Re: Suggestion for a new Opteron 1.6ghz box.
On Mon, 31 May 2004, Goswin von Brederlow wrote:
> mike <mike@mike2k.com> writes:
>
> > Based on the maturity of the AMD64 platform in regards to debian - what
> > would people suggest running for a server mainly running:
> >
> > OpenSSH (very low traffic, maybe 2 users)
> > Zeus webserver
> > PHP Accelerator (phpa) + FastCGI
> > Tinydns/Djbdns
> > NFS client
> >
> > It will not require XFree86 (possibly a few libs for image processing for
> > ImageMagick and the like...) but not for an actual console.
> >
> > Would anyone recommend using a pure 64-bit build? or a 32-bit one, and put
> > on the 64-bit friendly GCC and do a hybrid install? Or scrap it altogether
> > and just do a normal, 32-bit x86 install?
>
> If you have to ask the right answere is almost always woody and that
> means 32 bit i386.
>
> > Also, which installer would one suggest using then? Sarge, Woody, or sid?
> >
> > It appears that nobody (fromw hatI've got from the list prior to my email)
> > is suggesting using pure64 for production, and frowns on a hybrid install.
>
> A real hybrid install, meaning multiarch, is absolutly pre alpha.
> Nothing works there at all and it is purely for people developing
> multiarch at this time.
>
> A hybrid install with chroots on the other hand is perfectly
> acceptable. You can try to install a 64bit base with all the little
> quirks it still needs and see if that works for you and add 32 bit
> stable chroots for things that need to be stable. Or you can do it the
> other way around, install a 32 bit base and pure64 chroots to test out
> new stuff.
>
> The main question is: can you live with unstable/sid? Do you have the
> knowledge and _time_ to handle it?
>
These are the kind of questions/concerns/whatnot I was hoping to solicit.
Simple answer: on these servers, no. I don't have the time and patience
to tweak them a lot. Possibly I will make some 64-bit chroots then in the
future if I feel a specific program will benefit from it - but other than
that, it sounds like it's 32bit for me.
> > I have a dual opteron system sitting here that I tried installing Debian
> > on, it did not like my Si3114 chipset - so I had to use some special
> > Debian sarge bootdisk with a modified 2.4.x kernel - thus putting me into
> > normal 32 bit mode. Then I used the AMD64 Howto instructions to get a lot
> > of AMD64 compiled binaries and packages on including GCC and such - but it
> > was still crappy with some library issues as well as horrible when it came
> > to trying to use the debian package manager (apt) with a mixture of sarge
> > and woody sources.
>
> You should compile yourself a current 2.6 kernel for 32bit or download
> the amd64 kernel-image and install that with -force-architecture.
> Crosscompiling your own kernel isn't maintained anymore and bitrot has
> probably made it break or even more cmplicated.
>
i was able to compile my own 2.6.5 kernel on my biarch test box... but
trying to compile some other stuff was a mess because the different
package managers had installed some libraries in different places.
> > Since you know my needs, would it be stupid to even bother with anything
> > special and just use this as a nice speedy x86 32-bit box? Or would I gain
> > for trying to get a pure64 install going (remember, this is a single 1.6
> > opteron, not the dual I described above) - my provider will be handling
> > the install on this, not me.
>
> Do you want something that works or do you want to play around at the
> bleading edge of developement?
>
Something that works.
Thanks =)
- mike
> > Thanks in advance for any quick replies. I have a big decision to make
> > (I'm probably ordering 4 of these opterons and would like to get them
> > installed and up and running ASAP)
> >
> > - mike
>
> MfG
> Goswin
>
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