Hi guys, The place I'm currently working for as a Network Engineer/Admin/can-you-fix-the-printer type guy, has a booking system called Consensus. It runs on two machines, one hosting the SQL database (around 5GB), the other hosting the web front-end, both of which are getting a bit long in the tooth. I'm looking to replace these machines and transfer the data over as they've got some old parts in, pages are hanging every now and then, and Crystal Reports from the SQL data can take longer than expected. Both have the following or equivalent: Athlon 1700+, 512MB Ram, ATA100 hard drives, running 24/7 and sounding decidely sickly. Now, question is, I've never really specced servers before (have done lots of desktop/gaming machines) and I'd rather build one than buy something overpriced just because it's a 'server' class machine if possible. Clearly the database machine needs to support a lot of read/writes and hard drive access. There are only 10 or 20 users simultaneously, but this will increase gradually in the future. So I suppose the first few hard drive related questions are... Is SATA Raid 0 going to be reliable enough bearing in mind most drives these days are pretty indestructabe (apart from Western Digital *cough*) and in a database environment, would I see a great improvement over a single SATA or Raptor drive? Is SATA 0+1 worth the increased cost/complexity? For the webserver I suppose CPU and RAM are the most important factors, but having never got my hands on something like an Opteron or Xeon to play with fully I'm not sure how great the cost to performance ratio improves over something like a Core 2 Duo, or Athlon X2. Can anyone shed light on this? The budget for each machine is quite low (don't yet have final figures) so I'd rather not shell out for anything overspec unnecessarily. Thanks in advance chaps,
To be honest I'd go for RAID 5, RAID 0 definately isn't worth bothering with on critical data. Xeons and Opterons use better-quality silicon for a more reliable, longer-lived processor. Unless you've got it being rinsed 24/7 and expect it to last for 10 years, I wouldn't worry. An E4300 will probably be sufficient for both servers for a good while, a decent storage subsystem is key with the data server, and spending a lot more on a decent RAID controller is a very sensible idea. Don't forget to include a backup solution too - hard drives ARE NOT backup.
Exactly what Krikkit said, you'll have to really take care of the PSUs as well, maybe even a redundant back up with UPS. The main thing with a webserver and database machine is do not install anything you don't need, anything installed adds to insecurity.
Buy it, don't build it. Unless of course you want to be completely responsible for the 24/7 support of a critical server at work, go for it. However if something cocks up on a off-the-shelf server a simple call to tech-support will be all you have to worry about. Think about it, a server from HP or another vendor isn't just components. It's piece of mind, support and knowing that millions of companies use and trust them. Also this is your first time doing a server, so I'd suggest leaving it to the professionals. If you are going to build them yourself, set a budget and allow for contingency, you will need redundancy and backup parts for most things. Overspec is better than under.
That's a good point identikit - buying one from Dell, HP, IBM etc, you buy a warranty and 24/7 tech support. Alright they mug you for the server, but it's peace of mind, and that's worth thinking about. As doug says too - make sure you have a good PSU, maybe look into redundancy too, along with a good UPS.
Depends what level of support you purchase from the vendor, but usually they can have somebody on site very quickly, who will either repair or replace the server. If you are set on doing this DIY, make sure you get a good case and PSU. Redundancy is key for the PSU. Make sure you order spares and right from the very start, documentation, documentation, documentation. List the parts, prices, numbers and methodology from building to installing. Remember that anybody might have to come and use/fix this server so them having a very detailed and concise list of everything that has been done/installed is a godsend. I'd start with deciding on Xeon or Opteron. Personally I'd pick Xeon and combine supermicro motherboards and system chassis. You can always just populate a single socket on the motherboard and expand by buying a matching CPU when the need comes.
Thanks for your input guys, much appreciated. Will research with your comments in mind and post back with my progress.
if you want something to last ages, build a 2x quad xeon machine. I'll post the link as soon as I find it to the board, but it supports SAS drives, and should handle anything for the conceiveable future. for critical data/read-write, nothing beats RAID 6, absolutely nothing. (read my RAID thread for info)
