Computer Surgery
[caption id="attachment_2026" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Inside of the case"]
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Moved into the new house. My Linux Fedora server did not like the move. I have never lost a server or data before, but it happens to us all eventually. I must qualify my server crash with this explanation. I have never lost production data on a server and this server was sort of an experiment since I was using it to test Fedora Core 14. Never the less it was an unexpected server crash.
I have forced Linux to work with software RAID on the past two ASUS main boards that I have used in this case. I have always said that someday I would purchase a hardware RAID card, but could never seem to afford to purchase one. Well this time I decided to bite the bullet and buy a mid range SATA RAID card that will do RAID6.
In the process of looking for parts to rebuild my hard disk system I also discovered that WalMart is expanding it's supply chain to include high end computer parts. Normally I use to go to a Fry's and buy my computer parts, but now that I am here in Albany, GA I find that I am doing more shopping online. It was a surprise to me to see that the RAID controller that I wanted to buy was available from WalMart with free shipping to the store near me. I am installing the Intel SRCSATAWB into my computer case. I am still going to keep main board number three purchased in 2007 for another upgrade.
[caption id="attachment_2028" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Intel RAID Controller SRCSATAAWB"]
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I also opted to upgrade the memory and bought 4GB additional memory so the total system is now at 8. When I bought the first 4GB about 4 years ago it coast me about $200, this time the memory cost $59. This is why I decided to keep the P5K Deluxe/WiFi-AP main board and spend the money on a $350 RAID controller. I can move the RAID controller to my next main board so it is an investment that will last.
I also purchased 4 one terabyte drives for $59 each. In 2007 I purchased 160GB drives for about $80 each. My original 160GB drives are no longer in my system. Over the years when a drive failed in my RAID 5 disk array I would send it back to Seagate for a replacement. The replacement drives cam back at a larger size than the original. When I had 4 drives that were 400 GB on a RAID5 seeing them as 160GB, I rebuild the array. My array that crashed had 5 500 GB drives. My current array uses two of these droves mirrored in RAID1 and the RAID 5 has the 4 one terabyte drives. I'll keep the extra drives as spares for my operating system RAID 1 array or I will use them as storage on another computer.
My RAID controller has eight ports and I am using 6 of them. I need two more power connectors for my power supply to add more disks. If I order the power leads I'll add another RAID1 array to the server and use it for disk logging for my database.
[caption id="attachment_2029" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Seagate one terabyte drive at 7200 RPM"]
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I am going to go back to using Centos 5.6 as an operating system. I am getting close to breaking down and paying for RedHat 6. I used RedHat when I first started using Linux way back in the early 1990s. I hear that CentOS is being exploited by big companies and that they are not supporting the CentOS community. RedHat is also going to stop CentOS from getting access to their software inovations. Since I want to have a stable server and I use RedHat at work I am considering having RedHat on my personal server so that I can continus my education on using Linux and stay with the same version at home as I do at work.
Right now I am stalling until my download of CentOS 5.6 complets so that I can install it on the server. Yeah, looks like it is finished. Next post will be from the server I hope.
[/caption]Moved into the new house. My Linux Fedora server did not like the move. I have never lost a server or data before, but it happens to us all eventually. I must qualify my server crash with this explanation. I have never lost production data on a server and this server was sort of an experiment since I was using it to test Fedora Core 14. Never the less it was an unexpected server crash.
I have forced Linux to work with software RAID on the past two ASUS main boards that I have used in this case. I have always said that someday I would purchase a hardware RAID card, but could never seem to afford to purchase one. Well this time I decided to bite the bullet and buy a mid range SATA RAID card that will do RAID6.
In the process of looking for parts to rebuild my hard disk system I also discovered that WalMart is expanding it's supply chain to include high end computer parts. Normally I use to go to a Fry's and buy my computer parts, but now that I am here in Albany, GA I find that I am doing more shopping online. It was a surprise to me to see that the RAID controller that I wanted to buy was available from WalMart with free shipping to the store near me. I am installing the Intel SRCSATAWB into my computer case. I am still going to keep main board number three purchased in 2007 for another upgrade.
[caption id="attachment_2028" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Intel RAID Controller SRCSATAAWB"]
[/caption]I also opted to upgrade the memory and bought 4GB additional memory so the total system is now at 8. When I bought the first 4GB about 4 years ago it coast me about $200, this time the memory cost $59. This is why I decided to keep the P5K Deluxe/WiFi-AP main board and spend the money on a $350 RAID controller. I can move the RAID controller to my next main board so it is an investment that will last.
I also purchased 4 one terabyte drives for $59 each. In 2007 I purchased 160GB drives for about $80 each. My original 160GB drives are no longer in my system. Over the years when a drive failed in my RAID 5 disk array I would send it back to Seagate for a replacement. The replacement drives cam back at a larger size than the original. When I had 4 drives that were 400 GB on a RAID5 seeing them as 160GB, I rebuild the array. My array that crashed had 5 500 GB drives. My current array uses two of these droves mirrored in RAID1 and the RAID 5 has the 4 one terabyte drives. I'll keep the extra drives as spares for my operating system RAID 1 array or I will use them as storage on another computer.
My RAID controller has eight ports and I am using 6 of them. I need two more power connectors for my power supply to add more disks. If I order the power leads I'll add another RAID1 array to the server and use it for disk logging for my database.
[caption id="attachment_2029" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Seagate one terabyte drive at 7200 RPM"]
[/caption]I am going to go back to using Centos 5.6 as an operating system. I am getting close to breaking down and paying for RedHat 6. I used RedHat when I first started using Linux way back in the early 1990s. I hear that CentOS is being exploited by big companies and that they are not supporting the CentOS community. RedHat is also going to stop CentOS from getting access to their software inovations. Since I want to have a stable server and I use RedHat at work I am considering having RedHat on my personal server so that I can continus my education on using Linux and stay with the same version at home as I do at work.
Right now I am stalling until my download of CentOS 5.6 complets so that I can install it on the server. Yeah, looks like it is finished. Next post will be from the server I hope.
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