Recommend a new server for SD.Net!

[His Divine Shadow]

So put the CPU upgrade as the last priority after you upgrade the storage and RAM. In fact, unless your current CPU is very obsolete, I don't think you need to upgrade the CPU at all.

At work we are running a 500mhz Xeon NT4 server, it's all of these:

-Webserver, IIS4, I do most of my work in the web area lately, right now I've been making alot of homegrown webbased systems using ASP which ties into our database systems for handling articles, orders and all that. Made our webshop so that it's tied directly into the same system, right now I've made a system that allows resellers to login, make their own customers(which are saved in our customer system) and place orders for them and themselves, this will shift alot of the workload to the reseller which now have a pretty good system I think for dealing with us.
I am quite happy with it as it is the most comprehensive system I've made and I got to figure out some neat math formulas as well

-Mailserver, we run our own mailserver using software called mDaemon, version 7, it also has built in spam and additional virus protection, it is simple and effective.

-Printserver, well we got a buncha printers on the network, good thing to just tie them all through the server.

-Fileserver, this is taking alot of space, gigabytes of raw images, documents and whatnot are stored there, I am therefore thinking about investing in an additional drive.

It's handling it's duties fine but more ram and more space would be good.

[Uraniun235]

OK, update: I've got my tax refund so it may be time to rock 'n roll soon. The system is clearly not CPU-bound so I don't need UNLIMITED POWER, but I do need a motherboard which supports SATA with command queueing, and which is rock-solid reliable. Stability is more important than speed as far as I'm concerned. Does anyone know anything about which chipsets and mobo manufacturers for AMD CPUs are the best? In the past, when I've gone Intel I've always preferred Intel motherboards for stability and cross-platform compatibility, but I'm curious how it works with AMD, especially with Linux drivers.

nVidia is generally considered to make the best AMD motherboards.

[phongn]

Tyan makes rock-solid motherboards no matter what chipset you choose.

[Darth Wong]

OK, I am now leaning toward the following, based on your feedback and also on which components are available to the most convenient local system builder:

Processor: Socket 939 Athlon 64 3000+ (1.8GHz, 90nm core)
Motherboard: Asus A8N-E (NVidia NForce4 chipset)
RAM: 2GB (two 1GB Kingston DDR400 DIMMs)
HD: 74GB (Western Digital WD-740GD 10k SATA Raptor)
Case: Antec TX1050B (500W ATX2 PS)

What do you think?

[Uraniun235]

Looks good to me.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

[Ace Pace]

VERY nice, as a side note, do you have a UPS or a surge protector? you don't want anything happening to that PC.

[Beowulf]

Later, you might want to get the PCI RAMdisk from Gigabyte.
http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/sho ... i=2431&p=5
Of course, it's not out quite yet...

[DaveJB]

When it comes to choosing a graphics card, I think the GeForce 6200 would be the best bet, given that ATI's Linux drivers still suck a great deal. Avoid the TurboCache version of the 6200, as it tends to help itself to main system memory, which isn't desirable in a server.

[Meest]

Looking good for the price, that board has more features than the comparable ABIT board. Only other thing is a decent value vid card and make sure you don't get sold on a low end card with "ultra" tags, those are complete garbage. If you want to stay under $200 I'd go with a Nvidia 6600 (ATI counterpart in this range really not worth it), or if you want to dabble a touch over 200 there's the ATI X700pro or Nvidia 6600GT for 230ish. That extra 30 bucks gets you a decent mid level card.

I really wouldn't recommend a 6200 or X300, it's more worth it to get the last generation top or mid level card than a "Turbo cached" entry level card, they are really horrible. Closer to $100 you can get a X700 non pro, but like I mentioned for 20-30$ more can get a card close to 20% faster. With the mid level cards you can sometimes unlock the features with simple software patching, instead of stripped down entry level hardware that won't last a year.

