On Mon, Sep 02, 2013 at 01:35:30AM +0000, James Harper wrote:
In the past I've been using HP servers with 3rd party components (disks/memory) as these are often well overpriced for the same components with a HP logo on them. The latest round of servers appear to be adopting some technologies from printers and complaining when non-HP components are installed.
I need a tower with similar build quality to a HP that comes with all the caddies etc that is known to run Linux well (it will be a Bacula server).
Any suggestions?
1. build-your-own with a good quality full tower case. some come with built-in hot-swap bays, but usually only a few. if you need more, use Lian Li EX-H34B hot-swap bays (fits 4 x 3.5" drives in 3 x 5.25" slots) - you can find some that fit 5x3.5" drives in the same space but IMO & IME they tend to overheat and come with small (80mm max), crappy low-quality and loud fans. the EX-H34Bs come with fairly decent 120mm fans which are easily replaced with even better silent fans if you want (i didn't bother with mine, they hardly make any noise at all). they cost about $85 + postage from pccasegear.com in Mulgrave when i bought mine about a few years ago. also recommend to use cheap IBM M1015 SAS cards instead of SATA cards (8 ports for around $100) - they're not only cheaper than any available SATA expansion card, they're also much better. reflash them to use IT mode rather than raid-mode firmware to avoid any potential issues with drive timeouts. use them as JBOD with either mdadm or zfsonlinux or maybe btrfs - my strong recommendation is for zfsonlinux...there are just too many good reasons to use a modern filesystem like zfs (or btrfs), the most important being error-detection and correction, easy sub-volume creation and management, and snapshotting. 2. build your own but use a case like the Norco RPC-4224[1]. rack-mountable, optional rack slide available, 24 SAS/SATA hot swap bays, and room for even the largest EATX motherboards. spare drive trays only cost $5.50 (unlike *any* of the name-brand servers who *all* charge ripoff[2] prices for empty drive trays - if they'll even sell you an empty tray at all, and generally come with only enough drive trays for the drives you buy with the unit) if it's not going into a proper server room, you'll want to replace all the fans with much quieter ones so the server doesn't sound like a jet engine taking off. buying the optional 120mm fan wall bracket for an extra $12 is a good idea - it's a replacement for the standard one which has 4x80mm fans IIRC, so you can install 3x120mm fans instead. much quieter and better air-flow. a nice case, i used one at work (to build a zfs backup server) some time ago. [1] $479 plus about $30 postage IIRC from Sydney http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/149123/CASINGS_SERVER_-_4U/Norco/RPC-4224.asp [2] actually, far worse than mere ripoff, they're insulting you-are-a-fuckwit ripoff prices. in some cases, hundreds of dollars for a shitty little piece of plastic and metal. I wouldn't spend my own money on that and i resent being forced on occasion to spend my employers' money on it. this kind of crap is the reason why I hate name-brand gear. it's generally very good quality but nowhere near good enough or better enough to justify the prices. compounded by the point you mentioned about deliberate incompatibilities designed in to lock you in to their accessories. craig -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au>