From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Apr 27 14:21:22 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B9AB0106564A for ; Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:21:22 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from nvidican@m2.vidican.com) Received: from mail-yw0-f54.google.com (mail-yw0-f54.google.com [209.85.213.54]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 820E18FC14 for ; Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:21:22 +0000 (UTC) Received: by ywf7 with SMTP id 7so799958ywf.13 for ; Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:21:21 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.236.77.5 with SMTP id c5mr2940735yhe.126.1303914081350; Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:21:21 -0700 (PDT) Sender: nvidican@m2.vidican.com Received: by 10.147.182.3 with HTTP; Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:21:21 -0700 (PDT) X-Originating-IP: [136.1.1.105] In-Reply-To: References: Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 10:21:21 -0400 X-Google-Sender-Auth: 6--lrZsd6BYar8IvKFgkyctaoZ8 Message-ID: From: Nathan Vidican To: Jaime Kikpole Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Hardware suggestions X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:21:22 -0000 On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 12:04 PM, Jaime Kikpole wrote: > I'm looking for new hardware for my web filter (FreeBSD + dansguardian + = squid). > > Can anyone suggest good (or warn about bad) models of hardware for > this? =A0I'm looking for a small tower or compact chassis (not rack > mount) with two ethernet interfaces. =A0I'd like RAID-1 as well, if > possible. =A0I can spend anywhere from $1,000 to $3,500. > > My current system works well (2.0GHz, dual core, 8GB RAM, RAID-1, two > 160GB disks, 3 100Mbps NICs), but I want to replace it with two > identical boxes. =A0Right now, its a single point of failure. =A0So I'm > hoping to rsync configs between two systems that are on line at all > times. =A0Then, if I need up upgrade software or the hardware breaks, I > can just swap the box. > > Any pointers on this project are appreciated, especially what models > of computers would work well with FreeBSD. > > Thanks in advance, > Jaime > > -- > Network Administrator > Cairo-Durham Central School District > http://cns.cairodurham.org > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.o= rg" > For what it's worth, I would do two things: #1 - consult the FreeBSD hardware compatability list, (see http://www.freebsd.org/releases/8.2R/hardware.html for 8.2-RELEASE), and piece together your own white-box hardware, (ie: pick compatible system board, processor, memory, disks and controllers) usually the best bang for the buck in my experience. #2 - instead of hot-spare (having both machines there but only one plugged in) - you might want to read up on using CARP; CARP will allow automatic failover and can trigger scripts to perform actions when the failover event occurs - this may be a far better option than having to physically plug a machine in place of another. See the handbook for more detail on CARP: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/carp.html --=20 Nathan Vidican nathan@vidican.com