On 9/8/2012 11:49 AM, Veljko wrote: > Well, it did sound a little to complex and that is why I posted to this > list, hoping to hear some other opinions. > > 1. This machine will be used for > a) backup (backup server for several dedicated (mainly) web servers). > It will contain incremental backups, so only first running will take a > lot of time, rsnapshot will latter download only changed/added files > and will run from cron every day. Files that will be added later are > around 1-10 MB in size. I expect ~20 GB daily, but that number can > grow. Some files fill be deleted, other will be added. > Dedicated servers that will be backed up are ~500GB in size. > b) monitoring (Icinga or Zabbix) of dedicated servers. > c) file sharing for employees (mainly small text files). I don't > expect this to be resource hog.
Stop here. Never use a production system as a test rig. > d) Since there is enough space (for now), and machine have four cores > and 4GB RAM (that can be easily increased), I figured I can use it for > test virtual machines. I usually work with 300MB virtual machines and > no intensive load. Just testing some software. You can build a complete brand new AMD dedicated test machine with parts from Newegg for $238 USD, sans KB/mouse/monitor, which you already have. Boot it up then run it headless, use a KVM switch, etc. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186189 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148262 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103888 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136771 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811121118 If ~$250 stretches the wallet of your employer, it's time for a new job. > 2. There is no fixed implementation date, but I'm expected to start > working on it. Sooner the better, but no dead lines. > Equipment I have to work with is desktop class machine: Athlon X4, > 4GB RAM and 4 3TB Seagate ST3000DM001 7200rpm. Server will be in my > office and will perform backup over internet. I do have APC UPS to > power off machine in case of power loss (apcupsd will take care of > that). Get yourself an Adaptec 8 port PCIe x8 RAID card kit for $250: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816103231 The Seagate ST3000DM001 is certified. It can't do RAID5 so you'll use RAID10, giving you 6TB of raw capacity, but much better write performance than RAID5. You can add 4 more of these drives, doubling capacity to 12TB. Comes with all cables, manuals, etc. Anyone who has tried to boot a server after the BIOS configured boot drive that is mdraid mirrored knows why $250 is far more than worth the money. A drive failure with a RAID card doesn't screw up your boot order. It just works. > In next few months it is expected that size of files on dedicated > servers will grow and it case that really happen I'd like to be able to > expand this system. See above. > And, of course, thanks for your time and valuable advices, Stan, I've read > some of your previous posts on this list and know you're storage guru. You're welcome. And thank you. ;) Recommending the above Adaptec card is the best advice you'll get. It'll make your life much easier, with better performance to boot. -- Stan -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/504c5664.8060...@hardwarefreak.com
