Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 07:33:34 -0500
Reply-To: Marshall Ruskin <mruskin@PANGEA.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Marshall Ruskin <mruskin@PANGEA.CA>
Subject: Re: Gerry is ill - suggestions for a server upgrade
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Hi David:
I'd suggest the following improvements to your system:
3 HD's
scsi RAID controller card.
My new 256 MB system has this, and it makes a HUGE difference in speed,
(twice as fast, easily) compared to other system that has twice the ram (has
512 MB, no raid5) and same CPU (450 MH PII). Plus, it's raid 5. Should have
drive cooling fans, too.
Disadvantage: aprox $500 dollars CDN RETAIL for the raid card;
Advantage: Better utilization of disk space (66% utilizable for raid5 VS 50%
utilizable for mirroring).
+ HOT Swapable, if you put drives in drawers.
What do you think?
Marshall Ruskin, MCSE
84 Westy (which I'm prouder of!)
-----Original Message-----
From: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Friday, May 21, 1999 1:05 AM
Subject: Gerry is ill - suggestions for a server upgrade
Vanagon List Members
As you know from time to time our beloved server we call Gerry takes a
nosedive and crashes with an "Out of virtual memory" error. We have also
noted that every time we do a web based search it takes a long time to come
up with results and sometimes times out. Not enough RAM causes these
problems. Currently Gerry has 64MB and a virtual swap file minimum of 75MB
with a maximum of 512MB.
Another problem with Gerry is there is only 1 hard drive in the system.
Although I do backups of the server this should not be considered good
enough in the event of a fatal drive error. We need disk mirroring so one
drive can fail and the system will keep on ticking until we can get a
replacement. I have worked closely with Marshall Ruskin who is also a
Windows NT expert and we both agree that Gerry needs a lot more RAM to be
happy and RAID1 hard drive array are common practice in today's servers.
I work at a computer store by day where I design all sorts of networks and
various types of computer systems. I am a firm believer that quality
should not be an after thought. Using my staff discount I have come up
with the following pricing for a new server. This server uses very good
quality components that leave plenty of room for future upgrades if we need
them (unlike the current HP Vectra that we are using).
Touch Server System - http://www.touch-systems.ca
· En-Light mid tower case with 230W power supply
· Asus P2B-DS ATX style mainboard (Intel 440 BX, Adaptec 2890 Chipsets)
· Built in Ultra 2 Wide SCSI controller
· Pentium II 350MHz CPU (upgradeable to dual CPU for $325)
· Qty 4 - 128MBMB (total of 512MB) of PC-100 SDRAM
· Qty 2 - Fujitsu 4.55GB Ultra Wide SCSI Hard Drives in RAID 1 array
· Mitsumi 1.44MB (3.5") Floppy Drive
· Asus 40X IDE CD-ROM Drive
· S3 Trio 3D 2X AGP Video Adapter with 4MB
· D-Link 10/100Mbps Network Adapter
· 3 Year Hardware
System price: $2650 CAD or aprox $1800 USD
Please ponder over the above specs and let's "vote" on a good solution to
our not so reliable current server. I look forward to your comments and
suggestions.
PS. If Gerry goes down again - someone please email me at
david@abccom.bc.ca so I can reboot the damn thing that same day!
-- David Marshall - Vanagon List Admin - Quesnel, BC, Canada --
-- 78 VW Rabbit, 80 VW Caddy, 84 VW Westie, 85 VW Cabriolet --
-- 87 Audi 5000 Quattro, 88 2.0L VW Syncro Double Cab --
-- David's Volkswagen Home Page http://www.volkswagen.org --
-- Fast Forward Autobahn Sport Tuning http://www.fastforward.ca --
-- david@volkswagen.org (pmail) or vanagon@volkswagen.org (list) --