[Uraniun235]

Later, you might want to get the PCI RAMdisk from Gigabyte.
http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/sho ... i=2431&p=5
Of course, it's not out quite yet...

I'm pretty sure that card only works with Gigabyte motherboards.

[Darth Wong]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I decided on a cheap NVidia 6200 graphics card (it's a server, after all), and I probably would have recycled my old crappy 32MB GeForce2 GTS card if it weren't for the fact that this new MB is a PCIe board. I also decided to get two Raptor HDs instead of one, so I could keep the /tmp and swap data on a separate physical hard disk than the MySQL database.

Not sure how long it will take to get the gear at this point (I'm getting too lazy to assemble my own systems with all of my time constraints nowadays, so I tacked on $35 bucks extra to have the store assemble everything for me), but in a few weeks we should be running on a new, much ballsier server.

[Beowulf]

Later, you might want to get the PCI RAMdisk from Gigabyte.
http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/sho ... i=2431&p=5
Of course, it's not out quite yet...

I'm pretty sure that card only works with Gigabyte motherboards.

Doesn't say anything of the sort in the blurb, and there's good reason to believe otherwise, given it attaches to a SATA port for communication, and apparently just uses the PCI slot for power, probably because it simplifies the voltage regulators for the memory.

[Uraniun235]

I'm pretty sure that card only works with Gigabyte motherboards.

Doesn't say anything of the sort in the blurb...

o rly?

In an effort to differentiate themselves from other motherboard manufacturers, Gigabyte has introduced a number of interesting add-ons for their motherboards, the most interesting of which is their $50 RAMDISK PCI card.

[Ace Pace]

But how would they limit this to their motherboards? Something that recognizes the motherboard?

[Darth Wong]

I don't like the idea of putting the only up-to-date copy of the forum database on a volatile storage medium. An unexpected power supply failure would result in no data loss with a conventional hard drive and a journalling filesystem, but it would result in total loss of everything since the last backup with a RAMdisk.

[Ace Pace]

I don't like the idea of putting the only up-to-date copy of the forum database on a volatile storage medium. An unexpected power supply failure would result in no data loss with a conventional hard drive and a journalling filesystem, but it would result in total loss of everything since the last backup with a RAMdisk.

I suspect he means having the 'running' DB on the RAMdisk..with daily or half daily backups.

[Mr Bean]

Upgrades are good, and the motherboard in question is one I can swear by

Speaking of UPS do you have a full ups(IE your running the server off the ups battery not outside AC)?

Or just one of the much more common battery ups

[Beowulf]

I don't like the idea of putting the only up-to-date copy of the forum database on a volatile storage medium. An unexpected power supply failure would result in no data loss with a conventional hard drive and a journalling filesystem, but it would result in total loss of everything since the last backup with a RAMdisk.

This RAMdisk has a 16 hour battery backup, and any UPS would give the system enough time to write the data to disk.

[Admiral Valdemar]

You could always keep a monthly update of the board on a standlone HDD from an old PC or some other medium that's non-volatile. But like Beowulf states, modern systems have ample emergency power from the power cell before the mains come back online.

[Darth Wong]

I don't like the idea of putting the only up-to-date copy of the forum database on a volatile storage medium. An unexpected power supply failure would result in no data loss with a conventional hard drive and a journalling filesystem, but it would result in total loss of everything since the last backup with a RAMdisk.

This RAMdisk has a 16 hour battery backup, and any UPS would give the system enough time to write the data to disk.

A UPS wouldn't help if the computer's power supply failed. I've seen far too many power supplies fail to discount the possibility.

[Uraniun235]

Gentlemen, my apologies: I was incorrect about the RAMdisk card only working for Gigabyte motherboards.

Source

# The I-RAM will work with almost any motherboard
# If the PC is off but on an active power circuit, the I-RAM is powered
# There is no technical reason for a 4 GB limit
# Pricing is in the $60-70 range
# Product will be available early August
# It might be possible to use the PCI-E slot, but no plans yet