Re: comments about hardware
Faheem,
On Monday 18 July 2005 12:36 am, Faheem Mitha wrote:
> Dear People,
>
> My bioinformatics research group at Duke is buying a server, which will
> mostly be used as a server, particularly for web based services. The idea
> here is that a user will submit a request for some bioinformatics
> calculation via a web interface (often using Python or R or similar), the
> server does the calculation, and returns it as a web page.
>
> None of us are experts about recent hardware, so would appreciate any
> feedback about hardware specs.
>
> The following quote is from Monarch Computers.
I'm currently running three dual-Opteron servers purchased last year from
Monarch. Delivery was a little slow, but all three worked right out of the
box. I've had no hardware problems, so I can't say anything about their
technical support, but their sales support was good.
> We plan to run Linux on this. It has not yet been decided yet what, but it
> seems most likely that it will be either some Red Hat variant (Fedora
> Core, CentOS), or Debian (possibly Ubuntu).
I ordered my servers with Fedora Core in order to ensure that everything
worked with Linux, then immediately reformated the HD's & installed
Debian-AMD64. ;-)
> Ok, so here are some specific questions.
>
> 1) Dual core Opterons first came on the market in April. The sales rep
> said that AMD Dual Core Opterons did not work with Fedora Core. Since they
> only install Fedora and SuSE, they had no info about Debian. Any idea what
> the status is here? How well are they supported, and how stably do they
> run under Linux?
I have no experience with dual-core Opterons.
> Also, I was told that a dual core Opteron, which is somewhat more than
> twice the cost two regular Opterons of similar speed, is not equivalent to
> two regular Opterons in functionality. Can anyone point me to information
> about this, or offer a comment?
According to an article in LinuxHardware.org dual-core support is included in
kernel 2.6.12-rc3
http://www.linuxhardware.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/21/1747217&mode=thread
> 2) I'm wondering if the listed motherboard is the best choice. I see it
> listed in
> http://alioth.debian.org/docman/view.php/30192/27/mainboards.html
I don't recall ever hearing any negative comments regarding Tyan MB's and
have had no problems at all with mine. (S2882UG3NR).
> We are looking for the motherboard that has the least known issues.
> Preferably something that will work right out of the box.
>
> Google found me http://lists.debian.org/debian-amd64/2004/09/msg00443.html
> but would be interested in other reports.
>
> The specs are here
> http://www.tyan.com/products/html/thunderk8spro_spec.html
>
> It looks like both the graphics card and the ethernet cards are onboard.
> Looks like the graphics card is ATI RAGE XL PCI, which supposedly works
> with the 'ati' driver. Is this under XFree 4.3?
I have no experience with the ati driver, as I do not run X Windows on my
servers.
> The ethernet cards are an Intel Ethernet Pro 100, which supposedly works
> with the e100 driver and a Gigabit Broadcom which works with the tg3
> driver. There seem to be two cards here. Is that correct?
There are two gigabit ethernet ports which require the tg3 driver and one 100
megabit port which requires the e100 driver. The only problem is in regard to
Debian's refusal to ship the Broadcom proprietary firmware with their tg3
driver and I confess to not having studied the situation at all. I just know
that "it works."
> I'm kinda allergic to onboard cards. They are often trouble.
>
> Has anyone had experience with Debian Sarge installation with this? Does
> anyone have a board to suggest that they prefer to this?
I'm running three AMD64 Debian Sarge servers and they work, but I'm not
running anything fancy, just basic server software, as well as an accounting
system written in Acucobol. Most of the problems seem to crop up in the
desktop/gui software.
> 3) I'm also wondering if peple have thoughts about the RAID setup. The rep
> said he would be using RAID 1, but I see RAID 10 is listed. I'll have to
> check on this. Anyway, assuming this corresponds to
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundant_array_of_independent_disks#RAID_10
> with each RAID 1 set as two drives, and 4 RAID 1 sets striped together,
> does this seem reasonable?
The main thing is not to even think about using the onboard SATA RAID
controller. I can't explain it in detail, but it's crap. The approach your
taking looks fine. I like RAID 10, as well. Disk drives are inexpensive
enough now that the little bit of money you save by using RAID 5 just isn't
worth it.
> Thanks. Faheem.
>
> ***********************************************************************
> ITEM NUM PRICE PER ITEM TOT
>
> Monarch Empro Custom 2U Rack S 1.00 75.00 75.00
>
> RMC2K2-9I-XPSS,2U,8 Bays,SATA, 1.00 725.00 725.00
>
> AIC 2U Riser Card/Rear Window 1.00 112.00 112.00
>
> Tyan S2882G3NR-D Dual Socket94 1.00 394.00 394.00
>
> Amd OSA265FAA6CB Dual Core Opt 2.00 851.00 1,702.00
>
> Thermal Grease, Shin-Etsu G675 2.00 14.00 28.00
>
> THERMALTAKE A1838 AMD Opteron 2.00 25.00 50.00
>
> WESTERN DIGITAL 250 GB 2500JD 1.00 115.00 115.00
>
> 3WARE Escalade 9500S-8 - 8-por 1.00 485.00 485.00
>
> RAID 10 Setup 1.00 25.00 25.00
>
> WESTERN DIGITAL 250 GB 2500JD 8.00 115.00 920.00
>
> SONY DWD-56A 8X4X2.4 DVD RW+/- 1.00 129.00 129.00
>
> SUSE Linux 9.3 Professional Ed 1.00 92.00 92.00
>
> 24/7 TECH SUPPORT+ONSITE 3 YR. 1.00 199.00 199.00
>
> Net Order: 5,051.00
> Freight: 75.00
> 5,126.00
HTH's!
cmr
--
Debian 'Sarge': Registered Linux User #241964
----
"More laws, less justice." -- Marcus Tullius Ciceroca, 42 BC
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