Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with hardware and server

IT hardware advice for non-profit

dougiedd — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:24:55 -0800

Medium sized non-profit looking to purchase new Hardware to run Sage MIP accounting software for 5 users. Any recommendations on type of hardware to buy for value: does one need a "server" these days for this type of situation or will a desktop work? How about reliable easy back-up options?

Need help with big boy server upgrade questions.

eatcake — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 11:24:19 -0800

I've come in possession of a Cisco MCS 7800 series server that I'd like to set up as a file server, but I'd like to upgrade it first. So I have a rackmountable server that a company was replacing with a newer one and they let me have it. It is a Cisco MCS (media convergence server) 7800 server, more specifically this one MCS-7835H-2.4-EVV1. Originally meant as a VOIP, video and teleconferencing server.

It has 6 hard drive bays which originally came with 36.2GB 80 pin SCSI320 hard drives at 10k rpm. The OS (winxp server 2003) takes up 2 drives (raided) and there are 2 other drives for storage.

My question is - I know these are expensive drives to buy and replace but having a giant machine like this at home with only 72 gigs of storage is waste of space, so can I put in slower (hopefully cheaper) 7200 rpm SCSI drives in it and get a decent file server environment going?

Even at full capacity it would only give me 36.2 x 4 = 144-ish GB of storage. Which isn't really much if I'm looking at storing hundreds of hi-res photos and videos.

I've looked online for info and specs on this thing and it's either too technical for me to understand or non-existent.

My main thought is that if I can get a hold of bigger/cheaper drives I can use this as a proper server.

So.....
1) how big of hard drives will this machine accept? and can I get them off eBay? (I saw some but still not sure about the storage capacity)
2) do slower but bigger SCSI 320 hard drive even exist?

and...

3) will it cost me less than an arm and a leg?

The best image I could find of it is this: image on Cisco website

As usual, thanks in advance.

Where to buy server hardware in Dallas?

edmz — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:17:23 -0800

I need to buy a custom 1U server in or around Dallas. Tomorrow. I need to buy a 1U rack server to install in a collocation facility in Dallas. Tomorrow I will be flying to Dallas and I need to buy the server once I'm there.

Ideally, the place where I can buy this server has the items in stock so that I can cherry-pick the hardware I need.

Linux will be installed on the server, in case it matters.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Most boring server rack question ever

Maarika — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 07:44:59 -0800

How can I put HP DL160s on slide rails in an IBM rack? I'm in over my head here, so apologies for the technical details... I need to put a couple HP DL160s on slide rails in an IBM rack (IBM 42U Enterprise Rack - 19” Rack). I can find standard rails just fine, but there don't seem to be any compatible slide rails available for HP 1U servers.

My Google-fu is failing me here -- do you know of any specific technical forums where I can ask this question? Where do data center and server hardware folks gather online to exchange information?

Or, if any of you are IT gurus, do you have any suggestions on which rail kits to look for, where to look for them, or who to ask?

What's a good simple and cheap media or file server setup?

wastelands — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:15:38 -0800

Advice for a server newb who needs help getting started with a simple media/backup/torrent server? I've got a 438 GB movie collection an on external 500 GB USB hard drive right now, so I need to upgrade. I was thinking of buying two 1 TB external drives and using rsync for a poor man's RAID 1 setup. But for good drives plus shipping, that's nearly $250, and I thought, why not just setup a real file server? And maybe get a Bit Torrent thingy going too, so I could turn off my main computer at night and keep transfers going? Heck, I'd probably come up with other useful things for the server to do too.

But I don't know where to start. For hardware, looking at, say, a Dell Inspiron 530 ($379), it's too powerful and too expensive for what I'd use it for.

And for the OS... Windows Home Server? Ubuntu? I don't know what'd be easiest.

Ideas? Thanks!

