[juneau-lug] Re: JLUG Server

Update:

I played with the server over the weekend.  Getting it out of the garage an=
d=20
upstairs was a little tougher than I remembered -- after I got it to the=20
living room, I read the little sticker on the side that said the weight of=
=20
the server starts off at 93 pounds.  Each drive weighs about a pound, so al=
l=20
together it was about 99 pounds.  (Here I thought I was having trouble with=
=20
60 pounds!)  This isn't a server you want to put on the top shelf of a=20
Gorilla rack.

The drives appear fine from the limited amount of testing I could do with=20
them.  I am limited to looking at a rather limited RAID controller utility=
=20
from BIOS.  The RAID controller was set up for two partitions - a RAID 5 wi=
th=20
the existing drives, and a RAID 1 set up on the empty bays.  I brought the=
=20
machine back up to 6 drives, and configured a single RAID 5 (about 85GB in=
=20
total).

To boot a CD, I have to get to the BIOS.  Right now it will boot from flopp=
y=20
or the drive array only.

These old Compaq servers should have an SMS partition on the drives with to=
ols=20
to actually get to the BIOS, which was not there.  (Probably the OS and=20
service partition was on the missing drives from the array.)  Compaq has a=
=20
tool to set up floppy disks to install this stuff, but as usual it's not ju=
st=20
a zip file or tarball but a Windows executable that uncompresses things and=
=20
writes them to disk.  I do have two Windows machines available at home, bot=
h=20
of which are Windows XP Service Pack 2 with all patches.  Too bad, that.  T=
he=20
Compaq utility won't work on XP, even in compatibility mode, because of the=
=20
way it wants to create the floppies.  So I need to find a Win9x or perhaps=
=20
Win2k box to create the floppies.

=46rom there I can restore the SMS partition before putting an OS on it.  (=
Yes,=20
I can get the floppy images for Debian Etch easily, but I'd prefer a fully=
=20
functional server with a working "F10" key before installing the OS.)

Once I can boot from CD I'll run it through memtest86+, a thorough test of =
the=20
RAID array, and put the base OS on it.
------------------------------------
The Juneau Linux Users Group -- http://www.juneau-lug.org
This is the Juneau-LUG mailing list.
To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to juneau-lug-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the 
word unsubscribe in the subject header.

Other related posts: