carolina and the server is going to be in Maryland. Even so, I'm not aware of any affordable terrabyte tape backup systems.

The colo center is it's own backup system (batteries, generators, power scrubbers, the works). Paying per U doesn't justify the added cost of a power supply.

Check out the specs at the beginnig of this thread as well as the spec in the rest of the Golden Donut section. If you can come up with better and cheaper, your help would be greatly appreciated!

Phade.
User avatar
Phade
Site Admin
 
Joined: 20 Oct 2000
Location: Little cabin in the woods...

Postby gman4471 » Tue May 20, 2003 9:50 pm

Hey, Here are some specs:

Motherboard;

I like AMD and being a direct reseller I can get there parts cheaper than Intel. The motherboard is Dual Processor and I chose two AMD MP-2400 running at 2 ghz. You can upgrade to the MP-2600 if you want, it’s a .13 ghz difference. The motherboard has an integrated (ooooo ahhhhhhh) RAID system I wanted to go with a SCSI raid since there would be no price difference for me J but since price was a big factor and because of there speed and reliability a 200gb SCSI drive can easily cost well over $1,000. So I went with an IDE raid system.

Memory:

2 sticks of 512 DDR upgradeable to 6

Storage:

6 Western Digital 200 gb. IDE HD on raid system (I know you said 8- see notes below) but 6 drives should be plenty of space.

Case:

2U Rack Mount case with 6 hot swappable drive slots – you said something about paying by the U so I wasn’t sure if space was a big issue or not so I went with the 2 U case. It is much more difficult to assemble but I will do it for you for no extra charge.
Video:
I’ Video is not onboard so I will see what toss in

32X ~ ish CDROM (I have to see what I have), Floppy Drive included

Cables, Fans, Heat syncs ----- I’ll add them Free J

Warranty:

All of my systems come with a minimum 1 year warranty parts and labor. That I can get into more detail later.

Notes:

The Raid controller can handle more than 6 drives so I believe I can add 2 more but they wont be hot swap.
Overall I think you will find much greater performance with AMD than with Pentium Processors. The hardware itself is very reliable and includes voltage, heat, and system status sensors to make sure minimize problems.


So, What’s the grand total? -------- $4,000

Tell me what you think so I can start to lock in the current prices

-thanks
If olive oil comes from olives…….
And peanut oil comes from peanuts…….
Where does baby oil come from?
gman4471
 
Joined: 19 May 2003

Postby gman4471 » Tue May 20, 2003 11:09 pm

Error Correction-------------

The price includes the AMD MP-2600 upgrade making each processor 2.13 ghz
gman4471
 
Joined: 19 May 2003

Postby Phade » Wed May 21, 2003 9:22 pm

Hey gman4471,

The reason I want to use the 3Ware card is because the server can then have 6 drives in raid 5 with two hot-spare drives. This way, a maximum of 3 drives can melt and the array will still be running fine. I don't want to ever have to take down that server to replace a drive, ever.

The 3Ware card requires a 64bit PCI slot, which limits the number of available motherboards. Squeezing all that down to a 2U case with sufficient cooling is going to be a challange, but I think it can be done.

See what you can come up with specificually using the 3Ware card, 8 drives, and the 2U case.

Thanks again for your help!! ^_^

Phade.
User avatar
Phade
Site Admin
 
Joined: 20 Oct 2000
Location: Little cabin in the woods...

Postby gman4471 » Sun May 25, 2003 9:13 pm

Here’s what I got,

I’m keeping the same motherboard minus the onboard RAID

As for the RAID controller I have decided to go with High Point. There newest model has just arrived with us and it is just if not more reliable than the 3 Ware card, and is much cheaper so it wont bring up the total. Plus it supports RAID 5 still allowing 3 drives to Melt, Crash, Burn, Explode, without damaging the drive array. It also has management software for all operating systems just like 3 Wares.


The case is a different story, after 6 hot swap bays prices start to rise much quicker. The 8 bay case is about $700-ish opposed to a $315-ish 6 bay case. To top things off these cases do not use standard CD and floppy disk drives, instead they use slimmer drives that are smaller and take up less space and are more expensive. These changes will increase the total by $300

- Tell me what you think
If olive oil comes from olives…….
And peanut oil comes from peanuts…….
Where does baby oil come from?
gman4471
 
Joined: 19 May 2003

Postby FurryCurry » Fri May 30, 2003 6:54 pm

Hey Phade,

I have a Gig of registered, ecc PC2100 RAM I'm not using (4x256Mb), and may not use again, since none of the mobos I have right now will support it.

Here's the product link: http://www.crucial.com/store/PartSpecs.asp?imodule=CT3272Y265&cat=RAM

If you want it, let me know where to send it. It tested out fine when I last ran memtest86 on it.

I also have a pair of Athlon MP 1900's, same story as above.

I may put this stuff up for sale in July if you don't ask for it by then.
User avatar
FurryCurry
 
Joined: 14 Jul 2002

Postby gman4471 » Mon Jun 02, 2003 5:08 pm

Hey Phade and FurryCurry

The memory should work fine with the motherboard since all of the pieces are the same size and considering they work.

As for the processors it depends on whether or not you want to lower yourself down to the MP 1900’s from the MP 2600’s.

……….But ill take them if they need a home :D
gman4471
 
Joined: 19 May 2003

Postby Daku-Tenchi » Thu Jun 05, 2003 7:51 pm

Hey Phade,

I’ve been going over the server you need. I don’t think a 2U chassis is going to work for your application. None of the manufacturers I have spoken with have an IDE hot-swap solution for a 2U. I can do what you need with a 4U. Let me know if that is an option. :?:

Raito no Tenshi
Daku-Tenchi
 
Joined: 01 Aug 2002
Location: Gilbert, AZ, USA

Postby Phade » Thu Jun 05, 2003 8:14 pm

Hey Daku-Tenchi,

Other companies have found 2U 8-drive chassis. Example (though not the cheapest). The hosting will cost per-U, so minimizing is a good thing. 4U would be cheaper for the machine, but more costly overall for hosting.

Phade.
User avatar
Phade
Site Admin
 
Joined: 20 Oct 2000
Location: Little cabin in the woods...

Postby Daku-Tenchi » Fri Jun 06, 2003 5:04 pm

I found that case. The manufacturer says it is new and will not be
available until next week. For that reason, they would not give me a
price, but I'll find out.

Also, what raid level does you want to run :?:
Daku-Tenchi
 
Joined: 01 Aug 2002
Location: Gilbert, AZ, USA

Postby gman4471 » Fri Jun 06, 2003 6:46 pm

Hey Phade,

I talked to my supplier and he has agreed to sell me the 2U 8 hot Swap bay case for the same price as the 2U 6 hot swap bay case. This will shave about $300 off the price. Also since I will be putting in a large order soon I may be able to get a bulk order discount.

-Tell me what you think
gman4471
 
Joined: 19 May 2003

PreviousNext

Return to Site Announcements

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest