On Fri, Sep 08, 2006 at 04:00:20PM +0200, Francois Slabbert wrote:
> Hi misc,
>
> I'm looking to build soho development and storage server, what would be the
> most stable current hardware configuration.
>
> I was thinking of along the lines of:
> * Intel 945G motherboard
> * Celeron CPU
> * 512MB of RAM
> * LSI Megaraid SATA-6
> * 1+ TB of disks
>
> Data integrity and stability are my primary concerns.
<rant>
*WHAT* are you trying to use that for?
Try mine: refurbished Dell Optiplex GX1, 400 MHz Pentium II, 128 MB
memory, and two matching pairs of harddisks (6.1 and 4 GB) with a
combination of RAIDframe, altroot, and regular backups guaranteeing data
consistency. Runs mail, DNS, web, and a couple of other services, and
has space to spare - and if it ever needs more, I'll hook up the ~120 GB
of external SCSI drives lying around.
The one `expensive' piece of hardware in there is the backup solution, a
second-hand HP DAT 40GB tape drive and the second-hand Adaptec AH-2940UW
driving it.
I have a P3, 512 MB RAM, perform much the same functions for an office
of six people, and about twenty mail accounts. There, load is about .2;
memory usage varies from 1/4 to 1/2. This box was given to us for free;
we added two brand-name IDE harddisks, at $100 total.
My main workstation, which does all the compilation, has some more
power; but my laptop, at which I'm currently sitting, is very similar to
the above, but with only one hard disk.
Granted, the above is for one person; but OpenBSD will perform admirably
on refurb hardware, or pretty much whatever you want to run it on. There
are only two things you really should spend some money on: good hard
drives (though my four PoSes haven't failed me yet), and a good backup
solution.
And seriously, how does one manage to fill a TB of data?
</rant>
Otherwise, while others might be more qualified to comment, this doesn't
look too bad. I might go with more memory, though - it's cheap, and
remarkably useful. Anything that expects to serve a TB of disk should
have plenty of memory.
Also, consider good network cards. I believe the sk(4) comes highly
recommended; gigabit cards are usually preferably, due to better
buffering and so on.
Don't forget the piece about backup solutions in the rant; having easily
accessible *and* off-site tapes is at least as useful as that whole RAID
thingy, which can be done in software anyway.
Joachim
