[olug] New Email Address, Server inquiry....

[Phil Brutsche]

Mario Steele wrote:
> Now, me and a friend are setting up some Server hosting for a few
> clients of ours, and we're looking into getting our hands on some
> server hardware.  I was wondering if anyone out there has some good
> suggestions on where to look for, or if someone has some, Rack Mount
> Servers, with RAID Card interfaces, that can run Windows 2003, and
> Ubuntu Linux on for some Hosting needs.  Any and all suggestions or
> offers are welcome!

Dell or HP.

If you're going to try to build your own server:

Avoid Adaptec retail RAID cards. They're effectively Windows only. I'm
not kidding - the OEM cards (the ones integrated into the server
motherboard of a Dell or HP) are much much much better in terms of OS
compatibility. If you're going to build it yourself and need a RAID
card, use LSI Logic.

*Do not* cheap out on the motherboard. Get a *real* server motherboard,
not a "desktop PC in a rackmount chassis" that so many rackmount servers
end up being. Supermicro and Intel are you're best bets here.

*Do not* let CPU evangelism get in your way. In other words, don't
concentrate on an AMD-based solution and ignore the possibilities of an
Intel-based solution. The CPU doesn't matter, it's the feature set
that's important - ECC memory, BIOS redirection to serial, 64-bit PCI
busses, PCI-E slots wider than x1, etc. I'll tell you right now the vast
majority of server motherboards are Intel.

If *I* was going to go the DIY route I would use Supermicro rackmount
servers. Add CPU, memory, drives, OS and you're done.

-- 

Phil Brutsche
phil at brutsche.us