Topic: Looking to upgrade server, need suggestions

[wdepot]

Our company is looking to upgrade to a newer web server since our old one (based on a Pentium 4 and around 8 years old) is beginning to show its age. We will probably go with a Super Micro motherboard since that is what we are using now and it has served us well. We've had to replace hard drives a couple of times but that is to be expected. I suspect we will try to go with a Core i7 level processor in either an LGA 1156 or LGA 1366 format to give us something as current as possible so it should last as long as possible. My main question is figuring out which lines of the OS compatibility chart posted on Super Micro's web site I should be looking at. Since this is a production server we will stay with SME 7.x (currently using 7.5 now) until SME 8 reaches production stage. For SME 7.x which Red Hat Linux 4 line should I be looking at, update 6, 7 or 8? Also, for future compatibility with SME 8 should I look at the line for CentOS 5.2 or 5.3? If you need to know why I ask take a look at a sample chart at: http://www.supermicro.com/support/resources/OS/C7_X8.cfm

On a somewhat related note, when we do get a new server computer we will most likely do a fresh install of SME and then use DAR backup to restore our system data to the new computer from the backup automatically made to our NAS twice a day. Is there anything from the DAR emergency style backup we use (which, by the way, we recently discovered doesn't back up MySQL data by default, we had to add that to the list of folders backed up) that we would not want to restore or would we just tell it to restore *.* to /?

Also, since I would probably burn a fresh cd of SME to make sure we installed the newest system which ISO file should I be downloading, smeserver.iso, smeserver-i386.iso or smeserver-7.X-i386.iso?

And, finally, when we do the fresh install of SME will it automatically install a 64-bit version of the system if it discovers a 64-bit capable processor?

[janet]

wdepot

I'll teach you a little about the website, and where to find the answers to OS versions.
Start here
http://wiki.contribs.org/Main_Page
which links you to
http://wiki.contribs.org/SME_Server:7.5
which tells you the CentOS version used on line 3, equate that to Red Hat versions {4.8}.

The main page also links you to
http://wiki.contribs.org/SME_Server_8
which also tells you on line 1 which CentOS version is used, equate that to Red Hat versions (5.4).

Intel is a good choice for avoiding compatibility issues with Linux, although of course others will support Linux too.

Your DAR2 questions have been answered in your other post, and as stated, you are incorrect to say that the mysql db's are not backed up, it's done differently than you expect ie a dump. Restores must also be done correctly using the SME scripts to invoke the pre restore event and so on.
Refer
http://wiki.contribs.org/Backup_server_config
for additional info, and read the Developers guide for even more info, see
http://wiki.contribs.org/SME_Server:Documentation:Developers_Manual


With all full system restores, you will still need to reinstall any add on contribs rpms.

You should be able to move your old hard disks into the new server and they should work if the architecture is similar.
You may need to run a upgrade install from the CD to install correct drivers & modules if your processor type is different.
SME will auto detect most other hardware etc & reconfigure itself appropriately.

If using new disks eg SATA vs IDE, then you may want to use the upgrade from disk method, it will save you time, assuming your new motherboard supports IDE drives. You can do 7.x to 7.x upgrades OK, see
http://wiki.contribs.org/UpgradeDisk

Re iso download, you need
smeserver.iso
The others you mention are the same anyway.
 
There is no 64-bit version of SME.
The performance difference vs 32-bit is small anyway, refer to various discussions in forums regarding this.