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Server state between February 2008 and November 2008

This is what the server currently looks like.
This is what the server currently looks like.

Contents

About this upgrade

After the forced downgrade of October 2007, my data became scattered and in serious risk of loss. I don't like that.

Before upgrade: flimsy PSU and only one disk.
Before upgrade: flimsy PSU and only one disk.
Before upgrade: all parts fitted.
Before upgrade: all parts fitted.

And I still did not know when I would be able to ship the Chenbro box (from the old server still in Portugal), so I could not keep waiting.
I gathered a few extra bits and pieces and got my hands dirty to overhaul my server and gain some reliability and flexibility back. I needed the following:

Chassis with moherboard, CPU and RAM.
Chassis with moherboard, CPU and RAM.

I brought my 2x80G PATA and 2x200G SATA disks from Portugal and one IDE-ATA controller, ordered a new power supply and usb-serial cable from ebuyer.co.uk and got another 4 port SATA controller from ebay.

All new/semi-new parts to be fitted.
All new/semi-new parts to be fitted. 		My 2x80GB + 2x200GB disks.
My 2x80GB + 2x200GB disks. 		Promise TX2 SATA controller, Promise UltraATA 133 controller and 3Com 3c509 100Mbps nic.
Promise TX2 SATA controller, Promise UltraATA 133 controller and 3Com 3c509 100Mbps nic.

Actual look of the server:

All parts fitted.
All parts fitted.

It lives!
Complete success.I assembled everything and the server booted well at first attempt! I've done this kind of thing many times before both at home and at work and something *always* goes wrong - either small or big. Not this time though! Woohoo!

This server, as and where it is now.
This server, as and where it is now.

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Detailed specs

Case Unknown
Low range workstation case.
Given. I haven't been able to bring my Chenbro SR107 from Portugal.
Power Supply Hyper Type M-630W
Silent, powerful enough (600W+) and active switching power supply.
Motherboard Acer MS06702
  • ZIF Socket 478 for Pentium IV processors up to 3600 MHz
  • Four memory slots, each supporting up to 1GB SDRAM DDR400
  • Integrated IDE controller Intel 82801/ER (ICH5/ICH5R). Supports up to four IDE devices
  • Integrated SATA controller Intel 82801 (ICH5). Supports up to two SATA-150 devices
  • Integrated graphics controller Intel 82865G
  • Integrated ethernet controller Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5705 Gigabit 10/100/1000 Mbps
CPU One Socket 478 2.60 GHz Intel Pentium IV Northwood
FSB 100 MHz, multiplier 26x. Core voltage of 1.5V.
Memory 4 x 256MB DDR PC2100 (DDR266) non registered SDRAM sticks
IDE Controllers
  • Onboard Intel 82801E/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) ATA133 IDE controller
    • 40GB Western Digital hard drive
  • PCI Promise SATA150 TX4 (PDC20318) controller
    • 2 x 200GB Maxtor hard drives attached
  • PCI Promise IDE ATA133 (20269) controller
    • 2 x 80GB Western Digital hard drives attached
  • Onboard Intel 82801EB (ICH5) SATA Controller
    • nothing attached
Hard Drives
  • 40 GB ATA100 Western Digital WD400EB-00CPF0
  • 2 * 80 GB ATA133 Samsung SP0802N attached
  • 2 * 200 GB SATA150 Maxtor 6B200M0 attached
Operating System Gentoo Linux 2.6
Gentoo is a great linux distribution for servers. The excellent port of the FreeBSD "ports collection" system featured in Gentoo, makes package and dependency management one of the most flexible linux distros ever for server environments. Since every software package is installed from the sources (including of course its dependencies), full system upgrades don't exist, and that's a Good Thing(TM).
Network
  • 3Com Corporation 3c905B 100BaseTX [Cyclone] ethernet card for Internet uplink
  • onboard Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5705 10/100/1000 Mbps network card for internal LAN.
User interface ssh or serial console (hand-made serial cable + Belkin F5U103 USB-Serial converter.