[juneau-lug] Re: JLUG Server
- From: James Zuelow <e5z8652@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: juneau-lug@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 2 Jan 2007 06:58:36 -0900
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.
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