my work needs a file server.

I'm not going to build it, but I need the specs to give to the guys who are going to build it.


so, if oyu wouldn't mind, help me out with it.

file server needs to be able to handle the LAN traffic, then I'm also going to try and host all my images from here as well.

How much LAN Traffic? I think i'd be moreso worried about your internet connection than the server itself. You can build a server that costs well over 5 Grand, and not be able to handle massive amounts of traffic because of your limited bandwidth.

Dude I got 2 servers coming, give me a few days. I'll sell it to your company $180 shipped. I'll get specs in a few days.

How much LAN Traffic? I think i'd be moreso worried about your internet connection than the server itself. You can build a server that costs well over 5 Grand, and not be able to handle massive amounts of traffic because of your limited bandwidth.
at work I have a 1.5 mbit DSL line. and noone else in the company ever uses any bandwith.

All I want is some server that can handle up to 12 gigs per month bandwith and many many thousand hits a month.


oh, and LAN wise, it has to be able to support about 20 computers running simultaneous access to the files on the HD's.

Warning: This will be expensive

Dual AMD Opteron Processors

SATA 150 Hard Drive(s) - Whatever size you need for storage

I wouldn't go crazy on a Video Card. Something simple would do

Windows Server 2003 - How you get it is up to you ;).

Linux is also an option if you want to go the cheap route, and if you have good knowledge of a unix based OS.

At least 1.5 GB of RAM

Good ventilated case, don't skimp out and get a cheap ass case. Server's tend to produce a lotta heat. Even my A64 gives off a good bit of heat so dual opteron's will need proper cooling.

Optical Drive of your choice. It's not like you're gonna be burning DVD's on a server, but DVD Burners are so cheap, you may as well spring for one.

Just don't get cheap parts, especially when it comes down to crucial components. You don't want a hard drive failing, nor do you want your mobo to crap out on you. My personal recommendations for a board would be Gigabyte and for HD's I'd go with a Seagate drive or Western Digital. I've had a Maxtor take a shit on me, and I lost over 35 GB of music, and about 40 GB in applications. I wasn't a very happy camper.

That's just a basic overview, as it is almost 1AM and I don't really wanna go into a lot of detail, but if you need more info, post away.

it won't need that much processing power or memory. It is only a file server. Think about all of the sql processes illstreet produces with the catalog/forums at 300k hits a day, ~3GB transfer a day. The server is a shared server with a single processor and less than a gig of memory and processes are at around .8/1/1

Wow, you don't need NEARLY all of that for only 12GB/mo. Even at 30GB/mo that system is overkill.

How much total file space do you need? Decide this right now, it will determine the cost of the rest of the system.

You don't need Opteron's for that amount of traffic. Socket 754 A64 will do.

1GB of RAM is what I recommend, with such a small amount of traffic you don't need to go overboard.

Linux or Server 2003...do you know Linux? Because if you don't Windows is going to be the way to go, unfortunatly.

Besides web hosting, what other services will be held on this computer? Just basic file sharing? Or is there some software that is required to run on a server?

My suggestion:
-1x 3000+ A64
-2x 512mb of GOOD ram
-2x WD Raptor's (36gb is cheaper, if you don't need that much space, but 74gb is nice to have...NOTE: You'll want to configure these as RAID 1 for redundancy...unless you don't care about losing your data...then RAID 0 is better because its faster)
-How will you be backing up this server? Or will you at all?
-Windows server 2003 will be right about $500, give or take a few dollars....by far the most expensive part of the system.

My server would even be more than what you need. It's way overkill for me. I would, however, put in a few more HD's than I have, and mirror the drives.
( http://animal.is-a-geek.com/server.html for those of you that don't know )

But christ... anything's better than the setup you ahve now, with files strewn over multiple computers, not knowing which copy is newer than anohter.

I'd go with RAID 1 in addition to a nice backup system for any business application.

Wow and wow. Ok I just built 2 servers 3 months ago at 13k a pice :-)

Anyways a opteron or a fx or any server chip in your application is not needed. When I do things like this I go all out and skip no corners, so my systems come out price. I will try and help you out here and keep moderate in mined.

First step I always invest in a good case. Figure $200 I prefer Lian Li

Next a PSU just get a decent 500watt PSU

Ok a file server’s primary goal is data speed. There is several ways you can achieve this. The most desired way on a file server is SCSI hard drives. I am willing to bed this will be a little more then you need. We can do this at a decent price. I will suggest 4 SATA raptor hard drives. Ok I am a Maxtor fan but these drives will do you good. Run these drives in a matrix array. That is 0-1. This will give you mirrors back up incase of a failure as well give you a stripe array on 2 drives.

Ok ram. This is far more intricate and important then a person relies for a server. I am not going to go into it but will suggest where to go and what you need. 2gigs is my suggestion on your needs. I normally run 4 on my servers but 2 will do you. There is other reasons I suggest 2 then say a lower number per say as if you will rely push 2gigs all the time there is other factors I calculate in. Next what type of RAM very important. This is easy, get this ram CORSAIR XMS. Now be careful the speed and style will be dependant upon your board.

