Since good server designs have come up in the past, I wanted to point out a "low-cost" server option that has good I/O, and the vendor offers _your_choice_ of not only Fedora Core or Red Hat Enterprise Linux, but _also_ CentOS _shipped_ with it!
IN-A-NUTSHELL ...
Starting at just over $750, you can get a single Socket-939 Opteron 1xx (dual-core is an option) system with up to 4GiB of ECC (but non- registered) DDR SDRAM, up to 4 hot-swap SATA bays (8114 model), one PCI- X slot (perfect for a 3Ware card, which they _do_ support ;-) and dual on-board GbE Broadcom NICs -- all in a 1U rackmount form-factor. The resulting I/O performance is excellent at the price-point for those that want a good server I/O well beyond typical "desktop/workstation" but for around the same price.
The 4 hot-swap drive configuration, with a decent amount of RAM, 3Ware card with the 4 drives in RAID-10 or 5, and, most importantly, with CentOS 4.2 shipped runs just a little over $2K. Not really much more than an equivalent "self-assembled desktop" you might be able to put together, while being a heck of a lot better in interconnect configuration and resulting server performance.
ASL Monarch 8110/8114/8115 (Left Column): http://www.aslab.com/products/storage/monarch.html
NOW THE TECHNOBABLE I'M INFAMOUS FOR ...
ASL Monarch Series, 811x with ServerWorks HT1000 Chipset
I haven't purchased anything from ASL in years, but back when I was working in the semiconductor industry, the sysadmin at Transmeta turned me on to them. The really know their hardware and Linux compatibility, and they have been shipping products with 3Ware for years.
They are now shipping their Monarch 811x series of products (not to be confused with a _separate_ vendor called Monarch Computer Systems ;-) with the Broadcom ServerWorks HT1000 chipset: http://www.broadcom.com/products/Enterprise-Small-Office/SystemI-O-Chips/HT-...
The ServerWorks HT1000 is rarely found without the HT2000, hence why you typically only find them in dual or quad socket boxen. And that combination competes against serverboards with the AMD8131/8132, which are also typically only found in dual or quad socket boxen. The number of channels, traces, etc... is why it's never cost-effective to make a single processor with an AMD8131. But in the case of the single chip HT1000 on its own -- with dual-GbE NICs and a single PCI-X channel, plusall legacy PC peripherals logic necessary, it _was_ designed to be standalone.
So if I had to guess from the specs, the mainboard is the SuperMicro H8SSL-i (although I have not confirmed it): http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron/HT1000/H8SSL-i.cfm
The H8SSL-i is _not_ available via retail channels, only select OEMs. So you can't just go out and buy it.
Unless you just want a 2 SATA drive version (the 8110 or 14" shallow 8115), the 8114 offers up to 4 SATA hot-swap bays in a sub-20" deep 1U rackmount: http://www.aslab.com/products/storage/monarch8114.html
They seem to be supporting the latest 3Ware Escalade 9550SX, which it too new to trust IMHO. But if they feel differently, I'd trust them. At the same time, it wouldn't surprise me if they'd sell it with a Escalade 8506 series instead -- which I do trust (especially since with only 4 drives, I'd probably create a RAID-10 volume), and only default to the 9550SX because most customers want RAID-5.
Bryan J. Smith wrote:
Since good server designs have come up in the past, I wanted to point out a "low-cost" server option that has good I/O, and the vendor offers _your_choice_ of not only Fedora Core or Red Hat Enterprise Linux, but _also_ CentOS _shipped_ with it!
IN-A-NUTSHELL ...
Starting at just over $750, you can get a single Socket-939 Opteron 1xx (dual-core is an option) system with up to 4GiB of ECC (but non- registered) DDR SDRAM, up to 4 hot-swap SATA bays (8114 model), one PCI- X slot (perfect for a 3Ware card, which they _do_ support ;-) and dual on-board GbE Broadcom NICs -- all in a 1U rackmount form-factor. The resulting I/O performance is excellent at the price-point for those that want a good server I/O well beyond typical "desktop/workstation" but for around the same price.
The 4 hot-swap drive configuration, with a decent amount of RAM, 3Ware card with the 4 drives in RAID-10 or 5, and, most importantly, with CentOS 4.2 shipped runs just a little over $2K. Not really much more than an equivalent "self-assembled desktop" you might be able to put together, while being a heck of a lot better in interconnect configuration and resulting server performance.
ASL Monarch 8110/8114/8115 (Left Column): http://www.aslab.com/products/storage/monarch.html
Thanks Bryan, this is a timely post for me. By the way, I tend to like your verbosity. My 0.02 cents worth.
Ed
On Sun, 2005-11-20 at 23:06 -0500, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
Since good server designs have come up in the past, I wanted to point out a "low-cost" server option that has good I/O, and the vendor offers _your_choice_ of not only Fedora Core or Red Hat Enterprise Linux, but _also_ CentOS _shipped_ with it!
<SNIP>
Unless you just want a 2 SATA drive version (the 8110 or 14" shallow 8115), the 8114 offers up to 4 SATA hot-swap bays in a sub-20" deep 1U rackmount: http://www.aslab.com/products/storage/monarch8114.html
They seem to be supporting the latest 3Ware Escalade 9550SX, which it too new to trust IMHO. But if they feel differently, I'd trust them. At the same time, it wouldn't surprise me if they'd sell it with a Escalade 8506 series instead -- which I do trust (especially since with only 4 drives, I'd probably create a RAID-10 volume), and only default to the 9550SX because most customers want RAID-5.
