Comment Use desktop motherboards & cheap rack cases (Score 1) 447
I've repeatedly been dissappointed by server hardware for multiple reasons.
1. The hardware is nonstandard. OS's are more geared towards standard hardware. Having to boot with a custom or proprietary floppy or CD to be able to read a hard drive isn't fun.
2. The hardware isn't available for very long, making replacement a support headache. [I.E. by the time you need it, it's not available or very expensive.]
3. Server hardware is expensive, and usually comes with features you never use
4. Proprietary drivers for special hardware often suck more than the open-source counterparts that are first made for desktop hardware
As such, I stick with desktop motherboards + processors.
My favorite way to choose hardware is to download the Linux kernel source from kernel.org (because I'm going to make custom kernel anyway, lets face it) and look through the driver list to see what hardware is supported. This has repeatedly worked out well compared to simply looking at catalogs and the thinking of "oh don't worry -- it'll work."
For rackmount cases I like Circotech http://www.circotech.com/
If you really need small hardware, though, another favorite is the OpenBrick http://www.openbrick.org/. This is a favorite for firewalls or intrusion detection devices with a flash card as a hard disk. [I haven't used one as a real server with a laptop hard drive yet.]
1. The hardware is nonstandard. OS's are more geared towards standard hardware. Having to boot with a custom or proprietary floppy or CD to be able to read a hard drive isn't fun.
2. The hardware isn't available for very long, making replacement a support headache. [I.E. by the time you need it, it's not available or very expensive.]
3. Server hardware is expensive, and usually comes with features you never use
4. Proprietary drivers for special hardware often suck more than the open-source counterparts that are first made for desktop hardware
As such, I stick with desktop motherboards + processors.
My favorite way to choose hardware is to download the Linux kernel source from kernel.org (because I'm going to make custom kernel anyway, lets face it) and look through the driver list to see what hardware is supported. This has repeatedly worked out well compared to simply looking at catalogs and the thinking of "oh don't worry -- it'll work."
For rackmount cases I like Circotech http://www.circotech.com/
If you really need small hardware, though, another favorite is the OpenBrick http://www.openbrick.org/. This is a favorite for firewalls or intrusion detection devices with a flash card as a hard disk. [I haven't used one as a real server with a laptop hard drive yet.]