Now for giggles plan out your external storage space. Plan if you want a proper back up or not. I will leave this to you it is dependant upon how much storage you really have. If not high I like the REV drives by Iomega. If you need more you will have to go to tapes and so forth. Decide if you want CD/DVD capabilities and so on. As well plan on if this system will have a user interface a monitor a person on it at times or in a office cubical. I basically am saying will you need KVM will you need a monitor and so on. Maybe save you a few dollars.

Now find a processor. I am an AMD fan by huge margin. Actually I despise Intel as much as M$. I will say this upfront Intel’s 775chipset has very nice server suitable boards! They just. I think MSI has some nice board for your application. I suggest AMD here basically all the ships these days will do you far bettor then you need. So a 500$ vs a 1200$ chip is a waste. Search the AMDs and compare your price range to each models and cores and make your choice based on the best compromise. Your choice won’t be bad no matter what you chose.

After you have your chipset search boards. Remember you need to support RAID 0-1, 1, 0. You need that in SATA support. You need 2gig min ram support. Read the reviews and just make a good sense decision. When you come up with a choice I would be more then happy to review your setup and make suggestions based upon what you have chosen for guidens purposes.

Now that you have your board and know what type of ram it requires. Go get the corresponding CORSAIR XMS ram that you need.

Cooling! This is optimum to a server. I have seen 65% work duty cycle drops just to hot running servers. This gets worse, dropped users data lose and so on. If you can not spring just do some searches on cooling fans for your chipset and get the best. I personally water cool every server I build. If the company budget is applicable they receive a server room with a personal AC unit. The room is kept at a constant 75F.

EDIT: Forgot to add networking. Gigabit nothing else I use on this. This is over looked. Why? Well it is only useful if your backbone supports it. You need gigabit routers and switches with gigabit cards in all computers. This is probably not going to happen and if it was your company would already have it. This in mined almost any server style board you order will come with it intergraded

Video and audio. Hell just get something applicable to your OS.

OS: I use nothing NOTHING but Linux on my servers.. PERIOD! There is some cases that proprietary software will be most applicable for a company to run M$ server 2k3. My suggestions based on needs and software. You need to see what software you will run on the server. I use SOL, Caldera, and Fedora.
First time I suggest Caldera or Fedora. Caldera has a nice server interface to quickly use works well for a beginner. Fedora is a more modern OS now with KDE3 and all the good stuff. I am personally using Fedora now. It is a very strong kernel and worse great. Just select server when installing. fedora.redhat.com

This is it so far. Oh yes I suggest you order as many parts as possible form here www.newegg.com if you hunt you can find a few parts a couple dollars cheaper but anymore I do not worry about it or sweat it. There serves you will obtain from DOA parts and easy of use with reviews and so on is just unmatched. Being a car person you know exactly what I am referring to.

When I do things like this I go all out and skip no corners, so my systems come out price. I will try and help you out here and keep moderate in mined.
you sound like me :D



First step I always invest in a good case. Figure $200 I prefer Lian Li
eh... I have a nice 4u rackmount that was supposed to be a 2tb raid cluster that will work nicely for this.



Now for giggles plan out your external storage space. Plan if you want a proper back up or not. I will leave this to you it is dependant upon how much storage you really have.probably have enough home brew external drives to suffice for that.

I am an AMD fan by huge margin. Actually I despise Intel as much as M$.:werd:


EDIT: Forgot to add networking. Gigabit nothing else I use on this. This is over looked. Why? Well it is only useful if your backbone supports it. You need gigabit routers and switches with gigabit cards in all computers.
guess it really depends on where the server winds up. If they want it for "offsite" then it could reside in my apartment :firedevil and here I have a gigabit network, everything but the switch anyway.


Oh yes I suggest you order as many parts as possible form here www.newegg.com if you hunt you can find a few parts a couple dollars cheaper but anymore I do not worry about it or sweat it.
newegg is who I get everything from anyway, i used to order from PC direct or whatever the company was, and they burned me out of a pretty pricey HDD and thought they could placate me with a rounded ATA cable :swords:


anyway... the main reason I asked for help is in the last year, of my trying to build this son of a bitch, I have recieved two mainboards DOA and proceeded to have two mainboards fry on me. Never figured out why those boards died, they just did.


and thanks for the help guys, Iceblue, I might be asking for more.


I already have a general plan set up:

2.x ghz AMD Athlon something or other proc.
2+ gigs of RAM
4 or 250 SATA drives so I can have a 500gig mirrored array
gigabit networking
decent mainboard

and bassic everything else



i just hate putting a computer together and not having it work, especially when its for the company when I already wear so many hats and am being forced into IT as well :(

Hey! Well I do have to say you seem to know your stuff and have a solid idea of whats up. Hell maybe I can ask you for help some time. I do not take things lightly on computers because I am a Network Engineer and do consider my abilitys very high. I dont go make a profile about it but if someone needs help, I will glady put it to use.

