Server Building Guide

PART 1 – System Configuration Basics

The popularity of Servers for both web, corporate, and small business LANs has increased the demand for these powerful computing systems, but there is also an ever growing confusion when buying and building Server components due to the great number of products on the market today.  This causes wasted time and greater opportunity for mistakes, but fortunately there are solutions.

When building a Server, the first thing is to decide what type of Server you want to build, based on function, size, and price.  Consider the chassis type and size (Rackmount or Tower), processors type (Single Intel P4, Single or Dual XEON, Athlon MP, or AMD Opteron), amount of memory, storage subsystem type (SCSI or IDE), fault tolerance (RAID), network connections, expandability, and so on.  You should write down all the most important features you need in a Server, and also make a list of optional features you want but can live without.  This will give you a good starting point.

The next step is where most people run into difficulty.  They first choose a motherboard, and then they try to find a third party case it will work with.  This is difficult enough with tower servers and larger rackmount units (due to larger board sizes and special power supply requirements), and virtually impossible to configure with 1U and 2U rackmounts.  Unlike a standard desktop motherboard, server motherboards have special power, thermal regulation, expansion card, and other requirements that mean if any element of the case does not match the motherboard specifications, you have a problem that is not easy to solve.

There are two solutions to this.  First, of course, is to check with your salesperson or with technical support to see if the parts you will work together or have one of our technical experts configure a server for you. However, this takes a lot of time and there cannot be a guarantee everything will work together when mixing components from many vendors.

PART 2 – Using Barebones Server Systems

The next solution is the one we usually recommend if you want to build a quality server that will be very reliable for your customer.  Buy a server barebones system, then simply add compatible CPU, memory, and drives.  There are currently dozens of high-quality barebones you can choose from now available from ASI, including 1U, 2U and 4U systems with IDE or SCSI options. Gigabit LAN, onboard SCSI, and much more.

Intel and Supermicro are the leaders in this field because they design both the motherboards and the chassis as a complete, integrated solution that has been pre-tested to work together.  Intel offers their “Server Building Blocks” site as a framework for finding the right Server platform or components to create the system you want, and ASI has new Integrated Intel XEON 1U & 2U Server Solutions for professional quality server deployment.

Still, you may ask why you should purchase a barebones unit?  Here are four smart reasons:  

• Barebone server systems integrate motherboards into high-quality cases designed specifically to fit them, including correct alignment with any riser card and rear IO shield.
• Barebone servers have power supplies specifically designed and tested to support that system (motherboard, CPU type, drives) as a whole.
• Barebone server cases are designed for maximum thermal efficiency (cooling) for that motherboard and CPU combination.  Most Rackmount units will also come with specially designed low-profile heatsinks.
• Barebone server systems are easier to configure, maintain and support for both the end-user and reseller, ultimately saving time and money.

  The above reasons are even more important when considering the tight spacing in 1U and 2U Rackmount systems.  With a barebones unit all you have to do is purchase the correct CPU and memory type, hard drives, expansion cards (if any) and you have complete system. If there is not a barebones system that meets your needs, it is recommended to purchase a case from the same manufacturer of the motherboard.  For example some of the Intel Server boards use the Intel SC5200 chassis as their reference model.  Only by using this chassis can you take advantage of the many special features of the motherboard, and you are also guaranteed full platform compatibility.

PART 3 - Building 2-Way and 4-Way Multiprocessor Systems

Next we will look at the specific components you may want to choose for your server.

3.1 CPU and Power Supply Information Chart

It is very important to choose the correct CPU and Power Supply when building multiprocessor systems.  This chart should help:

As we mentioned before also take into careful consideration the size and type of chassis you choose for the motherboard.  If using a barebones server you can even get a Dual XEON in 1U configuration, but remember that it is far more difficult to configure a reliable 1U Server by selecting parts from several vendors and trying to make them work together.  Another common mistake is try to force a desktop motherboard (single CPU) into a 1U or 2U rackmount case. This simply does not work well most of the time due to different design factors of desktop boards. If you need one there are now available Single CPU Server motherboards from Intel S845WD1).

Please also see this page for more help finding the right case and power supply: www.asisupport.com/server_power_supply_chart.htm

3.2 Server Operating Systems

To take advantage of the multi-threading features of running dual processors (or when running hyper-threading technology) you need to install an operating system such as Windows 2000 (PRO or Server) or Windows XP.  For quad processing you need to run Windows 2000 Advanced Server.  It is of no advantage to run dual CPUs on Windows 98 since they have no multi-threading support.

Another mistake many people make is to buy a dual processor board and only install a single CPU, intending to upgrade later.  However a year or two later it will be difficult if not nearly impossible to find a matching CPU to do the upgrade, and you have wasted money by investing in a dual board and not using its full capacity.  Please purchase two CPUs at the time of building the system, it is worth the investment.

