[Advice needed] HW for mail server

[Chris]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Ihnat" <ignatz at dminet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2005 5:00 AM
Subject: Re: [Advice needed] HW for mail server


> As others have mentioned, a 1GHz+ machine with 1Gb RAM
> is a good idea.  But I'd like to suggest that you consider a simple
> RAID1 system--you can get something like an Adaptec SATA
> 1420SA inexpensively and throw a couple of big SATA drives
> to give you more reliability.

I would strongly advise against any Adaptec RAID controllers when it comes 
to Linux.  They just plain suck, and the company is so Windows-centric that 
two months after releasing an all new line of (at the time) SCSI RAID 
controllers built explicitly for Supermicro servers, they dropped support 
for Linux and are no longer offering any drivers for kernel 2.6 and higher. 
So, you can stick with old distros running kernel 2.4, or... change your 
RAID controller supplier.  We spent 2 months talking to both Supermicro and 
Adaptec CEOs and executives to see if Adaptec can upgrade drivers for their 
*brand new* controllers, and at the end of the day they refused, saying 
there's more money to be made on Windows end.  They gave us their last beta 
source code for drivers they were testing on development kernel 2.5 and said 
they would only support Windows OS from that point forward.  We will never 
buy anything from Adaptec, given the many choices provided by other, more 
Linux-friendly companies out there.  Adaptec made over $140K worth of new 
servers we purchased, less than 2 months old, obsolete virtually overnight - 
we can't upgrade them to anything with kernel 2.6

I would strongly recommend 3WARE SATA RAID controllers (if SATA is what you 
choose for this system) - they not only work great with Linux, but they are 
supported out of the box, and the company is actively supporting Linux.  For 
a simple 2-drive system all you'd need is an 8006-2LP controller, which is 
about $130.  Also keep in mind, the Adaptec 1420SA is a software-RAID 
controller, which uses your server CPU to do everything.  All 3WARE 
controllers are true hardware RAID controllers.

Chris