I have spent a fair amount of time looking into this for the community and have now come up with my final recommendation to the Admins for the proposed hardware purchase.
Background
Currently we have a half height P4 2.4GHz system with 1GB RAM and it is worked hard when the servers we want running are operational and with players connected. It is our wish to upgrade the server to provide us with a significant step up in performance to allow us to easily cope with the increasingly CPU intensive loads placed on it by modern games. We also want a good degree of future proofing in whatever we buy as we are a community relying on donations to fund our purchases.
Reasearch
CPU:
I concluded early on that a dual CPU system would best meet our needs as it allows us to separate the various server loads we generate. I also concluded that we were best served by a system capable of supporting dual core CPUs as this maximised our future proofing. AMD are the only sensible choice in this respect and the most viable CPU from a price:performance perspective is the Opteron 265.
MOTHERBOARD:
I reviewed closely those motherboard manufactuers in the dual CPU market. In particular I looked at SuperMicro, Tyan and the new Asus offerings. Tyan were by far and away the best and in my opinion have the largest experience and support in the SMP community.
RAM:
Lots of it and fast please.
SELF-BUILD:
I have reviewed a self-build options, but where a dual CPU server is concerned then reliability of cooling etc becomes a much higher priority. Whislt we could undoubtedly save a couple of hundred pounds building it ourself we would not have the experience to know if what we were building actually worked reliably in practice. Reluctantly I therefore concluded that buying a ready made system was the best route to pursue.
I have reviewed a number of manufacturers and the one I feel most comfortable with whilst still remaining within what I believe will be an achievable budget is actually from the company Oldbloke referred me to in the public section of the forums: Sentral Systems Ltd (//www.sentralsystems.com) - Oldie orders a fair few systems from these people each year for BT.
I therefore propose we purchase the following system:
OPTIServ 2 x 265 Dual Core Opteron
2U Case
460W PSU
4GB DDR ECC Reg3200 (4 x 1GB sticks to allow further RAM if needed)
2*74GB Western Digital 10K Raptor HDD
Aopen Chameleon DVDRW
Tyan s2882G3NR-D Motherboard
BUDGET
The full cost of the above system is £2821, but I am already comfortable that we can get this down to £2708. I am pretty sure I can get another £50-100 knocked off the price when we order.
We currently have cash at bank of £1,824.58
We expect further receipts of £540 from LAN VIII, making our total funds £2,364.58.
This leaves a shortfall of £343.42 which I am confident we can raise very rapidly from the community.
So, that's my recommendation and I would appreciate it if you could post back your replies and comments to either question, debate or indicate your approval or otherwise of the proposal.
Thank you.
TL.
Looks good to me :D
Looks very good indeed. I don't think the £343 will be any trouble at all once told in the alpha section of the forum. I even think we will be able to raise more and maybe even get a bigger rig.
I say go go go!
You can count on me for £30 so it won't take long to get the rest. Appreciate your hard work TL. The man from BB says YES :)
QuoteOriginally posted by BlueBall@Sep 20 2005, 03:23 PM
You can count on me for £30 so it won't take long to get the rest. Appreciate your hard work TL. The man from BB says YES :)
[post=95490]Quoted post[/post]
i agree put me down 4 the same TL...BTW it sounds goood m8.
:dribble: I agree the shortfall in cash im sure would be made up in the lan ...buy it now :dribble:
I'll place the order tomorrow.
TL.
Server has been ordered and should be delivered towards the end of next week.
The full cost of the system was orignally quoted as £2821, but we got them down to £2,649.63 inc VAT. In order to secure the additional discount I have to make payment immediately (they needed a cheque or bank transfer) which I have done.
I'll liaise with Oldie to see what we can do to get the new beastie up and running for LAN VIII :D
TL.
QuoteOriginally posted by TeaLeaf@Sep 21 2005, 10:12 AM
£2,649.63 inc VAT.
Ok, they've slapped £15+VAT on for delivery. So the new total is a bit higher. I make it £2,667.25, their invoice says £2,667.26 - I'm querying the penny :roflmao:
TL.
I attach the invoice which I have now paid in full by direct bank transfer. Their accounting package incorrectly calculates VAT, it adds it to each item individually (each amount rounds) and then adds up the component VAT costs to get a total VAT. hence they cock up the sumn and get the answer wrong :rolleyes: I couldn't be TANGO'd to argue it :roflmao:
TL.
Thanks for all your efforts TL :D
If you're good we'll let you play on the new server sometime :narnar:
Well with luck I will be seeing a bit more of the BF2 and CS servers after my holiday, so please send me my server pass!
TL.
QuoteOriginally posted by TeaLeaf@Sep 21 2005, 11:45 AM
Well with luck I will be seeing a bit more of the BF2 and CS servers after my holiday, so please send me my server pass!
TL.
[post=95628]Quoted post[/post]
I got this from Ron. Don't know if it works.
Password is <
>
:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:
The old'uns are the best ones!
TL.
QuoteOriginally posted by BlueBall@Sep 21 2005, 01:14 PM
I got this from Ron. Don't know if it works.
