I have a few questions. Is Building your own server reliable?. I heard some people say that building your own server is not as reliable as buying from Dell,Compaq,HP or a name brand company or directly from a server that is already build. But the thing is they build the servers so I mean what is the difference?. Do you have any suggestions on where to get 1U server cases from. As far as parts goes we pretty much have that covered but suggestions for both would be Very helpful. Could someone please tell me what they think of building a server?.

If you want a non namebrand one(dell/compaq etc) I would reccomend you buy all the parts fromt eh same vendor and pay them to put it together($50 at the place I use) and test it. I have built a few of my own...and it can be a pain since some have certain power connectors and other dont etc...

If you know what you are doing, and use quality hardware components, then building your own server can save you money and be as reliable (or more so) than 'name brand' servers.

However, the big difference is that most 'name vendors' will offer you warranty services - often including onsite repairs. This is the biggest bounus for most people, even if it does cost a little more for the initital setup. The piece of mind that it has well supported warranty, incase something goes wrong, is often worth the extra initial outlay. But if you have the technical knowledge, and easy access to your machine if something goes wrong, then its not really all that hard to put one together yourself.

Well these parts have a full warranty but they don't offer on site repair that is the only thing. We do know what we're doing on building servers. We are going to allow 1-2 weeks to a month to test a server on the connection with the load. I think if we do this and get quality parts then we will be fine. What do you think?

Is the money you save worth the decrease in performance and reliability? That is the questions. Yes, there is a difference.

The thing that you know when you go with a "name brand" server is that the maker has tested it to make sure all components work together well and and it should be very reliable. They usually don't need any tweaking.

But of course we will test ours before they go online public wise. Thank You all for the suggestions so far..

Originally posted by RackMy.com
Is the money you save worth the decrease in performance and reliability? That is the questions. Yes, there is a difference.

The thing that you know when you go with a "name brand" server is that the maker has tested it to make sure all components work together well and and it should be very reliable. They usually don't need any tweaking.

This is not necessarily true. Dell makes bad machines, compaq makes bad machines, HP makes bad machines, etc. It happens, the difference is, you usually (should) have a support contract with them, guaranteeing that they will fix the problem within a day, 4 hours, whatever.

I have built many white boxes that both outperform, and outlast prebuilt servers. The most important thing, is not getting cheaper quality parts to save a buck. On the flip side however, if your white box goes down, you're on your own fixing it, and unless you keep spare everything lying around, this means downtime while you order the replacement parts.

-Dan

This is not necessarily true. Dell makes bad machines, compaq makes bad machines, HP makes bad machines, etc. It happens, the difference is, you usually (should) have a support contract with them, guaranteeing that they will fix the problem within a day, 4 hours, whatever. Everyone will have a box that will have some sort of hardware failure, but what I meant more was that Dell/IBM/Compaq machines are generally more reliable (all components working together w/o issues) and are generally faster because the makers have tested the component combinations (R&D) to find which ones work the best together.

That makes more sense
As always I guess we're in agreement :)

-Dan

Build your own, buying retail parts and you'll have a better machine if you know your hardware.

Build your own, buying the cheapest parts pricewatch has to offer and you'll probably NOT have a better machine.

I notice a marked increase in failures when buying the cheap OEM parts compared to the boxed parts/name brand parts. Micron/Mushkin memory? Failures are rare, and if they do fail they will CROSS ship you knew ram. No name ram? Send it back, wait, get the new one eventually (some companies are better than others). I've ordered "cheap" ram before by the box, failure rate was typically 10% you won't see that with name brand stuff.

Harddrives, I ordered 20 1.2 gig OEM Seagates once long long ago. 18 of the 20 were dead within 2 weeks (they were culled drives) called Seagate "those are OEM and are warranted by the end company (aka Dell)" so we were stuck our vendor didn't tell us they were THAT kind of OEM drives of course he didn't tell us they were culled either, aka "class C" hardware which means "new refurbished" which means they didn't pass the QA tests at the plant and got sent through again and refurbished and then passed. You do not want this type of goods in your server.

Motherboards, Tyan? go with it. SuperMicro? go with it. A motherboard in a plastic bag with no visible trademarked names on it? Have fun. PCChips? have fun. Abit/Asus/Shuttle other what I call "middle brand" boards? I use 'em they're typically very solid. Don't buy bleeding edge though, buy something that has had at least one good revision, be it hardware or BIOS upgrade. We used to build a LOT of high end machines and by god I felt like a beta tester! Crashes with this drive, with that video card, with that scanner, with that SCSI controller. I'd rather take a P3 on a board with PC133 SDRam than a cutting edge P4 with the latest everything. I'm looking for stability FIRST everything else second!

There's my thoughts.

Buy good parts you probably can still get cheaper than Dell or Intel servers, you won't beat the white box price though, don't try, you'll have to match the white box parts.

I've looked into building some 1u's I can't come up with a parts list that doesn't come to about a grand for what would be considered a low end machine (800-900 mhz 40 gig drive 512M ram) when you can buy this for about $600-700 white box. Granted white box 1U's are a cut above white box PC's most are using slightly better stuff than the average WB pc.

