Looking for server advice.
I am attempting to decide on a new file server (home and work use, I work at
home). My requirements are cheap, plenty of storage ... or basically 6-8
hot-plug SATA drives in a RAID 5 formation (before you ask, I am not relying
on this as my only backup strategy, I just want some fault tolerance, and to
be able to play with bioctl and hot spares), redundant power supply, room
for more than a low-profile PCI card, 2 GbE ports, compatible with OpenBSD
3.9, 2U size, that's all.
In the past I have favoured Dell servers (mainly due to this thread
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?t=110622884500001&r=1&w=2 ). I have looked at
the new PowerEdge 2950, but the RAID options for SATA are software only and
SAS gets too expensive ... the other Dell choices fall short of the
requirements. So my first question, can I use the Dell SATA backplane with
an aftermarket SATA hot-plug RAID controller (like the LSI MegaRAID 105-6) ?
(I have no experience with backplanes) ... for completeness, the HP
offerings use the "ciss" RAID, which is not supported by bioctl.
Assuming the above backplane answer is "no", then, unfortunately, I have to
search for a "white box" solution.
1) Any chassis or supplier recommendations? Comments on "Rackmountpro",
since I have found this 2U chassis from rackmountpro (
http://www.rackmountpro.com/productpage.php?prodid=2421 ).
2) Motherboard recommendations? What's the OpenBSD favoured
motherboard/processor combo ... A little research says I should steer
towards AMD, avoid Nvidia and ATI chipsets (
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=openbsd-misc&m=114894681314538&w=2 ) ...
maybe the SUPERMICRO H8DAE, or one of the Tyan ones.
Thanks for any guidance,
Tom
I know this isn't really an OpenBSD question, but this is the only list I am
subscribed to, and I value the opinions on it.
http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/
