On Mon, Sep 14, 2015 at 7:34 PM, VK Sameer <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, > > I've not set up an NFS server from hardware for many years, so please bear > with any naive questions. > > I need to set up a server to replace an old Dell Business server (SC 430) > running Ubuntu 14.04.02, which has stopped booting up now. It had 2 500GB > drives, daily backup from drive 1 to drive 2 using rdist-backup. Data is > written only to 1 drive. It has 4GB RAM. Small subnet - 3 fixed NFS clients > (2 desktops, 1 fixed laptop) and 1-2 floating laptops that are brought in > occasionally. > > What would be a really good server setup to replace this? OS, software, & > network installs/configs are not a problem, but I'd like to set it up once > (well, OK a few times!), and then leave it to run for years. >
Are the disk still good? You could simply transfer the hard disks to another machine and boot from them. An equivalent server from Dell/HP/Lenovo is a good start. Suggest up the RAM to 8GB. > I've only used servers with internal hard-drives. Are there reliable boxes > (chassis?) which will let me re-use the 2 SATA HDDs? A workstation grade (really good SMPS) ATX chassis should do it. Avoid the cheapos units. > Is a > CPU-RAM-network-only box + SATA box config possible? What do you mean? > And the Dell case is > really nice, I'd hate to scrap it if it can be re-used. The motherboard has > been dying for some time, I think, so it may not be salvageable. Only 2 of > the 4 SATA connectors work. > Most Dell/HP/Lenovo/<etc> boards are proprietary with proprietary chassis. It is unlikely you can use it with a standard board from the market. I am biased towards to Supermicro boards, their form factor is industry standard. > To spice up this problem a little further. Most users are already getting > their home directories through NFS. Would it make sense to convert the > desktops into thin clients? No hardware replacement here, just > distro/OS/config. > Yes, that is the way to go. HTH, -- Arun Khan _______________________________________________ ILUGC Mailing List: http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc ILUGC Mailing List Guidelines: http://ilugc.in/mailinglist-guidelines
