Re: [SLE] Recommended server hardware for a LAMP server

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Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2005 14:52:19 -0800
To: suse-linux-e@suse.com

Excellent info Danny, thanks.

I've built plenty of desktop and workgroup servers myself from scratch, so that
doesn't scare me. But I don't have the sources. I typically buy components
for workstations at those convention center shows that come through town, but
that scares me for server components; I don't recall seeing 1U cases and server
components at these anyway. Care to share some sources?

Rob

Quoting Danny Sauer <suse-linux-e.suselists@danny.teleologic.net>:

> Rob wrote regarding 'Re: [SLE] Recommended server hardware for a LAMP
> server' on Mon, Jan 24 at 10:05:
> > Quoting Per Jessen <per@computer.org>:
> >
> > > Rob, I'd be interested to know your reason for going for colo
> > > rather than just renting a dedicated server (or a few).
> >
> > My employer is allowing me to mount a server in their rack; they do
> > not have servers to rent. They have a big pipe, and the rack in in
> > close vicinity to my desk.
>
> That's a good reason. :)
>
> > > I think it will be difficult giving you any sound advice without
> > > knowing the load on the box, the expected reliability,
> > > availability etc.
> >
> > The load is light but will be increasing; of course I don't want it
> > to ever go down ;). But when it comes down to it, brief periods of
> > downtime will probably go unnoticed, but this will not be a unit I
> > expect to be intentionally taking offline for frequent upgrades or
> > anything. There will be paying customers, but nothing mission
> > critical.
> >
> > > > I'd like to hear what the consensus is on the various elements
> > > > of server selection; importance of various components, brand
> > > > name vs. generic, Intel vs. AMD, ATA vs. SCSI, value of
> > > > extended warranties, etc.
>
> It sounds like you'd be well-served with a commodity-type machine. If
> I were doing this, I'd probably go out and get a dual AMD machine -
> choose the chip based on your available funds. You mentioned MySQL,
> so it's fairly important that you get enough memory to hold your most
> commonly used tables in memory (if possible).
>
> So, first, figure out a budget. Next, figure out how much space
> you'll need. If you can fit everything you need on a single ATA disk
> (about 200GB), run a RAID-1 with at least 2 disks. If you need more
> than one disk, figure on RAID-5. Then use a 3Ware controller (yeah,
> software RAID is good, but just spend the extra hundred bucks - for
> the ease of connectivity if for no other reason). The redundancy will
> eventually pay off when a drive fails, and you get a nice little speed
> boost the rest of the time.
>
> So, now you have a 64-bit PCI card and some drives. Next, figure
> out which processor option will allow you to buy the most RAM. It'll
> be a balancing act, but I'd definately go with more memory before I'd
> go with more processor (to a point). And get memory that supports
> ECC. It's slightly slower, but you won't notice, and it's nice to
> have that extra assurance against errors at high clock speeds, IMHO.
>
> At that point, you should be able to fill in the blanks with a cheap
> AGP video card, a real name-brand NIC (Intel or 3-Com are the only
> players, in my world - possibly two if you're feeling paranoid), and
> some hot-swap enclosures for those hard drives you picked out. The
> enclosures are cheap, and since a drive's the most likely thing to die
> on your box, it'll save you a pain later.
>
> I stick with brand names for NICs, hard drives (Seagate), and
> motherboards. I get generic video cards and memory, but I generally
> run memtest86 on new memory for a few days. I also get Vantec fans,
> as a dead/noisy fan sucks.
>
> Oh, and I'd reccomend getting a good power supply separate from the
> enclosure. Sure, it's another $50 or more, but it'll help you sleep
> better.
>
> --Danny, presuming "build it myself" is an option...
>

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