Help me select hardware and software options for very large server

[Bob Bishop]

Hi,

On 24 Jan 2009, at 02:30, Terry Kennedy wrote:

> [...]
> o Motherboard - Intel S5000PSLSATAR
> o CPU - 2x Intel Xeon E5450 BX80574E5450P

We're using plenty of the closely related S5000PAL m/b with various  
Xeons and we're very happy with them.

> p Remote management - Intel Remote Management Module 2 - AXXRM2


We tried this and decided it's not worth having (vs the piggybacked  
IPMI on that m/b). We found that RMM's power control sometimes doesn't  
work (usually when you need it!). Also it's very tricky indeed to use  
down an ssh tunnel. OTOH if you need the remote device functionality  
there's not really any alternative.

Can't comment to the rest of your list, except that ZFS is definitely  
the way to go.

--
Bob Bishop
rb at gid.co.uk