Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Hosting Security and Technology : Server Advice: DL385

[sweathers]

Hey all,

Just become the proud owner of my first real production server. It is a DL385, AMD 252 (2.6 GHz) Opteron, 1GIG RAM etc etc. Full specs: http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/q.../12162_na.HTML

I would like some advice on what I need to do prior to installing an OS. Specifically, the sorts of benchmarks, stress test and reliability tests to be sure it is ready for production.

I imagine this would take the form of a process that you all go through before using a server. My experience in this area extends to running a Memtest.

Also, any general advice would be great.

Thanks,
Jim

[FHDave]

Why only 1 GB? Consider increase the memory to at least 2 GB.

[sweathers]

Thats the plan. I'm assuming I can just buy any DDR 400 ECC RAM, and put it in with the supplied stuff? And does it matter if I get 1G sticks, and the current one is two 512mb? Does this server run dual DDR?

[FHDave]

Brand name Servers like DL385 or PE2650/2850 usually only take memory modules in pair. So you may need to buy additional 2x512 MB modules.

[sweathers]

Okey, we'll I'll probably buy them in pairs of 1GB then, and use the existing 512MB sticks elsewhere.

Where can I find information, such as what are the matched slots, and how one should lay out 4GB in this particular server?

Thanks for the help thus far.

[lchan]

Wow. I'm planning to order some DL385s this weekend, and upgrading them to suit my needs since it'll be more economical. They seem to be nice machines. How do you like yours?

HP's RAM prices are ridiculously expensive. You can get specifications at http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/q.../12162_na.HTML.
I think you can order 4 1GB PC3200 registered ECC sticks, and then place a pair in each of the memory slot clusters. Nevertheless, there's the manual.

[sweathers]

So far so good, but I haven't had an OS on it yet. I've got no drives.
We picked up the server as a refurbished unit, about $2500 AUD.

Brings me to my next point; I've got Seagate SCSI HDD's, but I haven't got any caddys. Can you buy these seperately, and where from? I can't find a HP part number for them.

[trau]

Originally Posted by sweathers

Brings me to my next point; I've got Seagate SCSI HDD's, but I haven't got any caddys. Can you buy these seperately, and where from? I can't find a HP part number for them.

You can get hotswap trays at http://www.thetrayman.net/item102089.ctlg

Just be certain your Seagate SCSI drives have the correct SCA interface for the backplane.

[trau]

Originally Posted by sweathers

I would like some advice on what I need to do prior to installing an OS. Specifically, the sorts of benchmarks, stress test and reliability tests to be sure it is ready for production.

I imagine this would take the form of a process that you all go through before using a server. My experience in this area extends to running a Memtest.

Also, any general advice would be great.

Thanks,
Jim

The Smartstart CD has diagnostics you can run on all the components. After assembly the first thing I do on HP servers is verify all the ROMS (Bios, SCSI firmware, NIC firmware, RAID Firmware, iLO firmware, etc) are at current levels, flash as needed. Then run a quick diag that all components are good and then install and patch the OS. Finally I run baseline benchmarks for future reference (troubleshooting).

[sweathers]

This is just what I was interested in. Apart from SmartStart, are there other utilities I should be aware of? How do you benchmark the server?

It will be a Win2k3 server.

Cheers,
Jim

[sweathers]

Bugger, turns out the Seagate drives are like desktop PATA ones. They have a seperate power plug, and are definately the wrong size for what I can see the server accepts.

Are there adapters?

[FHDave]

These SCSI drives are 80 pins SCA drives. Don't buy the 68 pin drives.

[sweathers]

Complete wrong drives. Grr.

[sweathers]

Can you use non HP RAM in these?

[trau]

Originally Posted by sweathers

Can you use non HP RAM in these?

Yes, I have often used ram from crucial on HP servers with no issues at all. Any of the major ram companies will list the server and the proper ram for it. Ramember you will need to buy it in pairs and a small amount of the capacity will be lost to the advanced error correction feature.