Password is <>
[post=95630]Quoted post[/post]
Har bloody har. :) No, it doesn't work as you well know. :angry:
Server has been couriered back to the supplier with a BIOS issue. It seems the mobo can't count to 4GB correctly and therefore hangs before posting. This is very similar to another known BIOS issue on other Tyan mobos and is usually resolved with a flash to a newer BIOS. I have also asked them to add a floppy disk drive whilst they have the machine as the Windows installation may be problematic without one as it seems to default to loading IDE drivers from A: and not give you the option to load from the CD drive.
System will be fixed tomorrow (Tuesday) and returned to me for Wednesday. I will try to get the software build done for Friday morning. Otherwise we'll be running one of my spare machines as the BF2 server and run the CS servers from someone's own PC.
TL.
QuoteThank you for your online order from Interlink Express Parcels Ltd.
Your order details follow:
Order #: 1999020067
Tax: £5.74
Shipping: £32.82
Total: £38.56
Server should arrive with Sentral before 9.30am today. They have agreed to turn it round same day and ship it back to me for Wednesday. So one way or the other I'll be trying to do a software build for a server on Wednesday night. Whether that build is on BA3 or an alternative machien we'll have to wait and see.
TL.
UPDATE:
An intermittent fault on the motherboard has been confirmed by the supplier. They do not have a replacement on site and are getting one shipped to them for tomorrow morning. I am then going to try to negotiate a same day delivery of the server back to me, thus giving me 24 hours to do the software build for LAN VIII. If a same day delivery is not possible then I will run up a BF2 server on a spare machine here and have it ready for the LAN. The CS servers can be run from one of the PCs at the LAN as it is not a big CPU overhead. Anyone want to take over organising LAN IX? and the purchase of BA4? I seem to be cursed so far as servers go ;)
TL.
Your doing a fine job ;)
Hope everything goes well mate.
Server has had the motherboard replaced and is currently in extended testing. There is no way they are going to finish the testing *and* get it to me today. I have agreed that they will ship it to me got 9.30am delivery tomorrow. I will try to get the software build done whilst at work tomorrow.
I'll be building a BF2 server at home tonight in case the new server still does not work.
Fingers crossed that we'll have BA3 up and running in time. Oldie, are you going to be around tomorrow?
TL.
QuoteOriginally posted by TeaLeaf@Oct 5 2005, 01:26 PM
...Oldie, are you going to be around tomorrow?
TL.
[post=97761]Quoted post[/post]
I'm at work but I've PM'd you my number.
Best of luck with the build.
Backup server now installed. I just tried to connect over my home LAN and it worked sweet as. The speed with which it loaded up was encouraging.
Are there any special maps I should also be adding or will a plain vanilla install work? (remember we may well have 16 v16 maps in use at the LAN).
Do you need an internet connection for BF2 or does it have an offline mode like CS?
Do I need to install AAS?
Did Oldie want to send me any particular config files from BA2 for use on this machine?
TL.
Well done TL, have a nice glass of wine and some foot up time :D :clap:
There was a MapPack1 released recently. We haven't been using it yet but it might be worth trying it at the LAN and maybe have it avail for install from server.
Linky thing -> http://battlefield2.filefront.com/file/Tot...ap_Pack_1;47009 (http://battlefield2.filefront.com/file/Total_BF2_Map_Pack_1;47009)
AAS is a doddle. (http://landot.org:8080/landot/aas/) Easiest MOD install *ever*. :D
I suggest you install BF2CC. (http://www.bf2cc.com) It will make LAN games a doddle to configure.
I've grabbed all three of these links and downloaded them to my PC. I'll install them when I get there, they don;t look too nasty :)
AAS seems way to easy - just replace the file :lol:
TL.
Server has arrived back with me. OS install will start within the hour.......fingers crossed.
TL.
Good luck TL and kudos to supplier for a quick turnaround! :clap:
Well, we passed the first hurdle, it correctly identified 4GB of RAM, let me install the IDE drivers and is now in the middle of the NTFS format of the HDDs. And I'm glad the server is going in a rack in London and not in my house as it sounds like an aircraft taking off with all the cooling fans spinning :roflmao:
TL.
Fastest server OS install ever - about 12 minutes.
Server now fully patched and AV is installed.
I'll add the game servers when I get home as they shouldn't take too long.
Looks like BlackAdder3 is going to make an appearance at LAN VIII after all :D
TL.
Lets hear it for TL?
Hip Hip Hooray :clap:
/me doffs hat.
Well played TL.
Nice one mate. :D
So how much work got done today ;)
QuoteOriginally posted by smite@Oct 6 2005, 04:28 PM
Nice one mate. :D
So how much work got done today ;)
[post=97925]Quoted post[/post]
Not a bad day actually - the worst bit is having to wonder back to the box every few mins just to see if Winblows has put up anther stupid window saying 'I've finsihed 10% fo the job you asked me to do, shoudl I continue: Click Yes or No' :ranting:
TL.
Ahh the joys of windaz!!