Topic: Dell SC440?

[Craig Cabrey]

Simple question for you guys.

Will SME server 7.3 work out of the box with the integrated NIC? Will it also work with the optional Broadcom addon NIC?

Thanks so much!
 

[dgs]

I've never been able to get the onboard NIC on SC440 to work, (not that I tried too hard) other than that I've used several of SC440s to run SME. I cannot comment on the dell supplied NIC, but know the SC440 works fine with a couple of aftermarket NICs installed.

The AMD based Dell T105 is around the same dollars and has no issues with the onboard NIC. I will be able to tell you about the Intel based Dell T100 and SME soon. The older Dell SC430 also worked with the onboard NIC.

Thets my experience with a dozen or so Dell Poweredge boxes and SME anyway.

[Craig Cabrey]

I've never been able to get the onboard NIC on SC440 to work, (not that I tried too hard) other than that I've used several of SC440s to run SME. I cannot comment on the dell supplied NIC, but know the SC440 works fine with a couple of aftermarket NICs installed.

The AMD based Dell T105 is around the same dollars and has no issues with the onboard NIC. I will be able to tell you about the Intel based Dell T100 and SME soon. The older Dell SC430 also worked with the onboard NIC.

Thets my experience with a dozen or so Dell Poweredge boxes and SME anyway.

I was just on Dell's site and it seems the SC440 and the T100 are virtually the same, with the exception of price (SC440: $350; T100: $400). But I guess since (hopefully) the T100 NIC works out of the box it would be worth it alone, but it also has 1GB of RAM instead of 512MB (1GB should be enough for a headless SME server, right?).

As for the T105, it runs on an AMD Opteron. I thought that AMD procs required a separate build (usually AMD64, etc)... Usually one could not just download the i386 ISO and use that I thought. Prove me wrong!

Thanks for your input and advice,
Craig

[dgs]

I was just on Dell's site and it seems the SC440 and the T100 are virtually the same, with the exception of price (SC440: $350; T100: $400). But I guess since (hopefully) the T100 NIC works out of the box it would be worth it alone, but it also has 1GB of RAM instead of 512MB (1GB should be enough for a headless SME server, right?).

I think the T100 will soon supercede the SC440, I have these boxes and SME running on 256K, 512K and 1GB with no problems, dependant on your tasks I'd still recommend the 1G but 512 should be no problem unless heavily loaded.

As for the T105, it runs on an AMD Opteron. I thought that AMD procs required a separate build (usually AMD64, etc)... Usually one could not just download the i386 ISO and use that I thought. Prove me wrong!

No T105 will run straight from a load of the SME CD without problems. I believe it runs SME better but have nothing to back that up other than gut feeling. this reply will be coming via a T105 based SME box configured just that way.

Other thing I forgot to mention is that while all of these boxes are relatively quiet the T105 is whisper quiet compared to a SC440.

[Craig Cabrey]

OK this is good info! So guess I should put money towards HDDs instead of RAM.

I'm planning on this server as acting as a:
DHCP Server
Samba PDC/file server/print server
Email Server
Possibly Webserver
And if its easy enough to setup, OpenVPN.

Plus it it will be our gateway, I'll install 2 Netgear GA311s.

I was also wondering if I could use a proxy to block banner ads?

Thanks for your patience,
Craig

[Boris]

Integrated NIC on PE SC440 works fine with SME7.3 "out of the box".
I have been running it on all SC4xx series starting from 400 (420, 430,440) with no issues at all.

[dgs]

Integrated NIC on PE SC440 works fine with SME7.3 "out of the box".
I have been running it on all SC4xx series starting from 400 (420, 430,440) with no issues at all.

That's odd I have definitely had issues with the SC440 on several boxes SC430 always ran fine same conditions out of the box clean load. And I'd doubt Dell varied the spec at all throughout the life of SC440. These budget Dell PEs have been my box of choice for some time, excellent value and a good match for SME.

[Boris]

The only issues with DELL PowerEdge SC4xx servers were with older SME servers (5.6?), when DELL started to use SATA only hard drives and SME didn't support it yet and older SME required Intel 1Gb drivers to load separately on previous DELL server models. In current SME 7.3, all PE SC series servers are well supported.

[Craig Cabrey]

Well before we decide on a machine, I want to make sure that it will work well with SME (like not having to find drivers, getting the GFX card to work, etc.). Right now, I'm playing with SME in a virtual machine and so far it seems to be what I'm looking for!

Craig

[dgs]

Well before we decide on a machine, I want to make sure that it will work well with SME (like not having to find drivers, getting the GFX card to work, etc.). Right now, I'm playing with SME in a virtual machine and so far it seems to be what I'm looking for!

Craig

Well any of the Dells PE models mentioned work well.  I'd thoroughly recommend them as a works out of the box choice for SME.

Boris has had much better results than I did, with the SC440, so who knows why I had trouble with a couple of SC440s. In any case that was easily resolved. Typically it's about 10 minutes from unpacking any of these PE model to having a working SME server.

[Stefano]

Well before we decide on a machine, I want to make sure that it will work well with SME (like not having to find drivers, getting the GFX card to work, etc.). Right now, I'm playing with SME in a virtual machine and so far it seems to be what I'm looking for!

Craig

Craig..

please check on Dell's site if that server is certified for redhat 4.x.. if so, you have nothing to worry about.

however, you don't need at all drivers to "getting the GFX card to work"

Ciao
Stefano