[olug] OT: Looking for server hardware

[Greg Gerke]

Although if they're high school students that'd likely mean living at
home... thus no worries about power and cooling 'cause that's magically
free ;)

There's some things that you'll only get with server class hardware (fiber,
SAN, etc) but you'll be better off getting CentOS and doing some KVM type
work as virtualization is really the big thing these days. Getting good
with LVM (not just that specifically but the theory of how such storage
mgmt works) would also be a good move.

But the main thing is have fun with it and don't be afraid to destroy a few
dozen OS installs along the way.


On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 8:25 AM, Jason Troy <jason.troy at gmail.com> wrote:

> +1 to what Ben / others say.
> To some it may look like a desktop but it's what it is running that
> matters.
> The only benefit I can think of is the redundant power, etc ... But if
> Uptime doesn't matter you can get away with the random fan/power supply
> issue.
>
> I understand / respect wanting to learn / sink your teeth into the
> enterprise stuff. Hardware changes and you don't want be like a dog chasing
> is tail trying to keep up. You might consider an internship or positioning
> yourself at a company that has some of that equipment.
>
> Good luck / have fun
>  On Aug 24, 2014 8:07 AM, "Obi-Wan" <obiwan at jedi.com> wrote:
>
> > That's absolutely true.  Server class machines were made to live in a
> > server room where cooling is more important than noise.  The fans are
> > unbelievably loud and the machines use crazy amounts of electricity.  I'd
> > rather buy a new, efficient computer than use a free DL380 because the
> > total cost of ownership is higher for the latter over two years.  Also
> > remember that replacement parts are crazy expensive compared to
> > consumer-grade hardware.
> >
> > For context, I was the primary linux sysadmin for the Bryan hospital
> > system in Lincoln for several years.  I have a full-height rack in my
> > basement at home, and I've brought home many free servers after the
> > hospital decommissioned them.  I finally gave up that nonsense and got
> rid
> > of all my old dinosaurs.  My last server purchase was a tiny rackmount
> box
> > that's fanless, runs an Atom CPU and SSD drives, and costs almost nothing
> > to operate.  From a shell prompt, it's indistinguishable from the big
> > servers, but it's a lot cheaper to operate and more pleasant to sit near.
> >
> > On August 24, 2014 7:03:00 AM CDT, Greg Gerke <ggerke at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >Something you might want to keep in mind is that server class hardware
> > >tends to use more electricity and is much noisier than a
> > >desktop/laptop. If
> > >you're looking for the server class experience perhaps run a few CentOS
> > >virtual servers on a desktop...?
> >
> >
> > --
> > Ben "Obi-Wan" Hollingsworth, www.Jedi.com
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-- 
Greg Gerke
ggerke at gmail.com