Shipping database servers and electronics in the US. Need advice.

mhuckaba — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 07:51:56 -0800

Shipping 500-1000 pounds of electronics (some sensitive, fragile) cross country. Anyone have advice or resources? This is in the US. I've got 2 servers, each about 75lbs, 2 HD arrays, each about 100lbs, and 4 battery backups, each about 140 lbs. I need to ship these to a different office location, about 1000 miles away. The servers and arrays have data on them that I don't want to lose.

What type of shipping should I look for? Packaging advice? Any other advice?

p vs. i - the heck?

niteHawk — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:27:06 -0800

IBM-Hardwre-FIlter - So it's a shot in the dark, but anyone in the know about IBM Power servers? Specifically differences between the P550 and i550 offerings? I've got a bit So I am not the hardware guy at all around here, and know next to nothing about IBM server offerings... We are on aging P550 hardware that is EOL. My boss has asked me to figure out why we are looking at $120k+ servers instead of replacing them with the i-series which seem to baseline at $30k.
I've looked at IBM's site, but can't seem to determine, if it's just a software stack, or if it's something specifically hardware. I've got a call into sales, but I'd prefer to get a slightly less-IBM centric view on the major differences prior to talking to them...
For the record, we are an AIX/PowerPC shop, and we cannot change that

What type of capabilities should I look to include in a computer I'm planning on building within the next few months?

decrescendo — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:06:15 -0800

What type of capabilities should I look to include in a computer I'm planning on building within the next few months? I would like to make sure I'm prepared for future technology. I don't want to build totally for the present. I'm having some trouble sorting out what type of capabilities I want my next computer (or computers) to have. I have some ideas, but I'm curious as to what you all would be sure to include in this day and age.

A few things about my current set-up:
1. I have a Macbook Pro and a desktop PC that I built 2 years ago
2. I have a TON of music and videos already on the HDs of my desktop
3. I have a lot of DVDs that I would like to have on a computer for backup/playability
4. I'm a big audio guy. I'm going to have a 5.1 system in my living room and hopefully some very nice speakers in my room. This means 2 places for audio playback.

But, what I'm looking for is not specifications, but what this computer should be able to pull off. From there, I'll be then looking into hardware.

So if you were a big media guy, what type of computer would you build in the next few months? What would you want it to do in order to take advantage of soon-to-be-adopted technologies or current technologies?

Would it be a desktop? Would it be a HTPC next to the TV? Would it be a server in the closet that would talk well with my Macbook Pro? I'm looking to define capabilities at this stage.

Is there a resource for matching motherboards with their appropriate rackmount chassis?

Caviar — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:48:50 -0800

Is there a resource for matching motherboards with their appropriate rackmount chassis? I've recently had the experience of trying to match a server motherboard with a chassis. And it went like this: A motherboard didn't fit in A case because the heatsinks on the cpus blocked the sata riser board. Didn't fit in the B case because the 8-pin power connector was three inches too short. Wouldn't work with C case because the SuperMicro chassis uses a proprietary front-panel connector and doesn't include the $3 adapter in the box even though that's required to use it with any other brand of motherboard. B motherboard was 1 inch too long for A case (ATX vs. EATX), and so on. Three cases, two motherboards, not one working machine. Many of the things which are supposed to be "standard", seem to no longer be. There are a few people involved, and we've never had this level of frustration with matching components before. So now I'm looking for known good configurations.

Is there any place I can look up, given a motherboard or chassis, some of the others that are known to work? Trolling through reviews on newegg has not been helpful.

Alternately, is there anywhere I can find listings of known motherboard/chassis combinations in various xU configurations? If they're sold together, that's fine, though we're perfectly capable of the actual assembly.

In this particular case, I'm interested in dual quad-core xeons (5300/5400), but a more general resource would be helpful too.

Where can I buy an $800 Linux Server?

phrontist — Thu, 10 May 2007 11:25:46 -0800

I need to buy a server for around $800 ($1000 as an absolute maximum). It will be hosting a website with a (PostGres) database that will start at around 4GB and grow slowly (so would like at least 2GB of RAM). It must be able run Linux, preferably Ubuntu or Debian. I go to college in Kentucky, where I work for Radio Free Lexington. I am now home in the DC area for the next three months, during which I intend to develop a custom CMS/Radio Station Management/Playlist tracking system. The problem is, I have nothing to run or develop it on.