Now are you puning on me in your sigi :-/ I feel sad ;-(

Anyways be happy to help out.

Hey! Well I do have to say you seem to know your stuff and have a solid idea of whats up. Hell maybe I can ask you for help some time.
heh. right. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy that you would even consider it though :D


Now are you puning on me in your sigi :-/ I feel sad ;-(

huh? :scratch:

in my sig its talking about motorcycle riders. Its from an article in the recent "Dirt Rider" magazine where they were talking about pruning out the sub-par riders by doing some really stupid, technical shit that allways made them wreck.

And that line was the last line in the article. Felt like it pretty much summed it up. I would rather go out and ride and show people my skill rather then sit around and yack about it. ;)

okay... next question...


how hard is it to do liquid cooling?

how much additional cost will it add?

lol the sigi remark was just a little humor. If you rememebr in the Ut...OHHH thread back home when we got into bikes.

About 400$ to do a solid water cooler. Here this site is price but has some good water pats you can play around with. www.frozencpu.com

lol the sigi remark was just a little humor. If you rememebr in the Ut...OHHH thread back home when we got into bikes.aaah... yes...


About 400$ to do a solid water cooler. Here this site is price but has some good water pats you can play around with. www.frozencpu.com
hah.

I just went to frozen cpu about 20 minutes ago to start browsing. I've been drooling over water cooling on that site since it went online a couple years ago.

Would you suggest one of those Zalman fanless radiator towers? or just a traditional radiator/pump/fans set up?

The one I like is swifttech. I use there cooler chips. Resivour and hoses thats self exsplanitory. The pump, that changes on what im looking for. they have some I would call it off brand that pump more then the name brand ones and work well too. So this depends on look and how much room I have.

I water my HD's, CPU, N bridge, S, bridge, Vid cards on gaming systems

so whats everyone's opinions on this setup:


Lian Li PC-73SL Silver Aluminum Server Computer Case
4x Maxtor MaXLine III 7L300S0 300GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150
EPoX EP-8RDA6+Pro Socket A (Socket 462) NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400 ATX
ATI XPERT 98 Rage XL 8MB SDRAM PCI Video Card
SONY Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1615/B2s
Antec TruePower 2.0 TP2-550 EPS12V ATX12V 550W Power Supply
CORSAIR XMS 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) ECC Registered System Memory Model CMX1024RE-3200
AMD Athlon XP 2800+ Barton 333MHz FSB



Total: $1,655.24

water cooling is starting to look goddamned expensive:


ex-rad-04 Swiftech 676 Dual Fan Radiator
ex-blc-84 Swiftech MCW6000-A Water Block - Athlon MP/XP & Duron
ex-tub-27 3/8" UV Reactive Leakproof Y Fitting
ex-res-10 Typhoon Dual 5.25" Bay Reservoir - CLEAR
ex-tub-88 Thermaltake T-type Water Temperature Indicator (CL-W0033)
ex-pmp-26 PolarFLO TT Series Pump - CHROME (317 GPH)

Subtotal: $378.95 :(


probably be cheaper just to pack the case with fans to keep it cool.

lol. The system looks good. Is this for the server? I would look at the venice core from AMD you can allso get a Nforce4 ultra chipset. Look at 939 chipset runing fedora linux 64bit. They are fasing the 754 and so on out. You can run dual channel RAM so get two 1gig sticks.

nice case
Water cooling normaly runs me around 400

bah!

fuck that.

I showed the boss the set up I had priced and he said "We'll see."

So fuck him.

$1600 is *way* too much.

We ordered one at work to replace our current server (new one will be primary, backed up to current one daily) for $800. 3.2GHz P4, 1GB RAM, 2x160GB SATA HD, kbd/mse included, no OS. It's still waaay overkill for what we use it for.

I think I convinced them to go Linux on it, since we lost a few HDs due to a virus that's been floating around for a while. :D

On a side-note, eth0 crapped out on my box. Whatever happened, my entire LAN went down wed. afternoon. Got home around 3AM, saw router was power-red, the power light on my switch was flashing (which isn't even in the book.... dunno wtf happened there) and my server was on but unresponsive. Plugged kbd/mon into server and it was still up, but eth0 was down.

Got router/switch up thursday night, server still wouldn't come up. Got the interface up, but it'd go back down in a second or two. Most annoying. I'm gonna go get a new NIC and see if that'll fix things.

3.2GHz P4
:piss:

On a side-note, eth0 crapped out on my box. Whatever happened, my entire LAN went down wed. afternoon. Got home around 3AM, saw router was power-red, the power light on my switch was flashing (which isn't even in the book.... dunno wtf happened there) and my server was on but unresponsive. Plugged kbd/mon into server and it was still up, but eth0 was down.

Bad NIC or curropted .cnf file