[CentOS] low end file server with h/w RAID - recommendations

[hw]

m.roth at 5-cent.us wrote:
> hw wrote:
>> Richard Zimmerman wrote:
>>> DO NOT buy the newer HPE DL20 gen9 or ML10 gen9 servers then (especially
>>> if using CentOS 6.x)
>>
>> What would you suggest as alternative, something from Dell?
>
> Yep, Dell's are good.

That´s good to hear.

> And I do *not* want to buy from HP, because their
> support is nothing like good.

Indeed, I wouldn´t buy HP new.  They don´t even give you a price for
a new battery for an UPS but tell you to open a ticket to get a price
and expect you to pay for opening the ticket, and they have finally
managed to completely mess up their web site so that you can´t find
anything anymore.

> And once you run out the warranty, they
> don't want to even let you get things like firmware updates. Dell will.

Yes, this is a really big problem which makes me look out for other
manufacturers.  I really like their hardware, but the manufacturer not
standing behind their product breaks the deal.

> Another company that's ok is ThinkMate, though their support ain't great,
> I think they're better than HP...oh, sorry, for a server, it'll be HPE
> (the company divided a year or two ago).

I´ve never heared of ThinkMate.

> If you get a Dell, and one of their PERC cards, you're getting a rebranded
> LSI, sorry, Avago, um, who bought it last? Those are good and reliable,
> not super expensive.

Those don´t work at all.  I had to return two of them because none of them
worked in any of the boards I tried them, and the smart arrays I replaced
them with work in the same boards.  Dell always had a reputation for making
incompatible hardware, and that experience proved it.

Maybe they work when you have Dell hardware, but I have none.