Topic: New server components

[smeerbartje]

I'm planning to buy a new home server with the specifications below. Do you guys think SME 7.3 is currently supports the hardware? In other words: do I need additional drivers or will everything be detected automatically? And what do you guys think of the components?

• Intel DG45FC
  
• Intel Core 2 Duo E5200
  
• 4 GB DDRII
• Western Digital Caviar Green 500 gb
• Intel PCI-e netwerkkaartje
  
  

Chassis: Noah CRS3988B-80 or the Silverstone LC06.

What about energy consumption?

[David Harper]

I think some Intel PCI cards don't work, from memory. You also need a custom parameter for booting on most Intel motherboards.

I actually think that for just file serving for a few users and low-volume traffic for emails and maybe a website, that the configuration might be overkill. I have a couple of customers using 3Ghz/1Gb machines very happily with 3-4 client computers. The only important thing is hard drive capacity and backup availability.

[smeerbartje]

I also want to install VMware server on it, including two virtual machines running an oracle database and Apex (just for hobby) and a Windows XP machine for downloading purposes.

So you think SME 7.3 will not recognize the hardware itself?

[David Harper]

The motherboard should be fine once you specify the right kernel parameter. I'm unsure about the network card, but cheap PCI NICs abound, so don't worry about this too much.

[smeerbartje]

The motherboard should be fine once you specify the right kernel parameter. I'm unsure about the network card, but cheap PCI NICs abound, so don't worry about this too much.

Allright, thanks! What kernel parameters do I have to specify? Where can I find them? And the onboard NIC will be recognized you think? The chassis only allows small PCI-e NICS.

[Stefano]

I'm planning to buy a new home server with the specifications below. Do you guys think SME 7.3 is currently supports the hardware? In other words: do I need additional drivers or will everything be detected automatically? And what do you guys think of the components?

• Intel DG45FC
  
• Intel Core 2 Duo E5200
  
• 4 GB DDRII
• Western Digital Caviar Green 500 gb
• Intel PCI-e netwerkkaartje
  
  

Chassis: Noah CRS3988B-80 or the Silverstone LC06.

What about energy consumption?

Hi

please remember that SME is CEntOS that is RedHat..

so, please, check CentOS and RH HCL..

Ciao
Stefano

[janet]

smeerbartje

http://redhatonintel.com/technology/hardware.htm

Intel DQ35JO or DQ35JOE works OK.

[smeerbartje]

smeerbartje

http://redhatonintel.com/technology/hardware.htm

Intel DQ35JO or DQ35JOE works OK.

Cool, thanks man woman! 

[David Harper]

Somehow I suspect mary is not a man (although you never know on the Internet...).

Anyhow, don't forget, that page refers to RHEL 5.1, whereas SME Server 7.4 is based on RHEL 4.7.

[smeerbartje]

Somehow I suspect mary is not a man (although you never know on the Internet...).

Anyhow, don't forget, that page refers to RHEL 5.1, whereas SME Server 7.4 is based on RHEL 4.7.

Oh that's bad news. Is it possible to check if the chipset/motherboard is compatible with RHEL 4.7?

[Stefano]

Oh that's bad news. Is it possible to check if the chipset/motherboard is compatible with RHEL 4.7?

what about checking RH 4.7 HCL?

Ciao
Stefano

[smeerbartje]

what about checking RH 4.7 HCL?

Ciao
Stefano

But where to find it? This list does not contain specific motherboard, isnt it?

[janet]

smeerbartje

Is it possible to check if the chipset/motherboard is compatible with RHEL 4.7?

That motherboard works OK with sme7.3 (Centos4.6) or sme 7.4 (Centos4.7) or sme8 (Centos5.1).

On sme7 versions you need to use the sme pci=nommconf switch as per
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,40524.msg187889.html#msg187889

[smeerbartje]

smeerbartje

That motherboard works OK with sme7.3 (Centos4.6) or sme 7.4 (Centos4.7) or sme8 (Centos5.1).

On sme7 versions you need to use the sme pci=nommconf switch as per
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,40524.msg187889.html#msg187889

Allright! Thank you mary! Thank you very much! This saturday I will order the components.

[janet]

smeerbartje

That motherboard works OK with sme7.3 (Centos4.6) or sme 7.4 (Centos4.7) or sme8 (Centos5.1).

This saturday I will order the components.

Careful, the motherboard I was referring to was the Intel DQ35JO or DQ35JOE. It is listed here
https://hardware.redhat.com/list.cgi?product=Red%20Hat%20Hardware%20Certification&quicksearch=Intel&offset=100
as certfied for Centos5.1

Also see
https://hardware.redhat.com/show.cgi?id=383941


Backwards compatibility from Centos5.1/sme8 is not guaranteed, but from experience is does work with sme7.3 (for nearly 9 months) and now sme7.4 since the upgrade a few days ago.

So you can buy that motherboard knowing it will be OK now and OK when sme 8 final is released.

It appears to be the only desktop motherboard fully certified (for Centos5.1).

[smeerbartje]

smeerbartje

Careful, the motherboard I was referring to was the Intel DQ35JO or DQ35JOE. It is listed here
https://hardware.redhat.com/list.cgi?product=Red%20Hat%20Hardware%20Certification&quicksearch=Intel&offset=100
as certfied for Centos5.1

Also see
https://hardware.redhat.com/show.cgi?id=383941


Backwards compatibility from Centos5.1/sme8 is not guaranteed, but from experience is does work with sme7.3 (for nearly 9 months) and now sme7.4 since the upgrade a few days ago.

So you can buy that motherboard knowing it will be OK now and OK when sme 8 final is released.

It appears to be the only desktop motherboard fully certified (for Centos5.1).

Hi Mary,

Yes, I'm also referring to the DQ35JOE You really helped me out, thanks.

[smeerbartje]

Hi all,

Here is my (almost definitive) configuration:

• Antec Piano Black Slimline Micro ATX PC Case 350 Watt 80PLUS certified power supply (€91,35, link)
  
• Intel Johannesburg S775 Q35 MATX (DQ35JO) (€98,31, Link)
  
• Intel Core2Duo E7300 2,66Ghz / 1066FSB (€95,70, Link)
  
• Hitachi Deskstar P7K500 500GB SATAII 3.5I" 7200RPM 16MB 0A35415 (€50,03, Link)
  
• Kingston 2GB 800MHZ DDR2 NON-ECC CL6 DIMM (€30,45)
• Intel PRO/1000 GT Desktop Adapter - PCI (€22,62, Link)
  

Anyone ideas for improvements. And will this machine need a lot of power?

[David Harper]

If you buy two hard drives SME automatically will set up RAID 1 mirroring, which has saved lots of people's bacon (including mine) over the years.

According to the Intel support site, the driver for the PRO/1000 GT card is supported by all versions of the 2.6.x kernel, so you should be with this choice.

Also, if you are running VMWare in a production environment, 4Gb of RAM might be appropriate, especially given the fact that the RAM appears to be pretty cheap.

[smeerbartje]

If you buy two hard drives SME automatically will set up RAID 1 mirroring, which has saved lots of people's bacon (including mine) over the years.

According to the Intel support site, the driver for the PRO/1000 GT card is supported by all versions of the 2.6.x kernel, so you should be with this choice.

Also, if you are running VMWare in a production environment, 4Gb of RAM might be appropriate, especially given the fact that the RAM appears to be pretty cheap.

Thanks for your reply, exactly my thoughts. The server will not be a production server, just a home server running NAT, FTP, Squeezebox server and two vmware images (Oracle 10g database just for fun/learning and an Windows XP image)