The Sun Fire x2100 looks to be in about the same ballpark features & price wise, though I admit I did not look that close into the specs.
Any opinions on this box?
Paul
On Tue, 2005-11-22 at 20:52 -0600, Paul wrote:
The Sun Fire x2100 looks to be in about the same ballpark features & price wise, though I admit I did not look that close into the specs.
The SunFire x2100 uses the nForce4 Ultra -- a desktop chipset! _No_ PCI-X and only PCIe. It's definitely _not_ a server chipset. Especially it's GbE -- it has only a very small SRAM cache.
For servers, nVidia promotes its nForce Pro 2200 with optional nForce Pro 2050, which has more server GbE and other features. And even then, you have to add the AMD8131 (or 8132) to get PCI-X.
[ I haven't researched what "base" chipset the x4100/4200 use (nForce Pro 2200?), but it's clear the x4100 uses at least 1 AMD813x for its PCI-X, and the x4200 uses 2. ]
The ServerWorks HT1000 is the only single-chip solution that offers PCI- X, at just a little higher price-point than the nForce4, while cheaper than the PCI-X-less nForce Pro. It also has Broadcom's dual-integrated server GbE ports with 96KiB SRAM cache each. This results in a price- point around $200 in a server-quality mainboard.
The HT1000 can also add the HT2000, which adds both PCIe as well as a 2nd PCI-X channel. No AMD8131 (or 8132) required. You'll typically only find the HT1000+HT2000 combo on dual or quad setups, just like the nForce Pro 2200 with optional Pro 2050 and/or AMD8131 (or AMD8132) for PCI-X.
If you are not familiar with who ServerWorks is (now owned by Broadcom), understand they basically _designed_ the Intel E7500 series of chipsets (as well as the E7200). Intel has never designed good server chipsets, and most everyone used the ServerWorks ServerSet III for P3, and the ServerSet IV prior to Intel's license resulting in the 7500 (and 7200).
ServerWorks was originally Reliance Computer Corporation (RCC). Before entering the retail circuit in the ServerSet III, they designed/licensed most of the Tier-1 chipsets for 2 and 4-way Pentium Pro and Pentium II systems.
Any opinions on this box?
On Tue, 2005-11-22 at 23:14 -0500, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
[ I haven't researched what "base" chipset the x4100/4200 use (nForce Pro 2200?), but it's clear the x4100 uses at least 1 AMD813x for its PCI-X, and the x4200 uses 2. ]
Scratch that, it looks like the x4100/4200 are merely relying on an age- old AMD8111 for the legacy PC functionality. I.e., they still have USB1.1/OHCI ports.
Sun could have done a lot better job IMHO.
On Tue, 2005-11-22 at 23:14 -0500, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
On Tue, 2005-11-22 at 20:52 -0600, Paul wrote:
The Sun Fire x2100 looks to be in about the same ballpark features & price wise, though I admit I did not look that close into the specs.
The SunFire x2100 uses the nForce4 Ultra -- a desktop chipset! _No_ PCI-X and only PCIe. It's definitely _not_ a server chipset. Especially it's GbE -- it has only a very small SRAM cache.
<SNIP>
ServerWorks was originally Reliance Computer Corporation (RCC). Before entering the retail circuit in the ServerSet III, they designed/licensed most of the Tier-1 chipsets for 2 and 4-way Pentium Pro and Pentium II systems.
I looked on Sun's website at the specs for the server and it did not mention the chipset it used. I thought since it featured PCIe rather than PCI-X for it's expansion slot it might be a desktop/workstation chipset.
Thanks for the info, that scratches that off the list. The one that started the thread looks interesting.
Shame nobody makes a 1U with 3Ware embedded on the board (that I'm aware of).
Regards, Paul
<snip>
Thanks for the info, that scratches that off the list. The one that started the thread looks interesting.
Unfortunately, you can't get one until mid to late December. They are offering a new mobo with the Monarch 8114-TR2. The new board will not be available from the manufacturer until then....assuming they do not delay it in the mean time :-(
On Wed, 2005-11-23 at 19:41 -0800, Ed Morrison wrote:
Unfortunately, you can't get one until mid to late December. They are offering a new mobo with the Monarch 8114-TR2. The new board will not be available from the manufacturer until then....assuming they do not delay it in the mean time :-(
Something wrong with the current SuperMicro mainboard?
Bryan J. Smith wrote:
On Wed, 2005-11-23 at 19:41 -0800, Ed Morrison wrote:
Unfortunately, you can't get one until mid to late December. They are offering a new mobo with the Monarch 8114-TR2. The new board will not be available from the manufacturer until then....assuming they do not delay it in the mean time :-(
Something wrong with the current SuperMicro mainboard?
Not that I am aware of. I needed my box configured with 4 sata drives w/ 3Ware hardware RAID in a 1U unit. The only mobo they could use is the new one. I could move up to a 2U unit but it is more $ than I want to pay.
On Wed, 2005-11-23 at 19:41 -0800, Ed Morrison wrote:
<snip>
Thanks for the info, that scratches that off the list. The one that started the thread looks interesting.
Unfortunately, you can't get one until mid to late December. They are offering a new mobo with the Monarch 8114-TR2. The new board will not be available from the manufacturer until then....assuming they do not delay it in the mean time :-(
Not a problem ... Won't be getting anything till Q1 '06 anyways.
I will be happy to replace the old recycled desktops we've been using as servers.
Paul
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Bryan J. Smith -
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Paul