3.3 Server Memory

For most server roles you will want 1GB + RAM for good performance.  Check the motherboard specifications for types and amounts of memory supported.  Most server chipsets require ECC Registered SDRAM or ECC Registered DDR (DDR266/PC2100 or higher).  Registered memory is also called “buffered” RAM, and ECC is an error-correcting function built into the module.  Be aware the type and quality of memory you purchase for a server motherboard is very important. 

Some server motherboards will require two pieces of memory in a pair (called two-way interleaving).  Memory interleaving is an advanced technique used by high-end server motherboards and chipsets to improve memory performance.  Memory interleaving increases bandwidth by allowing simultaneous access to more than one chunk of memory.

3.4 Storage Devices

One of the most vital components of a server system is the storage devices.  The storage devices in the system will impact the overall performance and data protection/recovery methods available to you when using the server.

SCSI / SCSI RAID – Higher cost but greater bandwidth, more options, ideal for high-volume demand server applications. You can increase performance, add fault tolerance, or both with RAID.  Most Rackmount cases/barebones will come with a number of SCSI SCA (Hot Swap) drive bays.  

IDE / IDE RAID / SATA RAID – Lower cost, larger capacity drives available.  IDE RAID 1 (Mirroring) good for fault tolerance on primary volume.  IDE/SATA RAID is also more cost effective than SCSI but recommended you use SCSI for high-volume IO (input/output) servers.

Tape Drives / CDRW – It is a good idea to add a DAT tape drive, CDRW, or even DVD-RW/RAM drive to backup the large amounts of data often found on servers. Even if you have another form of fault-tolerance such as RAID you should not rely 100% on hard disks to store your most valuable information.

3.5 Advanced Server Technologies

With new server technology you have options for Ultra160 or Ultra320 SCSI, Zero Channel RAID, PCI-X 133Mhz slots, Single or Dual Gigabit Networking ports, and much more.  You may want to look for these in the next server motherboard you buy.  Here is an overview of those options.

ULTRA 320 SCSI or SCSI RAID:  Ultra 320 is the next generation SCSI bus with maximum transfer rate of 320 MB/second, twice as fast as current generation Ultra160.  Provides maximum hard drive bandwidth available today.  For more information see: http://www.asisupport.com/ultra320_article.htm  

Zero Channel Raid (ZCR):  ZCR adds RAID ability to a motherboard with embedded SCSI controllers.  To use this function, one PCI slot on the motherboard must be specially wired for RAID I/O Steering (RAID IOS).  The RAID function is then integrated with the motherboard’s onboard SCSI, allowing you to setup a RAID array quickly and easily without the full cost of a PCI RAID card.

Gigabit LAN Ports - 1000MB/second:  Gigabit over copper (1000BASE-T) can be used in data centers for server switching, for uplinks from desktop computer switches, or directly to the desktop for broadband applications. A big advantage of 1000BASE-T is that existing copper cabling can be used instead of having to rewire with optical fiber, which could be highly expensive.  You can now buy Gigabit PCI network adapter cards or server motherboards with single or dual Gigabit ports already built in.   Here are several key reasons to choose Gigabit Ethernet over 10/100:

• 10-fold bandwidth increase
• Ethernet reliability
• Fast and simple deployment
• Direct migration
• Uses existing tools, cabling and management software
• Transmits voice and data
• Supports routed and shared networks

PCI-X Expansion Slots:  What is PCI-X?  The PCI-X specification, an extension of the PCI 2.2 specification, was driven by the growing need for I/O bandwidth.  PCI-X is a Bus Technology that can move data from 66MHz and up to 133MHz at 64-bit bandwidth, enabling up to 1GB/s throughput. The current PCI bus runs at 32-bit 66MHz, 64-bit 33MHz and 64-bit 66MHz. What are the advantages of PCI-X over Standard PCI?  

• Reduces PCI data path bottlenecks.
• Increases Input/Output performance for future I/O devices.
• Increases 66MHz PCI slots from 2 to 4.

  The PCI-X specification supports a 64-bit bus operating at speeds of 66 MHz, 100 MHz and 133 MHz, providing throughput speeds of 528 MB/s, 800 MB/s and 1064 MB/s respectively. PCI-X also supports hot-swap and is fully backward compatible to PCI 2.2 devices. Be aware that, as is the case with PCI 2.2, the PCI-X bus operates at the frequency of the lowest frequency card connected to the bus.

• A PCI-X bus operating at  66 MHz can support up to four devices
• PCI-X bus operating at 100 MHz can support a maximum of two devices
• A PCI-X bus operating at 133 MHz can support only a single device.

• ASI Server Solutions and Support - New Website! Click here to open in new window
• Ultra320 SCSI: www.asisupport.com/ultra320_article.htm
• General Raid Info - www.asisupport.com/raid_info.htm
• Supermicro Product Naming Info: www.asisupport.com/info_identify_supermicro_product.htm 
• Supermicro Chassis Compatibility: http://www.supermicro.com/PRODUCT/Chassis/compatibility.htm