[K12OSN] Server choices

[Michael Blinn]

  I'm nearing the purchase point of my terminal server, but I thought 
before laying down the serious $$, I should get the opinions of those 
who have been there before!

  I'm partial to Dell servers because the ones that I have had in the 
past have worked very well. They don't (yet) offer AMD products. They've 
quoted me on an Intel 64-bit dual-processor dual-core system w/ 8GB of 
ram and a two raid arrays (one system array @ RAID1, one /var, /home 
array @ RAID5). It will be using a PERC SAS controller card hooked to 
(2+5=) 7 146gb drives to accomplish this. With three gigabit cards (two 
for two separate subnets and one for external interface), the grand 
total came in around $6,500. This leaves me $1500 in the budget for 4 
terminals & monitors and two switches to round out the testbed.

  Does FC4 or FC5 (and therefore k12ltsp) support Intel's 64-bit 
architecture? If not, does someone have a good source for reliable 
Opteron servers?

  I have no experience with hardware RAID on the Linux side of things. 
Dell said they'd provide RHEL drivers for the RAID card - can these be 
used in Fedora? How does one set up the arrays prior to OS installation?

Thank you to everyone - I've enjoyed reading the archives, especially 
the newer posts about local devs and NIC bonding to remove that bottleneck.

Many thanks,
  Michael Blinn

-- 

If this is my day of harvest, in what fields have I sowed the seed, and 
in what unremembered seasons?
- Kahlil Gibran