Before I left Kentucky, I had ordered a Dell Optiplex 320. It arrived two days before I had to leave, and what I thought would be a quick and straightforward install turned out to be extremely difficult (see this thread). Even if it is possible, I'm now out of town and can only ask the minimal effort of the person who has graciously volunteered to help me out of this mess and install the replacement machine in my absence.

So I'm looking for recommendations for a "server" (whether it is billed as such by the manufacturer is not important to me) that is comparable or better to the Optiplex machine, but is well documented as being trivially Linux compatible (no kernel patching) or ships with a Linux distribution installed. It must be something I can order in the next two weeks (I know Dell is promising Ubuntu systems... but I can't wait). Dell is not out of the running, but I'm highly suspicious now.

Here are the specs of the last machine:

P4 Processor 641 (3.20GHz, 2M, 800MHz FSB)
80GB SATA HDD (the SATA controller is actually what caused the problem, so I'm somewhat wary)
2GB SDRAM
$643 before shipping.

Web server hardware requirements

RedMosquito — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 07:03:30 -0800

How to calculate hardware requirements for a load balanced web server cluster? The web servers will be running Windows 2003 with a back end DB server, I want to support about 1000 simultaneous connections per server. The web application is fairly AJAX intensive. Not sure how I go about determining what sort of hardware I need for the servers, any ideas or suggestions?

How can I easily get info on our networked computers?

criticman — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 07:00:17 -0800

What is the best enterprise quality software & hardware inventory solution? I have been looking all over trade journals, Google, etc to no avail. The solution needs to be as follows:
-"Server" that can run on non-server OS...preferably WinXP pro, but if it needs to run on Linux or Win2k3 Server, that will be fine.
-Client needs to run on Win2k, WinXP Home (don't ask) & Pro

It needs to provide the following info:
-Machine name
-MAC address
-IP address
-Full OS version (w/ key used)
-hardware specs: processor, ram, video, hard drive, etc
-hardware system ID (such as Dell support code/#)
-software installed (w/ license keys)

The goal is to be able to have a good picture of our company's computers and software. That way we can see what hardware needs to be replaced first, what OS's need upgrading, what software needs to be upgraded, and to see if we are compliant with our purchased software license keys.

Although I could setup a database to house the info and could use something like the free Belarc Advisor to go to each machine and gather info, I am faced with a large work load, so going to each machine and manually inputing data is not an option.

Our network consists of approx. 30 "clients", 5 "servers", plus a handful of networked printers.

And since I do have a long list of links to products, I am looking for info from users who have actually implemented and used a solution to give me examples of how it worked and whether or not you would suggest I try it.

Much appreciated in advance!

How do I get rid of all these old servers?

SkelPaff — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 02:13:58 -0800

I have hardware. Servers, to be precise. A stack of them. Taking up space. What's the best way to get rid of them while getting something in return? Charity, and if so, who? Or selling them, and who's buying? After running a web site for a good number of years, I sold the thing to someone else, but I got stuck with the hardware. Taking up a significant portion of the spare bedroom for well over a year and a half now, it's got to go. They're '01-'03 vintage servers, nothing comparable to modern machines, but perfectly capable of running some very high-traffic sites even today.

I'm not really hurting for either the cash I'd get (not poor enough) or the tax break (not rich enough), so either sale or charity is a viable option. As for charities, who could really use some old (Windows licensed) servers with some good life left in 'em? Alternately, if I'm looking for cash, who out there (if anyone) can recognize a real resale value (whatever it may be) and pay a fair price? eBay would be my last resort, just on principle.

Oh, and is there anything more necessary than a Boot 'n Nuke? While none of the hard drives have any financial information, they've got some people's old data (e-mails and passwords), which doesn't really need to be spread around.

