Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 15:34:44 +0100 From: "Lawrence Farr" <freebsd-hw@epcdirect.co.uk> To: "'Edwin Culp'" <eculp@encontacto.net>, "'Paul Chvostek'" <paul@it.ca> Cc: <freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org> Subject: RE: Server recommendation for co-location. Message-ID: <001b01c15198$b49b73d0$c806a8c0@lfarr> In-Reply-To: <1002720909.3bc44e8dd35fa@Mail.SavvyWorld.Net>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
3ware have withdrawn sales of their controllers. see: http://www.3ware.com/products/EscaladeLetter.asp?Title=Product&subTitle= 3&ImageNumber=2 Lawrence Farr EPC Direct Limited mailto:lawrence@epcdirect.co.uk T:01179666123 F:01179666111 M:07970780901 -----Original Message----- From: owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG [mailto:owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG] On Behalf Of Edwin Culp Sent: 10 October 2001 14:35 To: Paul Chvostek Cc: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Server recommendation for co-location. Paul, thank you for taking the time to make these suggestions. They are excellent and I will certainly share the results with the list. I have purchased what I consider to be the best solution for our company, right now. I know many folks will have issues with 3ware, drives in the same box, etc. but it meets our specs and is within our budget of "unlimited cash":-) that you mention and seems solid good ventilation, adequete power in a 4u box. The server can be seen at: http://www.fnordsystems.com/4U_fnord_430_product_page.shtmlServerworks III HE-SL I have been thinking about vinum across the two controlers and would be very interested to hear of experiences, especially with 3ware raid and vinum. The bios issue is very important and I'll have a solution before deploying in Singapore. I plan to work these issues out here in the office before sending it to the co-location facility. RealWeasel looks really interesting. Maybe I can even get on their "asses saved" page (LOL) The FnordSystem has Serverworks III HE-SL chipset. I've never used it but it does come well recommended although I don't remember anything from the specs about the ability to "spew" to the serial port,though.:-) Thanks again and I would appreciate any comments or suggestions, especially with vinum. ed Quoting Paul Chvostek <paul@it.ca>: | | Hi Edwin. | | On the basis of your specs, I infer that you have unlimited cash. :) | | I have three things to add to your equation. Since this box will be | mostly inaccessible, you should probably allocate at least two drives | as spares in your RAID. Having one spare is obvious, but you really | don't want to have to do repairs to this unit even *after* a failure | if you can help it, and one more drive is (relatively) cheap. | | Which brings us to the second point. I've just been probing the list | regarding a problem I'm having with a Dell PowerEdge that has a | MegaRAID controller in it. I can't find any way to have the RAID | controller tell FreeBSD that there's a problem, without doing hardware | mods that void the warranty on the unit. (I'm still looking.) If you | plan to buy a brand-name box (Dell, IBM, whatever), MAKE SURE that the | configuration you're using includes the ability to report drive (and | fan and heat) problems to the operating system. The man page for | ports/sysutils/healthd lists a number of monitoring chipsets for the | basic stuff, but I don't know where you'd look for the RAID, unless | you don't mind the performance hit and are comfortable running vinum. | | The third point ... is that you want remote access to this box at all | times. The Dell PowerEdge server I installed yesterday has a BIOS | setting that apparently lets the unit spew its CMOS config interface | through the serial port. For a less vendor-specific solution, check | out http://www.realweasel.com/. It's an awesome product. | | When you complete your research, please let the list know. I'm sure | lots of us will be interested in your findings. | | p | | | On Tue, Sep 25, 2001 at 07:16:23PM -0700, Edwin Culp wrote: | > | > I need to co-locate a server in Singapore so reliability is | > important:-). I am thinking of something with a ServerWorks | > LE-based board, multiprocessor, but with one P-III Xeon to | > start, running at from 700 Mhz to 1,000 Mhz, 2Gb initial ram, | > an extremely well ventilated box with multiple, hot swap, | > power supplies 500-750 watts, each. I would like to have a | > Raid 10 array with from .5 TB to 1 TB initially. | > I find the 3ware escalade 64 bit, switched, 7000 series to be a a | > very compelling solution but I remember seeing a thread not long | > ago about it having pretty serious problems in one installation, | > but I've also heard some very good things about it. Does anyone | > know of a solid raid 10 SCSI solution for FreeBSD? | > | > All suggestions appreciated especially about 3ware, motherboard, | > drives, etc. If I remember the drives that were having problems | > in the 3ware thread were IBM, so they are out. I was thinking | > about maxtor, I've used several (7500 rpm) for a couple | > of years with no problems. | > | > Now for the hard part, our finance guy wants to lease the equipment | > and would prefer to buy from a supplier rather than build it in house.:-( | > He obviously suggested, IBM, Dell, HP, Compaq, etc. etc. all of which | > have more trade-offs than I would like to make. Does anyone know of a | real | > company that [could|would|does] build[s] something similar? | > | > Thanks, | > | > ed | > | > --- | > | > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org | > with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message | | -- | Paul Chvostek <paul@it.ca> | Operations / Development / Abuse / Whatever vox: +1 416 598-0000 | IT Canada http://www.it.ca/ | | --- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?001b01c15198$b49b73d0$c806a8c0>