Your right you don't want to get the cheapest hardware you can get because most likely the machine will crash or go out. We will get the best deals on hardware we can that is going to be reliable. We build many computers before and they're up but a server is different and has more of a load then a computer.

Is the money you save worth the decrease in performance and reliability? That is the questions. Yes, there is a difference.

Simply not true.

I am absolutely sure that in every case I can build a faster more reliable box than a similarily priced low end model from companies like Compaq :D I'm willing to bet that in almost every case I can build an equally fast and reliable box as a similarily priced prebuilt from the better companies like Dell. Of course I'm not including any money for my time selecting and obtaining components, building or testing it...

I bet you will spend more; how many different motherboards, NICS, DIMMS, HD, etc will you have to buy to get the right combination?

We custom built a cluster of 14 servers last year. All of them, yes everyone, has an uptime of over 200 days and still going.

The only problem we've had so far was a fan which failed a few months ago. The back up fan took over and when I had a moment I swapped in a new fan. Oh yeah, a hard drive failed aswell....

Originally posted by RackMy.com
I bet you will spend more; how many different motherboards, NICS, DIMMS, HD, etc will you have to buy to get the right combination?

TYAN MB
Intel NIC
Maxtor IDE
Mushkin or Micron RAM

and life is GOOOD

Of course

Can't build no 1U for $600 using those parts.

And how do you know that is going to be a fast combination. I am not doupting anyones ability to build great servers, but I think brand names are still better in most cases.

Maybe I should have you build me a server and we can load/stress test it against a Dell, IBM, Compaq and see who is faster :) I bet all the name brands would win.

Just me 2 cents!

We're going to build some servers. We will test it on the network for a 1-2 months or so before we literally start using it. Thank You for all the advice. I noticed alot of people here building and colo so I just wanted to see what your advice was. Thank You all....

I bet you will spend more; how many different motherboards, NICS, DIMMS, HD, etc will you have to buy to get the right combination?

Usually just one set :D

I should probably qualify that I've built less than a dozen boxes, and most were workstations not servers, but the workstations are still on 24/7 so it's similar - but not exactly the same.

Anyway with that in mind, I've had great luck with Supermicro and Tyan Thunder dual CPU motherboards. And I've not yet had a problem with a plain vanilla Intel board either.

Mushkin, Crucial, Micron, and even Kingston RAM has worked well for me.

I stick to SCSI hdd's - Seagate Cheetah or Quantum Atlas 10K II's. They work great. Had one DOA Quantum and one Cheetah that started to go bad after 12 months.

Intel and 3Com NIC's are great - Netgear for the workstations/home computers to save some bucks.

And how do you know that is going to be a fast combination. I am not doupting anyones ability to build great servers, but I think brand names are still better in most cases.
Maybe the reason I've had better luck with self-built than off-the-shelf computers is that I do a lot of research on components (spending a lot of time on sites like anandtech, toms, 2cpu, and storagereivew, etc.) but not so much when buying a name-brand prebuilt. Where and how much do you research how well a Dell model xyz performs against an IBM model abc??

I have alot of respect for RackMy, but I am skeptical of assertions that all the components of a machine built by Dell or Compaq are tested to work together.

I have built my own PC's and am often "tech support" for family, friends and web clients who mostly own Dells and Compaqs. The name brands work fine with the OS and software installed at the factory, but when it comes time for OS and software upgrades and hooking up new peripherals I've had far fewer problems with homemade boxes than pre-built ones.

In my opinion the advantage of a pre-built is when defective parts are involved. Depending on the vendor it can be nearly impossible to get a defective component replaced when you DIY.

Along those lines, I'd always choose Tyan over SuperMicro after burning $600 a few years ago on a defective SM board. No support from SuperMicro or the vendor, Neutron. Both companies insisted the problem was related to Windows OS. However, when crashes continued after installing Linux, and after pulling each component individually, it became clear the MOBO was the culprit.

I'd also stay away from anything LiteOn. I skimped and bought a LiteOn CD reader that destroyed CDs. That company does not even answer their phone.

Gotta say, it is more fun to build your own.


Cathy

I've built a few thousand computers, servers, workstations, you name it. As many as 14 a day from parts - built - OS install.

In that time I've seen built machines outperform purchased machines much of the time. You can't hardly go wrong buying a Tyan motherboard, Mushkin/Corsair Ram, Intel (yes I hate to say it) CPUs.

Harddrives are a touchier matter, i've found harddrive companies have a cycle, WD will build the most solid drives, then put out a couple of stinkers (pushing the envelope too hard with new tech, new plant, new circuit board, whatever), then Maxtor will put out the best, then Seagate, it's like because WD is who I'd use today (it's not, Maxtor is for IDE) don't mean I'll be putting them in crucial machines in 6 months!

SCSI is different, IBM or SEAGATE or nothing.

CD Roms? bah cheapest I can get I don't rely on the CDRom and anyone who's anyone should have a half dozen of these on spare, and at least 1 good external USB one.

same with floppy.

Case? oh here I get picky,I want a case that's like a brick, thick metal, fans all over, thick plastic on the front, when I take the side off it better field like a board, not tinfoil.

Same with powersupplies, get a good case and usually the powersupply in it is fine too.

For my purposes I'll take self built anyday. In a large corporate environment then Dell and their on site 4 hour warrantly is simply unbeatable.