Recommend Apple server for a small design studio?

ads — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:21:13 -0800

Need advice on selecting and implementing a file server for a small graphic design studio. Background and assumptions:
We have six designers and an office manager. We want a server for the purpose of centralising our project files instead of storing them on designers' individual machines. There are currently a bunch of G4s, G5s and a couple of PCs on the network. Most of the design work is accomplished on Macs so we are fairly committed to getting an Xserve. We are also implementing a project management system (Studio Manager, which is a FileMaker application) on a separate machine—a Dual 1.25 GHz PowerMac G4. Ideally we would like all materials for current and archived projects to be stored on the Xserve, and be indexed by the project management software on the G4. We imagine that employees will open their files from the server each day, work locally, and upload them to the server in the evening. (The same functionality should be possible if people are working from home.) Ultimately we want a scenario in which any employee could take over the work of another by referencing the project management database and locating the related materials on the file server.

My specific questions are below (please let me know if I've overlooked anything, either in the assumptions above, or in what follows):

1. If we go with Apple hardware, will a single-processor Xserve G5 be suitable for basic file-sharing services? Would your recommendation change if it would also be used as a web server in 12-18 months time?

2. How much RAM are we likely to need, and does it matter if there is a mix of Apple and third-party RAM?

3. What about protection from hardware failure? If we get the 3 x 500 GB storage option for the Xserve would it be advisable to implement RAID 1 through software? Or should we get the hardware RAID PCI adapter (assuming that is the correct way to implement a hardware-based RAID)?

4. For future expansion, should we add any other adapters now (such as the Fibre Channel card for attaching dedicated storage)?

5. Are external firewire hard drives an acceptable backup technology, or are tape drives the most realistic solution? Any particular brand recommendations?

6. What about Applecare for Xserves? Would you recommend for or against, and why?

7. What is most likely to go wrong in the first 12 months of operation?

8. What is most likely to go wrong during installation and initial configuration?

9. Could someone who is only familiar with OS X's graphical interface safely configure an out-of-box Xserve as described here, or would that be too risky without more specialised expertise?

10. What am I not thinking about that I should probably consider?

Can you help me make a video jukebox?

robbie01 — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 22:06:21 -0800

Hardware/Media Dreams: I'm an A/V and computer enthusiast, and one of my dreams (sad, I know) is to have a computer-based server connected to my television that contains all of my (legally store bought) DVDs, so I can basically have a local version of video-on-demand. [mi] I'm also a technology nut and a complete minimalist, so it drives me nuts to have everything neat and tidy, but have to stare at the unwieldy cases for 150 DVDs in my living room. iPod was a godsend because I could rip my entire library of 300 CDs, get RID of them (storage, sell them, or give them away) and still have access to the music and cover art, esp. now with the Photo iPod and through iTunes. I figure things like digital music and video are just bits, so why waste a lot of space on obsolete physical media?

I've done some basic research on the theory, but none of the solutions seem quite right. Sure, it begins with ripping all of my DVDs and having enough hard drive space (a cost issue) to hold them all.

But I also want two things: the same audio/video quality that the original DVD offers (i.e., no horribly compressed DIVX rips) and some sort of GUI that can display all of my movies, maybe sort/display them by genre, title, display the cover art, etc. Being able to access the original DVDs menuing system and Extras would be ideal as well, but I'm willing to forgo that if I can just access to the film itself.

I know there are some homebrew systems out there that I could gobble together, but probably would not offer everything I want, and if I'm going to invest money in something, I want it to do everything I'm looking for.

I have read about a device that seems to do exactly what I want... it's a standalone (non computer) unit that will rip/store your DVDs on its internal hard drive, and you can daisy-chain additional storage space onto the thing as your library grows. As I remember it had the ability to determine the name of the movie (probably using the equivalent of CDDB but for DVDs) and display all the appropriate info (genre, cast, cover art, etc.) The downside? I think it cost upwards of $20,000. I'm not THAT much of an enthusiast... or at least I don't have the means to claim to be.

Any suggestions? Has anyone assembled or developed a system like this? What's it gonna cost?