Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 00:41:57 +0100 From: Olaf Hoyer <Inferno@nightfire.de> To: "N.B. DelMore" <mylists@inr.net> Cc: FreeBSD-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Recommended Hardware Message-ID: <4.1.19991216002021.00c2cee0@mail.rz.fh-wilhelmshaven.de> In-Reply-To: <3.0.6.32.19991215123139.00984100@mail.inr.net>
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At 12:31 15.12.99 -0500, you wrote: >I need to build two new mail servers and am seeking feedback as to >recommended hardware, in particular, compatible motherboards. > >As I see it I have two choices, Pentium III 500 and the new AMD Athelon, I >have always used AMD in the past but have had repeated problems with their >450 MHz K6 processors which I clocked down in order to gain stability. > >Our (now) typical mail server uses AMD K6 300 - 400 CPUS, 256 MB RAM, >single SCSI LVD boot drive, Adaptec 2940U2W and is NFS mounted to our RAID >arrays where mail is spooled/delivered. Hi! First question is: Does the mail server app/demon take advantage of dual CPU config? If so, you can therefore use cheaper CPUs and upgrade later easily... OK, for a single CPU config I'd use nowadays an AMD Athlon with 600 MHZ (most bang for buck), preferrably on the ASUS K7M, which is really cool. There have been reports of AMD's new stepping of their chipset, question is , when will it be available. (Fester, I think they call that board). Brings a real performance gain. RAM of course as much as possible, where I'd prefer standard PC 100/133 from a good manufacturer, such as micron, corsair etc... The extended costs of RAMBUS will not bring a corresponding increase in speed... HDD subsystem: OK, here it is the question how many users with which volume it shall serve, and inhowfar the mail server app takes advantage of the memory as a cache, or do every mail has to be written (for security purposes) directly to HDD? If it has a low volume to handle, any good IDE drive (like IBM, or Quantum) should do the job. Especially the answer times of IDE drives are a bit better than that of SCSI. (In -Chat there is curently a discussion raging which RAID/HDD subsystem is best) For medium stress, I'd take some good SCSI drives, like IBM DDRS/DRVS or Quantum Atlas, and hook them up to a single controller, configured in a way that swap goes to multiple drives. (If ya really crazy, take two SCSI controllers to have more bandwidth) Also the drives where mail data will be stored and the logging files will reside, should be different. For more stress, and data security, a RAID solution is recommended. Take a look at -Chat, there they offer some IDE RAIDs, which also look pretty good. For "standard and old-fashoined" RAIDs, one would take a good SCSI-controller, hook up some 10000 rpm SCSI drives, and do a corresponding config. Ok, all other components are obvious: Good server casing, best with redundant Power supply, metal HDD frames with cooling, el cheapo Vid card from a quality manufacturer (image is not important, but it mustn't fail) You also should take a look at Tyan, they offer with the Thunder series some excellent boards designated for small/medium servers. They have the BX/GX chipsets, (up to 2 GB RAM), dual PIII capable, Adaptec RAID capable controller (the 3940, I think,with additional card) onboard, as well as lots of slots... Others have a U2W onboard...=20 Have an old Tomcat myself, and I'm very content with the mechanical/electrical stability of it, and with some details of the design. Here in Germany the biggest costs about US$ 800 (1500 DM) Regards Olaf Hoyer=20 ------ Olaf Hoyer ICQ: 22838075 mailto: Olaf.Hoyer@nightfire.de home: www.nightfire.de (The home of the burning CPU) Death be my master, my soul and saviour... (The book of inferno, chapter II) "There is no justice, there is just me", said the Reaper (Terry Pratchett) Wer mit Ungeheuern k=E4mpft, mag zusehn,=20 da=DF er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund=20 auch in dich hinein. (Friedrich Nietzsche, Jenseits von Gut und B=F6se) To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message
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