jerry1234
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Hello,
I've been maintaining my own Linux server for approximately umpteen years. I try to update it once every couple of years. The last update was painful, because I had not touched it for at least four years, and I had forgotten half of the stuff I did, where the config files were, etc. But got through it. Installed Slackware on a little Dell desktop, latest Perl, latest Apache etc etc etc.
Right now, it would be easy to upgrade again, because I relearned everything and it's fresh. The other day, I got to thinking - one thing I have always wanted in a server was ECC RAM. I don't exactly lay awake at night thinking about cosmic rays messing up my business data, but it's a concern.
Once upon a time, ECC ram was an option with ordinary clone motherboards ( back when they were called PC Clones ). That was then. Nowadays, all the CPUs have memory controllers built into them, and the ordinary desktop ones have no ECC support. Because PC innovation is driven by gamers, and gamers could care less if their PCs drop a bit or two in the middle of the night.
So I started poking around to see what's available in server CPUs and motherboards. Hmm, this Intel E3 lineup looks real interesting - like a I7 only no GPU? At one fifth the price? Very cool. Started making up spreadsheets - adding it all up - CPU, motherboard, quality case, etc etc. About a grand.
Then I stumbled on the Dell T110 II - wow, that's pretty much the exact machine I was thinking of, and I don't have to bolt it together! $950 dollars
later, I have one of these bad boys winging its way to me. Bought it on Ebay because ( I think ) the seller has it already assembled, and I don't have to wait the 2 weeks for Dell to build it.
The Ebay deal came without disks, so I ordered a pair of WD blacks from Newegg. I am thinking seriously about SSD's, but every single SSD I looked at has some non-zero percentage of people getting BSODs and random failures. So despite the speed, I think I'll just use hard disks. SSDs can wait till the next server upgrade, by which time they will be more mature.
In general, I like to use one disk for the system stuff, and another one
for the user data. Possibly put the swap on the "user data" one. Aiming
for the ability to do common things at the same time, and minimize disk thrashing. So if an executable in /bin or /usr/bin uses a library in /lib or /usr/lib, then you can get some parallelism if the bin stuff is in one disk and the lib stuff in another. Etc. Of course, it's possible to overthink all of this.
If I did use an SSD, I would arrange it to hold directories that didn't change much. /bin, /usr/bin, /lib /usr/lib, /usr/local/lib, etc. These directories contain the binaries that run the system, and mostly you just read them a lot. Volatile directories like /var and /home would definitely go
on hard disk.
The ebay deal came with 8 gigs of ECC DRAM, which isn't a whole lot by modern standards. They offered an upgrade to 16 for $200. I passed on that because I'm pretty sure I can score 16 gigs of unbuffered ECC on the open market for more like $100. The world of RAM moves fast!
I've been maintaining my own Linux server for approximately umpteen years. I try to update it once every couple of years. The last update was painful, because I had not touched it for at least four years, and I had forgotten half of the stuff I did, where the config files were, etc. But got through it. Installed Slackware on a little Dell desktop, latest Perl, latest Apache etc etc etc.
Right now, it would be easy to upgrade again, because I relearned everything and it's fresh. The other day, I got to thinking - one thing I have always wanted in a server was ECC RAM. I don't exactly lay awake at night thinking about cosmic rays messing up my business data, but it's a concern.
Once upon a time, ECC ram was an option with ordinary clone motherboards ( back when they were called PC Clones ). That was then. Nowadays, all the CPUs have memory controllers built into them, and the ordinary desktop ones have no ECC support. Because PC innovation is driven by gamers, and gamers could care less if their PCs drop a bit or two in the middle of the night.
So I started poking around to see what's available in server CPUs and motherboards. Hmm, this Intel E3 lineup looks real interesting - like a I7 only no GPU? At one fifth the price? Very cool. Started making up spreadsheets - adding it all up - CPU, motherboard, quality case, etc etc. About a grand.
Then I stumbled on the Dell T110 II - wow, that's pretty much the exact machine I was thinking of, and I don't have to bolt it together! $950 dollars
later, I have one of these bad boys winging its way to me. Bought it on Ebay because ( I think ) the seller has it already assembled, and I don't have to wait the 2 weeks for Dell to build it.
The Ebay deal came without disks, so I ordered a pair of WD blacks from Newegg. I am thinking seriously about SSD's, but every single SSD I looked at has some non-zero percentage of people getting BSODs and random failures. So despite the speed, I think I'll just use hard disks. SSDs can wait till the next server upgrade, by which time they will be more mature.
In general, I like to use one disk for the system stuff, and another one
for the user data. Possibly put the swap on the "user data" one. Aiming
for the ability to do common things at the same time, and minimize disk thrashing. So if an executable in /bin or /usr/bin uses a library in /lib or /usr/lib, then you can get some parallelism if the bin stuff is in one disk and the lib stuff in another. Etc. Of course, it's possible to overthink all of this.
If I did use an SSD, I would arrange it to hold directories that didn't change much. /bin, /usr/bin, /lib /usr/lib, /usr/local/lib, etc. These directories contain the binaries that run the system, and mostly you just read them a lot. Volatile directories like /var and /home would definitely go
on hard disk.
The ebay deal came with 8 gigs of ECC DRAM, which isn't a whole lot by modern standards. They offered an upgrade to 16 for $200. I passed on that because I'm pretty sure I can score 16 gigs of unbuffered ECC on the open market for more like $100. The world of RAM moves fast!
