[Leaplist] New machine build ....

Fri Jul 17 15:21:38 EDT 2009

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Actually, if you are going to buy a hardware RAID controller the Areca
cards are much better than 3Ware these days.  The drivers are better too.

Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> William wrote:  
>> .... I am fixin' to build a new machine at work, Intel i7 based,
>> 12 GB RAM, planning on CentOS 5.3 at the moment.
> 
> Don't forget about Red Hat's "equivalent" of MSDN for $99:  
>   http://www.redhat.com/developer_studio/  
> 
>   "Red Hat Enterprise Linux and RHN Access
>   JBoss Developer Studio includes access to Red Hat Enterprise
>   Linux, Linux development tools, and Red Hat Network for
>   development purposes. This enables developers both to build
>   applications directly for the industry-leading Red Hat
>   Enterprise Linux as well as to take advantage of features
>   like Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5's built-in virtualization for
>   development environments."
> 
> I assume you're not using it as a server, correct?  Just your
> workstation, correct?  If a server, then this really is _not_
> a server board IMPO ...
> 
>> The mbd (http://www.newegg.com/Product
>> /Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128374) has an onboard Intel
>> ICH10R south bridge, w/ onboard (F)RAID support.
> 
> If you're going to spend $250-300 on a mainboard with all sorts
> of PCIe x4, x8 and x16 slots, another $1,000+ on CPU + 12GiB
> of RAM (are you sure you can use 6 x 2GiB DDR3?  It may slow
> things down and 3 x 4GiB DDR3 is expensive right now), etc...
> why are you even thinking of considering using FRAID?
> 
> Add one of these 4x SAS/SATA, PCIe x8 cards and get real RAID:  
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816116065  
> 
> If you only have a free PCIe x4 slot (no x8-16), then the older
> 9650SE is an option that only requires an x4 (instead of the
> x8 needed for the 9690SA).
> 
> Are you honestly going to make use of all those PCIe x16 slots?
> If so, with what?
> 
>> If the boss sez OK, I'd like to use 4 X 2.5" 250 GB HDD's in
>> a RAID10 (RAID0 of 2 2X250 GB RAID1's) for the system disk.
> 
> Wait.  You're going to buy a full-size ATX board, but put in
> 5400-7200 2.5" drives?  Might as well get 7200rpm 3.5" drives
> for the DTR performance.  Unless, of course, you were going to
> buy 10-15,000rpm 2.5" SAS drives, and you'd want a SAS controller
> (like the 3Ware 9690SA).  The controller cost is nothing compared
> to disk cost there.
> 
> BTW, MicroATX versions of the X58 w/six (6) DDR3 slots start at $170:  
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200280+1388027177+1075707619&QksAutoSuggestion=&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Configurator=&Subcategory=280&description=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=  
> 
>> Questions:
>> 1. Will I need to setup the 4 disk RAID in the BIOS before
>> install, or can/will anaconda deal w/ that on the fly ?
> 
> This isn't an Anaconda/Linux detail.
> 
> You need to set the ICH10R in its "Fake RAID" mode.  Otherwise
> Anaconda will (rightly so) assume the disks are "as-is."
> When you enable that Fake RAID bit, then Anaconda detects it and
> recognizes that the disks need to be organized like the Fake RAID.
> 
> It's the BIOS bit that says whether the Fake RAID is used or not.
> I.e., it's Anaconda that "picks up the pieces" after the 16-bit
> BIOS routines end.  So it all depends on what the BIOS setup, and
> how the disks are organized as a result.
> 
> BTW, use only Fake RAID-0, 1 or 10, as the kernel only supports
> DMRAID-0, 1 and 10.  DMRAID-5 is not supported:  
> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=468649  
> 
> It's not even supported in upstream yet:  
> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=468649#c35  
> 
> There is also the issue that Intel changes little things with its
> ISW approach every revision, and it may not be supported in the
> kernel 2.6.18 backports of Red Hat Enterprise Linux Release 5
> (EL 5), possibly not even the latest Update 4 (EL 5.4) betas.
> It all depends.
> 
>> 2. Can/will anaconda deal w/ setting things up to boot from
>> that setup after install ?
> 
> If Anaconda sets it up, it will support it.  You just need to make
> sure the BIOS has the bit flipped, and that the specific Intel
> ICH10R and ISW revisions/firmware are supposed.  They make not
> in EL 5, possibly not even in 5.4.
> 
> Since you're already blowing all that money, add the 3Ware card.  ;)
> 
>> 3. Any other gotcha's :-) ?
> 
> Other than possibly going crazy on building an uber setup you don't
> need, I don't know.  These days I'm good with a $400-600 desktop or
> $800-1,200 17" notebook (and that's a seriously powerful, 3D notebook).
> But that's just me.  ;)
> 
> 
> 

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	Kevin Korb			Phone:    (407) 252-6853
	Systems Administrator		Internet:
	FutureQuest, Inc.		Kevin at FutureQuest.net  (work)
	Orlando, Florida		kmk at sanitarium.net (personal)
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