Re: Help specifying new web server/database machine

Hi All. Thanks very much for Joshua, William, Bjoern and Matthew's
replies.

I've now looked at the famous "Server for 7K" thread. In my case we are
looking for a server for around 3000 pounds (UK); the server is to be an
all-purpose web and database server.

Processor:

First of all I noted that we were intending to use Opteron processors. I
guess this isn't a straightforward choice because I believe Debian (our
Linux of choice) doesn't have a stable AMD64 port. However some users on
this list suggest that Opterons work very well even in a 32 bit
environment. Some have suggested that a single dual core processor is
the way to go. The RAM needs to fit the CPU arrangement too; William
points out that one needs 2 DIMMS per CPU.

Disks:

I'm somewhat confused here. I've followed the various notes about SATA
vs SCSI and it seems that SCSI is the way to go. On a four-slot 1U
server, would one do a single RAID10 over 4 disks 10000rpm U320 disks?
I would run the database in its own partition, separate from the rest of
the OS, possible on LVM. An LSI-Megaraid-2 appears to be the card of
choice.

The following (without RAID card) breaks my budget by about 200 pounds:

System : Armari Opteron AM-2138-A8 1U Base PCI-X (BEI)
Case Accessories : IPMI 2.0 module for AM Series Opteron Servers
CPU : AMD Opteron 265 - Dual Core 1.8GHz CPU (940pin)
Memory : 2GB 400MHz DDR SDRAM (4 x 512MB (PC3200) ECC REG.s)
Hard drive : Maxtor Atlas 10K V 147.1GB 10K U320/SCA - 8D147J0
Additional Drives : 3 x Maxtor Atlas 10K V 147.1GB 10K U320/SCA - 8D147J0
CD/DVD Drive : AM series Server 8x Slimline DVD-ROM
Warranty : 3 Year Return to base Warranty (Opteron Server)
Carriage : PC System Carriage (UK only) for 1U Server

Thanks for any further comments,
Rory

--
Rory Campbell-Lange
<rory(at)campbell-lange(dot)net>
<www.campbell-lange.net>