On Fri Feb 20 2009 09:28:37 Kimball Larsen wrote: > Instead, this is regarding a new server we need at my office. This > will be used primarily as a backuppc host to backup all the machines > on the LAN (gigabit), as well as a secondary DNS for our domain.
All of these sound like I/O bound tasks--network or disk. > We currently have an atx tower form factor machine with a bunch of > hard drives crammed in it - it's an intel core2 duo @ 2.66Ghz with 4GB > of ram. The last few days it has been acting up, and I fear that it > is experiencing some hardware failure on the motherboard. Acting up how, exactly? > So... while hedging that we may need an entirely new server, I found this: > > http://www.surpluscomputers.com/348232/rackable-systems-dual-xeon-3.0ghz.ht >ml > > Freely confessing that I know next to nothing about the Xeon family of > processors Xeons are logically identical to Pentiums. The only difference usually being physical socket and the amount of L2 cache. > , and if the raid controller included in this box is any > good, I throw myself upon the mercies of the PLUG Hardware Gods™ to > help me get informed. > > 1) Is this machine too old to be worth the trouble? Too old? 3GHz? I would say not. I'd like to point out that it does use DDR1 memory @ 266, which is kinda slow. All the new Intel servers are shipping with _expensive_ FB-Dimms (which some people are already saying is a dead end). DDR1 is still cheap and plentiful, and where you're mostly I/O bound, memory speed isn't gonna be a problem for you. If this a 32-bit xeon, that would date it a bit since just about everything shipping today is 64-bit. Not that it matters at all for your application. > 2) Is the motherboard and raid controller Linux friendly? There are very few PC parts these days that Linux does not work well with. Linux has come a long way :) The only thing that seems fishy to me on that spec is the 350W power supply. Seems a bit low for two xeons and 4 hard drives. Though if it's enough, it's enough. /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
