Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 21:43:27 -0500 (EST) From: Mikel <mikel@ocsny.com> To: FreeBSD-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Recommended Hardware Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9912152134131.54982-100000@apollo.ocsny.com> In-Reply-To: <4.1.19991216002021.00c2cee0@mail.rz.fh-wilhelmshaven.de>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
I have a couple of AMD k6450's right now and all of them are pretty stable...but it took some kernel tweaking to get them right...My first attempt using a minimal conf...yeilded some pretty flaky results...finally I beefed up my conf and thing are aok. On a side note: I've two sister machines...both are dual pii400's (Asus mlb's) one is 1/2 gb ram, the other is 390Mish...both have 10k rpm drives and uw3 dual channel cntrlrs..alas for some readon we are only using one channel right now..both also have 12/24 dds3 tapes..absolutely essential in my book...When I started at this place they had two drive among something like 20 srvrs...now we've scalled down and put a drive in almost every srvr...believe me it took one crash for them to see that light...;) both machines have 400-500 users...and are only pulling 3-7% of cpu cycles max....added DNS (on both) and Apache on one...(still below 15% duty) The Apache is a bit higher but only during pek hits.. hope that helps... Cheers, mikel On Thu, 16 Dec 1999, Olaf Hoyer wrote: > At 12:31 15.12.99 -0500, you wrote: > >I need to build two new mail servers and am seeking feedback as to > >recommended hardware, in particular, compatible motherboards. > > > >As I see it I have two choices, Pentium III 500 and the new AMD Athelon,= I > >have always used AMD in the past but have had repeated problems with the= ir > >450 MHz K6 processors which I clocked down in order to gain stability. > > > >Our (now) typical mail server uses AMD K6 300 - 400 CPUS, 256 MB RAM, > >single SCSI LVD boot drive, Adaptec 2940U2W and is NFS mounted to our RA= ID > >arrays where mail is spooled/delivered. > Hi! >=20 > First question is: Does the mail server app/demon take advantage of dual > CPU config? > If so, you can therefore use cheaper CPUs and upgrade later easily... >=20 > OK, for a single CPU config I'd use nowadays an AMD Athlon with 600 MHZ > (most bang for buck), preferrably on the ASUS K7M, which is really cool. > There have been reports of AMD's new stepping of their chipset, question = is > , when will it be available. (Fester, I think they call that board). Brin= gs > a real performance gain. >=20 > RAM of course as much as possible, where I'd prefer standard PC 100/133 > from a good manufacturer, such as micron, corsair etc... >=20 > The extended costs of RAMBUS will not bring a corresponding increase in > speed... >=20 > HDD subsystem: OK, here it is the question how many users with which volu= me > it shall serve, and inhowfar the mail server app takes advantage of the > memory as a cache, or do every mail has to be written (for security > purposes) directly to HDD? >=20 > If it has a low volume to handle, any good IDE drive (like IBM, or Quantu= m) > should do the job. Especially the answer times of IDE drives are a bit > better than that of SCSI. >=20 > (In -Chat there is curently a discussion raging which RAID/HDD subsystem = is > best) >=20 > For medium stress, I'd take some good SCSI drives, like IBM DDRS/DRVS or > Quantum Atlas, and hook them up to a single controller, configured in a w= ay > that swap goes to multiple drives. (If ya really crazy, take two SCSI > controllers to have more bandwidth) > Also the drives where mail data will be stored and the logging files will > reside, should be different. >=20 > For more stress, and data security, a RAID solution is recommended. Take = a > look at -Chat, there they offer some IDE RAIDs, which also look pretty go= od. >=20 > For "standard and old-fashoined" RAIDs, one would take a good > SCSI-controller, hook up some 10000 rpm SCSI drives, and do a correspondi= ng > config. >=20 > Ok, all other components are obvious: Good server casing, best with > redundant Power supply, metal HDD frames with cooling, el cheapo Vid car= d > from a quality manufacturer (image is not important, but it mustn't fail) >=20 > You also should take a look at Tyan, they offer with the Thunder series > some excellent boards designated for small/medium servers. >=20 > They have the BX/GX chipsets, (up to 2 GB RAM), dual PIII capable, Adapte= c > RAID capable controller (the 3940, I think,with additional card) onboard, > as well as lots of slots... > Others have a U2W onboard...=20 > Have an old Tomcat myself, and I'm very content with the > mechanical/electrical stability of it, and with some details of the desig= n. >=20 > Here in Germany the biggest costs about US$ 800 (1500 DM) >=20 > Regards > Olaf Hoyer=20 > ------ > Olaf Hoyer ICQ: 22838075 mailto: Olaf.Hoyer@nightfire.de > home: www.nightfire.de (The home of the burning CPU) >=20 > Death be my master, my soul and saviour... (The book of inferno, chapter = II) > "There is no justice, there is just me", said the Reaper (Terry Pratchett= ) >=20 > Wer mit Ungeheuern k=E4mpft, mag zusehn,=20 > da=DF er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. > Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund=20 > auch in dich hinein. > (Friedrich Nietzsche, Jenseits von Gut und B=F6se) >=20 >=20 > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message >=20 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.4.05.9912152134131.54982-100000>