Server- The hardware

My new server consist of the following hardware:

• An old ATX midi-case (probably from around 2000)
• PSU: 450W (new)
• Lian Li EX-33B Internal hd-rack (new)
• Mainboard: MSI MS-6378 Ver:3 (Second hand)
• CPU: AMD Athlon XP 1600+ Socket A (old)
• Memory: 2x Apacer 256MB SDRAM PC133 CL2 (Second hand)
• Network interface: 3Com 3C905B 100BaseTX (old)
• Storage Controller Promise SATA 300 TX4 3Gb/s PCI (new)
• HD1 Western Digital WD1600YS SATA (new)
• HD2 Western Digital WD3200YS SATA (new)
• HD3 Western Digital WD3200YS SATA (new)

So, almost brand new actually. I was considering buying a LGA775 board with a Celeron CPU, but I went way over budget when I was having trouble with a previously mentioned Pentium III board. (I was also tired of opening and closing the case all the time)

This will do for the moment. If all goes well and none of the hardware malfunction, I won’t be upgrading for at least a couple of years. (But don’t be surprised if I do)

Ubuntu Server

Recently I got my server up and running, after months of to and from. I had an old computer with Pentium 233 MMX but I though that it might be a little on the weak side. I got a hold of an Pentium III board, but when I tried installing Ubuntu Server it just freezed on various points in the installation. And then it toasted the PSU and another after that. So no Pentium III! Tried with an old Socket A with Athlon +1600, Ubuntu install went smooth, but after restart I couldn’t boot to my “Promise SATA300 TX2plus” add-on card. So I bought a second-hand Socket A but still the same problem. But after booting with a “Super Grub” disk I found out that the Promise of some weird reason, switched the ID’s of the three HD’s around. So after some trials and errors I got it working!!

So for about a month I’ve got my server running.. ..and hopefully I’ll get around to writing more of my experience with my server..