January 2002 Archives

Rackmount Server

By Mike Tsao on January 6, 2002 10:40 AM |

Motivation

  • Inexpensive: I don't want to spend more than $700.
  • Excellent performance: it's going to be mostly just a web server, rather than a compute server, so the requirements are fairly low.
  • High-quality components: all name-brand.
  • Not expandable. The odds of being able to upgrade economically are probably very small, so I'm not willing to spend extra for expandability in the future.
  • Something I'd be proud to have built (no bolt cutters, duct tape, or homemade moving parts).

Components

Benchmarks

  • (coming soon)

Colocation

  • (coming soon)

Stuff I learned while building this server

  • The Intel D815EEA2LU seems like a perfect board for a rackmount server, but it doesn't fit in a 1U case. The audio riser is too high.
  • I bought the retail version of the Celeron because I wanted a fan with it, but the fan doesn't fit in a 1U case. So that was a waste of a couple of dollars.
  • It turns out that the Celeron 1.2GHz has an "integrated heat spreader" that plays more nicely with this particular board's built-in heat sink. Oh well.
  • I didn't bother with a floppy drive. I will probably regret it.
  • Pricewatch is pretty cool, but it doesn't list every company in the world, so it still pays to do a search or two on Google.
  • There are a couple of barebones 1U servers out there by well-known manufacturers, such as the Intel ISP1100 (here is one for sale) and the Supermicro 5010E, but they're just plain more expensive than building it yourself. I looked at the 5010E at Fry's Electronics and it didn't give me an impression of being high quality -- the stickers were put on crooked and it looked like it was all plastic.
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