[svlug] Hardware for a new server

[Aaron Porter]

On Wed, Feb 6, 2013 at 6:27 PM, Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:
> So, let me back up and try something smaller in scope.  I'm hoping that
> not _everyone_ is still either running on hardware from the turn of the
> milennium or outsourced to somebody else's hosted hardware.  Right?
> There must be a _few_ people running Linux around here, and not just on
> laptops.  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?

Cheap, fast Supermicro 1U in a Colo, ~8 year old VIA Esther in the garage.

> Bad idea?  (Should I stick to 3.5" drives for my RAID1 storage?)

Few thousand 2.5" spindles at work... Buying lots of drives has
convinced me that *all* drive mfgrs suck. There are some pretty good
"enterprise" 2.5" disks out there that are not too expensive
(especially if you assume a 5+ year lifespan). I'd avoid laptop drives
for anything you intend to keep running 24/7. Had good luck with
WD5000BPKT, wouldn't add *too* much to your power budget. Never had to
deal with eSATA. If it were my project, I'd probably head more in this
direction:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/1U/5017/SYS-5017A-EF.cfm