Re: server

[Al - image hosting services <azick%zickswebventures.com@localhost>]

Hi,

On Mon, 21 Apr 2008, Michael Lorenz wrote:
> Why don't you stick with a mac? Seriously, all the SGI boxes we
> support right now use SCSI disks, are rather limited regarding drive
> bays, and they tend to be power hogs.
> Comparing performance is a difficult issue - I have a 200MHz R5k and
> a 333MHz beige G3 here. Both have 1MB cache, but the R5K uses a
> 100MHz bus while the G3 uses 66MHz. In most ways the G3 is quite a
> bit faster, although the O2 wins in IO-related tasks ( Adaptec UW-
> SCSI vs. Heathrow IDE - the latter does only PIO4/DMA2 ) and has
> better onboard ethernet. Also, the O2 can take up to 1GB RAM but it's
> on proprietary modules. The fastest CPU module you can officially get
> for an R5k O2 runs at 350MHz, it would probably be roughly in the
> same ballpark as a G3 at the same clock speed, faster in floatpoint
> jobs.
> There are faster O2s with R10k, R12k etc. CPUs but these machines
> have only one drive bay because the CPU module needs room for active
> cooling.

My 450 mhz Rev. 2 G3 B&W has scsi. I tried using the Adaptec control that
it came with, but end up putting in an ATTO controller. I then put in 2 -
250 gig ide drives with Acard SCSI-to-IDE bridges.  I then had an intel
100mbit network card put into it, because I could not get it to transfer
enough data though the built-in port. But still even with the size of the
case I think there would be a problem to mount the drives where they are
supposed to go with the Acards attached. Also, this server costs me so
much to colo because of the size of the case. I may still look for a
rackmount chassis for it.

I bought a G4 1.33 ghz Xserve (slotload). Firstof all, it would not boot
with the generic kernel. After alot of messing around with it, I still had
an issue with extra interrupts from the IDE controller. I still have not
been able to make it work. I probably am going to sell it because I really
need the money.

I also have a problem with lighttpd with php (when built with fcgi-php
option). It seems to work on the i386 just fine, but I can't seem to make
it work right on the G3. I have another G3 here and I am going to try
netbooting it (there seems to be a lack of drives in my computers) with a
fresh install of NetBSD 4, to see if that fixes the problem. If that
doesn't work, then current, and then I will need to try a different
platform. I guess that I should put in a PR too (if I get to this point).

> Seriously, if you want a web server running NetBSD/non-x86 you're
> better off with a Sun or a Mac. Or maybe an alpha. Or a PReP box.
> Either can be quite a bit faster than what we support here, can take
> more than one CPU ( sparc64 SMP is -current only though ), tend to
> have more PCI slots ( you may want a SATA card for instance ) and so on.
> Of course all that would change if we could add support for newer SGI
> boxes - mostly a problem of getting the right hardware into the right
> hands.

I have a sun blade 100. I set it up to netboot and I tried running it that
way. I thought maybe I messed something up, but I re-did the untar'ing and
configuring. If I try to get it to compile anything it will lock up, it
doesn't even drop me into the debugger, it just stops. It also sometimes
kernel panics when it is booting up (I find this odd). I don't know if
there is a hardware problem or a kernel problem. I netbooted alot of other
computers - the G3, a Cobalt, a Sparc Station 20, and SuperMicro dual P3.
I never had this problem before, infact the SuperMicro seems more stable
being netbooted.

The truth is that I am getting a little bit frustrated. I had 2 kernel
panics in the same day with the G3 that I am using now. It has never
kernel panicked before. I really am worried that it has a hardware
problem, but it doesn't seem like I can build another server no matter
what I try. Someone told me to try a new super micro (with an AMD64), but
the experience that I have had with them has been so bad that I don't
think it is a good idea. I am open for suggestions, because I just don't
see a real good solution at this time.

Any help, would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks,
Al