From owner-freebsd-hardware Mon Mar 26 15:29:17 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Received: from ftp.nvg.com (ftp.nvg.com [199.179.254.6]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9AE7337B719 for ; Mon, 26 Mar 2001 15:29:11 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from Ed.Henderson@Certainty.net) Received: from pnt004 (vsat-148-63-55-208.c1.sb4.mcl.starband.net [148.63.55.208]) by ftp.nvg.com (8.9.3+Sun/8.9.3) with SMTP id RAA03756; Mon, 26 Mar 2001 17:54:56 -0500 (EST) From: "Ed Henderson" To: Cc: "'Michael VanLoon'" , "'Joseph Gleason'" Subject: RE: Server MB suggestions? Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 17:54:28 -0500 Message-ID: <006301c0b647$b8584620$0464a8c0@pnt004> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook 8.5, Build 4.71.2173.0 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4522.1200 In-Reply-To: Importance: Normal Sender: owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org I don't doubt any of the good advice to use SCSI. I know that it = performs much better than IDE. But do I really need it right at the = beginning? I am *starting* an ISP in rural western PA with a 1.5Mbs = backbone to Sprint. For the first year I don't expect the number of = customers to exceed 600. Will that many 56K dialup users generate = enough disk i/o to reach the limits of IDE? Probably not (if I'm wrong = here please don't hesitate to correct me). These servers will primarily = host home directories that hold email and personal web pages, provide = DNS, RADIUS, and sendmail services. Apache will run on a seperate = server and will be dedicated to web hosting. Will any of these services = be highly disk intensive operations for the number of users and size of = my backbone? When my customer count increases to the point that = justifies SCSI then I'll pay the price. Is my reasoning faulty? > -----Original Message----- > From: Michael VanLoon [mailto:MichaelV@EDIFECS.COM] > Sent: Monday, March 26, 2001 3:29 PM > To: 'Joseph Gleason'; Ed Henderson; freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG > Subject: RE: Server MB suggestions? >=20 >=20 > I wouldn't recommend building a server with IDE drives, but=20 > maybe that's > just me... >=20 > If I were building a production server with performance in=20 > mind, I'd go > RAID-10 (or RAID 0+1, depending on what you want to call it=20 > -- either way > it's striping without parity, on top of mirrors). I don't=20 > know of any IDE > solutions capable of doing that that. And even if there=20 > were, you couldn't > add enough drives to really make it worthwhile. >=20 > Finally, (some) SCSI RAID controllers will let you=20 > dynamically expand the > volume, if you need to add more drives later. >=20 > I have used DPT (now Adaptec) RAID controllers with great success. Be > careful because Adaptec has two lines. The line they=20 > developed themselves, > which is rather underwhelming, and the line they acquired=20 > when they bought > DPT. >=20 > > From: Joseph Gleason [mailto:clash@fireduck.com] > > Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2001 12:15 PM > >=20 > > I can answer at least a few questions. > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Ed Henderson" > > To: > > Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2001 10:23 > > Subject: Server MB suggestions? > >=20 > >=20 > > > I am planning to use FreeBSD as my primary OS for an ISP that I am > > starting. I am beginning my research for the best=20 > > motherboard/hardware to > > use for a production environment. One that is reliable and=20 > > performs well > > (with reliable being the number > > > one priority!). I plan to build the server myself. My=20 > > background has > > been in Solaris on Sun equipment so most of the hardware=20 > choices were > > already made for me! > [...] > > > 2. What IDE controllers do your recommend? Or would SCSI=20 > > be better (but > > more costly)? I want to use at least RAID1 mirroring for=20 > > some redundancy. > >=20 > > I strongly recommend IBM deskstar drives with Promise IDE=20 > > controlers. I > > have had great experience with those. They are fairly cheap=20 > > and have great > > performance. If you need any sort of RAID, looks into 3ware=20 > > ide raid cards > > (http://www.3ware.com/). Just remember, RAID does not=20 > > protect you from > > opperator error or hackers deleting all your files. Since=20 > > you are also > > asking about tape stuff, I assume you are aware of this. ;-) >=20 > See above... >=20 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message