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#! rnews 3387 bsd Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.cs.su.oz.au!metro!metro!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!news.ysu.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in2.uu.net!news.tacom.army.mil!reason.cdrom.com!usenet From: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@FreeBSD.org> Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Server hardware considerations.. Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 06:54:16 -0800 Organization: Walnut Creek CDROM Lines: 64 Message-ID: <3129E098.ABD322C@FreeBSD.org> References: <Pine.LNX.3.91.960219204849.14523A-100000@gallup.cia-g.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: time.cdrom.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.0 (X11; I; FreeBSD 2.1-STABLE i386) To: Stephen Fisher <lithium@cia-g.com> CC: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org Stephen Fisher wrote: > I've had bad luck with my hardware setup for Linux (I didn't buy the parts > specifically for Linux like I am going to do now) so I want a very robust > server to work with. I would like r of 10..20..30 days or more > unless I take it down voluntarily. Just FYI - I've made a list of the hardware which has worked properly for me, and you can find it at: http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/hw.html (along with what other generally useful hardware info we've managed to get written down). > CPU: 486DX4/133, I have a 486DX4/100 right now and am pleased except > when I started [my home 486dx4 and the server] I had terrible problems > with Segmentation faults, Signal 11, on Linux. It seems many people > had/have those problems, do they exist in FreeBSD? How much faster would > a Pentium 133 be? Is it worth it? Or maybe a totally different system. They can also exist under FreeBSD when you: a) Have bad cache RAM b) Have a flakey motherboard c) Are driving some component beyond its rated spec d) Are driving your AMD DX4 too fast (I saw a system that was instability incarnate until it was clocked down from 100Mhz to 75Mhz). Not that any of these are your problems, but I've personally seen all 4 result in flakey systems. > Bus: PCI most likely. I use VLB right now. Good move. VLB is to be avoided for a multitude of reasons. > RAM: 16 meg to start with, maybe 32, There aren't any special > considerations I should take when getting the RAM are there? Not so long as you get a PCI disk controller, no. > Mother Board: I've seen that ASUS MBs are very nice but their home pages > don't list prices which probably means they're high priced;) About how > much do they run? I am looking for mid-range robust hardware, nothing They're around $220, I think.. > cheap or specular. Any other MB types to look into? I've heard that Tyan motherboards are also noce. > SCSI Controller: Adaptec 2940/PCI. This appears to be a good mid-range > card, should I get fast/wide/or what.. Is there any difference that I > should keep in mind? I use an Adaptec 152x now. You might want to buy the "Ultra" version of this, which is ostensibly twice as fast, but it's a sound move to go with the Adaptec in any case. > Network: 3c509B. This is what I have now and it seems to be a very good > card. You're actually better off with a PCI ethernet card, just for general ease-of-use, but the 3C509 will also work. Good luck! -- - Jordan Hubbard President, FreeBSD Project