Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Dedicated Server : Cobalt RAQ 4 (Erase all/Install RH 7.3 + Plesk) Doable?

[EnigmaBiz]

Cobalt RAQ 4 (Erase all/Install RH 7.3 + Plesk) Doable?

I have a colleague that has few Cobalt RAQs and he liked my
SuperServer Micro and wanted to wipe out the RAQs install RedHat
bare with Plesk control panel.

In the past I own a Cobalt RAQ 4 as well. I only had it for
3 months. I was very much involved in reading the mailing list;
monitoring this forum for updates, security issues, how-to and
such. I noticed that it's very limited on what you can do/install
and tweak it without breaking the GUI.

I read that the RAQ's hardware is made to only work with their
software, not sure if anyone attempted an install of a different
O/S and Plesk. Plesk do offer a control panel for the Cobalt RAQs.
Although you would have two control panels.

I personally dislike the fact that the Cobalt uses PKGs and
sometimes security issues arise from that. On RH you can always
update anything you want without breaking the GUI. I even updated
my kernel 3 times.

In regards to installing the ISO image I haven't done it but
the manual said that it has to be done via Network cable from
another computer's CD-Rom. In RedHat 7.x I can install the
OS from various sources, from ftp, local LAN and even web.

There's got to be a way to at least have the GUI installed,
than disable it, by firewall or install additional program
to support install of RPM than follow through with new OpenSSH,
Apache, qMail, PHP and the rest.

Any suggestions. I have few days to figure this out and
wanted to get my notes and to-dos down.

Thanks,

[atjeu]

I dont think that will work because the cobalts rom(bios) I believe is hard coded on a chip and thats half the boot sequence of a cobalt.

why do that though, the cobalt hardware is so expensive, if you just want rh7.3 and another control panel why not just get new hardware

[EnigmaBiz]

It's for someone that has a dozen of these and wanted
to take one and turn it into something else.

I said the same thing. Build one. Get the 1u and dump
stuff in it. I checked/email Plesk to find out if they still
have the Plesk for Cobalt panel, and if there's future
release of it.

[Michael]

Have a look at http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...ighlight=plesk .

Mike

[bjseiler]

He can sell the RAQ on ebay and make enough money to get a decent 1U server. The raqs go for $450-900 on ebay from what I have seen.

[SolidJoe]

Redhat probably won't be possible. As someone else said, there is a lot of weird hardware and such, and it just won't be too possible with a general install. Some people have been working on a Debian install that you could do...try searching google for it.

[BruceT]

There's info at gurulabs.com on installing RedHat 7.3 on a Qube 3. A RaQ should be very similar - basically involves pulling the drive out, installing RedHat on it in a regular PC, then putting the HD back in the RaQ. LCD etc won't work at that point though.

[EnigmaBiz]

It's doable. Plesk offered to do all the installation for me.
They did offer Plesk Panel for Cobalt way back.

They asked that I have another PC available on hand
on the same network.

They didn't tell me how they are to do it but they will
install RedHat 7.3 with Plesk panel on it.

That is additional fee on top of the lic. fee for the panel.

I think it might be about flashing the ROM with newer
settings that allows you to install different O/S.

There's very little talk on Google about howtos.
There is one post in regards to Debian but not RH.

So even though Cobalt (Sun) might not be supported
in 2-3 years like some predict (the 3, 4s raqs) there's
still a market using other O/Ses, or Panels.