This is the first guide in a new category called Servers on a budget.
The aim of these articles is to help do it yourselfers build /
configure servers at a reduced cost over retail.
The first server on a budget is a high performance web server. This
server will support a large load and has substantial disk space for
shared hosting, or for large disk requirements. There are several
additional upgrades that can be used to further increase performance,
namely using SCSI or SAS drives. The configuration listed below
represents a quality price/performance level that will be sufficient for
most hosting requirements.
Hardware |
||||
| Qty | Part | Total Cost | Cheaper Alternative | Better Alternative |
| 1 | Tyan Tempest i5100X (S5375) Motherboard | $320 | Tempest i5400PW (S5397) | |
| 2 | Intel E5410 Quad Core Processors | $500 | E5310 Processors | E5440+ Processors |
| 1 | Areca ARC-1120 8 Port SATA Controller | $410 | Areca ARC-1110 4 Port SATA Controller | Areca ARC-1680 8 Port SAS Controller |
| 8 | WD RE3 1TB SATA Hard Drives | $1280 | 4 or 8 Seagate 1Tb or Lower SATA HD’s | Seagate 10K or 15K SAS Drives |
| 4 | 4GB DDR2 667Mhz ECC Registered RAM (16GB Total) | $650 | 8GB DDR2 667Mhz ECC Registered RAM | 32GB RAM, 64GB for i5400PW Motherboard |
| 1 | 4U ATX Server Case w/600w Power Supply | $200 – $300 | Supermicro or other Hot Swap SATA w/redundant power supply | |
| Total: | ~$3500 w/shipping | |||
If you were to go the SAS route instead of the SATA route which would
greatly increase your database performance, you would be looking at
about a $1500 to $2500 increase in price. You could easily save $500 or
more by using smaller drives and reducing the RAM.
I don’t recommend using any lower performance CPU’s than the E5410′s.
The 5405′s are lacking some of the features that 5410′s and up have.
The 5410′s come in at a solid price and are very high performance CPU’s.
In the end with this above hardware, you end up with a very fast, and
scalable server. It will have a 7.1TB RAID 5 array, or a 4TB RAID 10
array, and up to 32Gb or RAM. This server requires paired RAM and I
always recommend getting the largest capacity RAM sticks available – 4GB
in this case. 4GB sticks are reasonable priced at about $150 each. The
Tempest i5400PW motherboard supports 64Gb of RAM using 4GB sticks. The
Tempest i5400PW makes a fantastic dedicated database motherboard because
it has 16 RAM slots.
For about $200 – $300 more, you can upgrade to a hot-swap server
case. This will definitely make a more professional server and will be
easier to manage hard drive failures and replacement. Supermicro and
iStarUSA both make some really nice 8 bay SATA hot swap cases starting
at about $350.
Green IT:
This is a reasonable Green server. It would be easy to reduce power consumption by using L54** series processors instead of E54** processors. Both motherboards listed above support the lower power L series processors. A very efficient power supply and high-efficiency hard drives would further reduce power consumption.
This is a reasonable Green server. It would be easy to reduce power consumption by using L54** series processors instead of E54** processors. Both motherboards listed above support the lower power L series processors. A very efficient power supply and high-efficiency hard drives would further reduce power consumption.
Comparable prices from mainstream manufacturers:
Dell: ~$6000 – $10000
HP: ~$7000 – $12000
IBM: ~$10000+
SUN: ~$10000+
Dell: ~$6000 – $10000
HP: ~$7000 – $12000
IBM: ~$10000+
SUN: ~$10000+
It would be extremely difficult to find a new server for anywhere
near the price of building this. Alternatively ASUS and Supermicro make
some comparable motherboards in the same price range. I personally
prefer Tyan boards, as they have always been extremely reliable for me.
Finding the parts:
All of the prices quoted above are for new components found by shopping around eBay and by using Google’s product search. You can probably find many of the hardware above refurbished or lightly used. Make sure in any case that you are buying from a reputable seller/company and that you get a valid warranty on everything, especially the hard drives!
All of the prices quoted above are for new components found by shopping around eBay and by using Google’s product search. You can probably find many of the hardware above refurbished or lightly used. Make sure in any case that you are buying from a reputable seller/company and that you get a valid warranty on everything, especially the hard drives!
Software:
This server is capable of running a variety of operating systems. For a web server, I recommend CentOS 5.x x64. It would also work well with another x64 Linux enterprise build, SUN Solaris x64, or Windows Server 2003 or 2012 x64. Whatever operating system you decide on using, make sure to use a 64 bit system, and make sure it supports the amount of RAM you plan on using. Some Windows Server OS’s restrict the amount of RAM the system will recognize.
This server is capable of running a variety of operating systems. For a web server, I recommend CentOS 5.x x64. It would also work well with another x64 Linux enterprise build, SUN Solaris x64, or Windows Server 2003 or 2012 x64. Whatever operating system you decide on using, make sure to use a 64 bit system, and make sure it supports the amount of RAM you plan on using. Some Windows Server OS’s restrict the amount of RAM the system will recognize.
