[olug] Server Motherboard Recomendations.

[Phil Brutsche]

Intel CPU + SuperMicro motherboard. I particularly like the SuperMicro
PDSME+ and X7SBE motherboards. They work with Core 2 Duos and Core 2
Quads and the more expensive UP Xeons - I have a number of PDSME+
motherboards with all 3 combinations ;)  I've run CentOS 5, CentOS 4 and
ESXi on 'em.

Try to avoid anything that takes AMD CPUs, unless you want a dual or
quad CPU monster the pickings are really, really slim on that front.

If you're going to go software RAID use the Linux MD RAID, don't bother
with any of the fakeraid crap that's typically integrated into the
motherboard.

I also strongly recommend a small (512MB or less) & cheap ($30 or less)
industrial SSD for grub and /boot:
http://www.logicsupply.com/categories/flash_memory/40_pin_ide_flash_modules
http://www.logicsupply.com/categories/flash_memory/sata_flash_modules

That way you can avoid any boot loader problems: if you put /boot on
software raid you need to take special care to get the bootloader right;
if you don't you'll end up with an unbootable machine if the drive
containing grub goes bad.

Jesse Regier wrote:
> Ola' Olug,
> 
> I will be traveling to Brazil next month to help a missionary friend out 
> with a new server at a radio station.  We are planning to setup a  Samba 
> server probably on Centos. (5.3 hopefully)  I haven't been in the 
> whitebox server game for a while and need some recommendations for the 
> the motherboard.   What has been working for you all lately?
> 
> This will be their  first Linux box down there and I its a long way to 
> go to support it, so I need things to work out of the box.  (No custom 
> kernels etc.)
> 
> I'm thinking it will probably be a Core2 Duo processor.  ATX 
> Motherboard,  2 mirrored SATA drives. (Software raid - don't want a raid 
> controller to go bad that they can't get a replacement for.)   The rest 
> is pretty flexible.  The key is reliablity. 

-- 

Phil Brutsche
phil at brutsche.us