DIY server purchase talk

With the popularity of various related accessories and technologies, there are already many enterprises and individual users in the DIY server. This market is obviously growing, but there are also many ambiguities that cause disputes. Some users accuse the JS group of PCs when the server sells, some are unable to solve the problem, it takes time and energy, some of them are poor performance of DIY, and then misunderstand that the server can not DIY, etc., here are some explanations.

First of all, the concept of "server" is very unclear. From the application point of view, from the software point of view, the hardware device equipped with the server software can be called the server, you have to be willing to put the old 586 ( Even 486) installed a linux (or WINNT), use it as a file server, which can also be called "server". Of course, such performance is not good, but how good is the performance of the server? There is no way to quantify this, nor does it have this standard.

So what we are talking about at the moment is the high-end computer that has a good performance and can provide various service functions. But the performance is not intuitive, so if you get a long and large chassis (the front panel of the chassis also has a lock), it looks cool, even if you have an ordinary PC motherboard inside, I am afraid it will collapse. Blockbuster.

From the perspective of industry division, servers are generally divided into RISC architecture and IA architecture. Because RISC architecture servers are rarely familiar to professionals, there is currently no way to DIY, so it is not discussed here. The IA architecture is Intel architecture. In fact, AMD has similar products, so now the IA architecture server is called PC server.

Since it is a PC server, it is inevitable to get some water mixed with the PC. The hardware has a similar place with the PC from that aspect, but there are still some places that can be used to distinguish it.

The first is the motherboard chipset, chipset manufacturers will define the product in the server or PC, Intel is very clear definition, such as I865PE is a PC, E7320 is a server. The motherboard manufacturers also basically follow this to define the product, so there will be a PC motherboard and server motherboard, the motherboard industry leader ASUS is very clear, such as P5P800 (I865PE chipset) is PC motherboard, NCLV-D (E7320 The chipset) is the server motherboard, which is completely 2 product lines. The main impact on the system is mainly the motherboard, DIY server, of course, first of all to find a suitable "server motherboard".

The second is the CPU, in fact, the motherboard is basically the CPU will be fixed, the current PC server is mainly used Intel's P4 or XEON. AMD also has a total amount of gaps with Intel, but OPTERON's outstanding performance may bring a lot of pressure to Intel. So if you use Celeron or Sempron to do the server CPU, this is a bit unreasonable.

The third is memory, memory is generally divided into ordinary memory (that is, ordinary PC memory), ECC memory and Registered ECC memory, the latter two are server-specific memory, the price is higher than ordinary memory. Especially for Registered ECC, basically high-end servers can only use this kind of memory, and others will not light up. ECC memory and ordinary memory are not much different, basically most high-end PC motherboards will support ECC memory (but absolutely does not support Registered ECC), ordinary households do not need to use ECC memory, which is good for stability but no improvement in performance . The server is preferably equipped with ECC or Registered ECC memory.
The fourth is the hard disk, before the SATA, the server hard disk is also the SCSI hard disk, indeed the SCSI hard disk performance is very good, even ordinary households can feel it, you use the ordinary IDE hard disk, no matter how high-end CPU memory, while running ten A few programs will crash or the hard drive will react very slowly, but with a SCSI hard drive it is likely to be fine, at least a few more windows to die. Therefore, the high-end server will only use SCSI hard disk. Now the difference between SATA hard disk and IDE is about 100. It should be no need to use IDE hard disk again. For example, now ASUS mainstream server motherboards have at least 2 SATA interfaces, can do RAID0, 1, some can even get up to 6 SATA hard drives, do 2 sets of RAID, and this year there will be SATAII, SATA RAID5 new technology available, I believe Whether in the low-end or mid-to-high end, this year's SATA hard drive will be a big hit, there should be no need to use the IDE hard drive to DIY server. Moreover, the new motherboard IDE interface is reduced to one, that is, only supports up to two IDE devices, which is obviously reserved for the optical drive or the recorder.

The fifth is the expansion slot. It is also very important to have a PCI-X slot or a PCI-E slot. If the server wants an external card device, of course, it is hoped to have a high-speed interface, 32-bit. PCI is usually not enough, and current PC motherboards basically do not provide PCI-X or PCI-E slots (except PCI-E graphics slots). Of course, if there is no need for external devices, this can be ignored, but the general server motherboard will have at least one PCI-X slot.

The sixth is the power supply. The power specification of the dual CPU is SSI. There are many differences between ATX and ATX. The SSI on the interface is 24 pins + 8 pins, and the ATX is 20 pins + 4 pins. SSI is the standard for server power supply, which can provide more power. The biggest thing that can be seen in the DIY market is 800W. The common ones are 400W, 450W, 500W and so on. Even at the same power, the SSI standard power supply can output higher quality current. And SSI can provide redundancy. Power is really important, poor power not only affects system performance, but even harmful to human health. The server board of Dachang usually has requirements for the power supply. For example, the ASUS NCCH-DL supports two Nocona CPUs. Considering that Nocona has high power requirements, if the external power quality of NCCH-DL is lower than a certain standard, Point is not bright, not the quality of the motherboard, but the design consideration of less than 400W will obviously affect the stability of the system operation, rather than barely, it is better to set the standard in advance, so as not to lose the data when the system is unstable. Invaluable ah) can not be drawn, which also to some extent to avoid JS rushing to deceive users.

The seventh is the chassis. If it is a DIY rack-mounted 1U server, the chassis is very important because of the heat dissipation problem. The poor quality chassis will even make the motherboard sound bright. The author encountered several motherboards that were okay before being loaded into the chassis. It was hard to live in the chassis, and it was good to take it out. It would be no problem to replace the better quality chassis. Although the tower is not as elegant as the rack, it is always true that you choose a solid material. Fortunately, the chassis is still relatively intuitive, use the method of buying watermelon to smash the weight, look at the color, knock on the shell to listen to the movement, the layman can also see the doorway.

According to these points to do the DIY server program, and purchased the products of the big factory and fortunately encountered a JS that is not too J, the quality and performance should be said to be very close to the brand server, and generally Server accessories include motherboard, CPU, memory, etc., Failrate (non-performing rate) is generally very low, most of them are software problems or improper installation, so there is no need to have a "server can not DIY" concept.

Finally, the DIY server needs to pay attention to the chipset is designed for the server, the CPU can not be low-end home, the memory is ECC or Registered ECC, the hard disk is SCSI or SATA, there is PCI-X Or PCI-E slot, the chassis power quality is good. Of course, it is not necessary to fully satisfy. For example, the 875P chipset Intel is not defined as a server-specific one. It is used for high-end PCs, but as an entry-level server, it actually performs well. Asus uses the 875P chipset to design a dual-channel XEON motherboard PC-DL. It is only a professional E7505 product. Although the IDE hard disk is not fast, it can achieve large capacity at a lower price. If it is used as a data backup alone, it is also a cost-effective solution.

It is not necessary to satisfy all of the above 7 points, but if there is a solution for JS to give you a DIY server, the above one is not satisfied, and if you ask three sentences, are you sure? Are you sure? Have you changed? If you still don't change your face, then congratulations, this is really a good JS!