[balug-talk] Recommendations for 1U linux server

[Michael T. Halligan]

Milan,

On the low end, I highly recommend the HP DL145 G2.  We have about 100 
of them right now.  The cost is
great ($1249 on CDW to begin with), and HP's support has been awesome. 
If you have a component fail, you
call up, and tell them, you get a replacement the next day (two-three 
days if you don't get NBD support).

The main thing about this server is it has a decent built-in LOM that 
gives you remote console.  You just telnet
or ssh into the LOM, and get a full ansi remote console, including BIOS 
access (once you've configured redirection
in the BIOS). You can control the server via the lom as well, doing 
reboots, grabbing information from sensors,
etc.. Or you can monitor and "manage" it with IPMI.  Unlike most low-end 
servers that use IPMI and have no real
remote console, this one actually works.

I can only think of two negative bits about this server. The drives 
aren't hot swap, so if you have a drive fail
you have to actually pull it out of the rack, and take the top off. 
Also, the SATA controller kind of sucks, so you
either might want to spring for the hardware raid,  or at the very least 
make sure the kernel you're using is newer than
2.6.9, because before then the sata driver was horribly broken.

Michael
> Howdy Folks,
>
> I'm planning on installing a new 1U in a colo and was wondering what's
> a good piece of hardware that has parts easy to replace and preferably
> not too expensive.  I'm planning to use it for a db driven website
> that will probably endure some heavy load.  So I'm thinking 4G of mem
> with a decent proc, raided drives and running Debian.
>
> Please let me know if you have good experience with any particular hw
> vendor or 1U boxes for that matter.
>
> Thanks!
>
>