building an older server
ANdrei
arusan at gmx.net
Mon Aug 29 10:14:10 GMT 2005
hi.
I need some basic advice from people using a bit older hardware, as I want
to build a fairly simple server with FreeBSD.
sorry if these prove to be stupid or trivial questions, but as it's old
hardware I thought people might be using this (or used it) and can give some
useful advice about how real-life is nowadays. Most online resources are
with older software....
Main purpose will be hosting some websites, mailserver, fileserver, mysql
with not too heavy load, on a 1MBps connection. Now it is physically
impossible to get a network cable there, so I need 802.11g, which leads me
to using only FreeBSD 5.x or 6.x. I got my card working under 5.x using
ndisulator, with WEP 64bit (128bit doesn't seem to work, or I don't get the
idea how). I have to choose between TrendNet and D-Link cards using TI
chipsets (probably the same, afaik), and I tested the TrendNet successfully
as mentioned.
Who has experience with 6.x, can PSK be used, as WEP is not the best
alternative for a server, is it? And if yes, should I expect other issues
with the 6.x, as it's still beta... I would also need a basic management
tool for my wifi, is there anything out there? And if I should go for 6.x,
what branch should I go for (sorry, I'm totally new to 6.x, maybe this
question is stupid :) It's not a production server, but I don't want it to
fail too often, either...
The router supports PSK, and the server will be probably in the DMZ or set
up as a "Virtual PC" (seems to be a fancy name for a NAT :) and with port
forwarding, as I only need some ports (I have to decide if I will go for the
router hardware security or for ipfw)
second: I will be using an older motherboard, ABIT BP6 with two celerons
400MHz (suits my needs), who can point me on how to use the full
functionality of the onboard IDE RAID. It's a HighPoint HPT366, do I have
any tools for it, driver is ok and supported? Any issues? I could go for a
SIL3112 SATA, but this is just a waste of hardware considering the overall
performance of the end-system, so I'd rather use the onboard if there are no
big issues. Do I even have to recompile for support for this controller, or
can I install directly to it?
Oh, and I guess the dual processor config on this mobo is fully supported,
right? Anybody knowing a good tutorial on how to get the most out of this
old hardware? I'll probably go with the max of RAM, so I'd like to compile a
fast kernel also (I know how to do that, only asking if there are some
special options for these old procs, I never actually worked with dual proc
that old :)
last, do you think using a normal older SCSI controller (lets say Adaptec
AHA-2940 S76 Ultra-SCSI, or smtg else, I have a few lying around) with some
2GB Quantums can be a faster solution? can I do software RAID or smtg with
them, as I have a few of these disks, but the controllers are none RAID
controllers.
I'm only concerned for speed and security on one slice/partition, and 2-4GB
would be enough for it, so RAID 10 with 4 disks would work...
tks,
ANdrei
---
The problem with our world is stupidity. I'm not saying there should
be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the
safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?
More information about the freebsd-hardware
mailing list