hardware recommendations for linux fileserver

[juliancode]

Ive been put in charge of setting up a fileserver at for a small network of windows computers. we dont have a large amount of data , mostly just 4-5 websites, quickbooks data, and some mssql db backups. currently this shouldnt be more than 1-2gig. the network is a mixture of win2k , xp home, and xp pro machines, maybe 8 computers tops. i was just wondering what people would recommend as far as hardware goes, we are not a massive company so im looking to get this for 5-800 total. i obviously want reliable hardware compatible with linux (ill most likely be running gentoo on it) but would like to get something powerful enough that i can use it as a testbed for future projects. im thinking so far:

2 80gb hdds
raid 1
tape or dvdr drive - not really sure yet
gigabit nic (maybe 2)
1gb ram
athlon xp based
maybe rack mountable case (if so cheap rackmount)

am i forgetting anything? maybe some of the sysadmins have some experience they could lend. thanks a lot

[Zlash]

I'd buy a cheapo dell 400sc server and you'd at least have support with it.

[Snugglebear]

An Athlon is overkill. Servers are disk & network I/O limited, not CPU-limited.

[ciscokid454]

if it's for a business, I wouldn't not trust the data to be on two hdd's in a raid 0 array..
.002

[Snugglebear]

Hence the RAID1 mirror. I'm also glad he's looking for a backup solution; many forget that RAID isn't a backup, and if stupid-user syndrome strikes and someone deletes files or opens a virus that does, an array will happily thrash those files.

[Ice Czar]

not to mention pilot error :rolleyes:

which is how I lost my RAID5
luckly it was just personal data, not business
and over 80% backed up

as mentioned its the I\Os not the processing power
and the throughput has alot to do with the PCI slot choice
which inturn has alot to do with the CPU choice

as far as I know, there are no single processor AMD based mobos w\ 64bit 66MHz slots
but then you wouldnt be touching that kind of throughput with a single HDD or dual HDD RAID1 array

but if that might change in the future...
you have any estimate of what your access needs are?
and what they might grow to?

Single Gigabit NIC 100MB/s
Dual Gigabit NICs 200MB/s
single HDD or dual HDD RAID1 ATA 50MB/s > 30MB/s Sustained Transfer Rate (STR which is very unlikely to be the typical access) actually the array would be less do to overhead and depending on the controller
32bit 33MHz PCI slot 133MB/s
64bit 33MHz PCI slot 266MB/s (or 32bit 66MHz)
64bit 66MHz PCI slot 532MB/s

so you can see where the bottleneck would be
that can be addressed with RAID 0+1 (which means more drives\stripe width) and depending on that higher PCI thoughput
or
you really dont need dual Gigabit

some (SATA) RAID Benchmarks (with various numbers of drives and levels)
http://www.tweakers.net/reviews/400/10 server IOps
http://www.tweakers.net/reviews/400/7 STR MB/s