[clue-tech] Linux on a Dell PowerEdge 2300?

[Mike Staver]

In which case, this distro will support it just fine:

http://www.whiteboxlinux.org

Since it's Red Hat EL 3 minus the Red Hat logo and support :)  I hear 
CentOS is also nice, but I'm familiar with WB, and I love it.

Dave Price wrote:
> Just an FYI - I just set up a 2300 with hardware SCSI raid - I could
> not find any distro that included the drivers except for RH Enterprise
> Server which was NOT free .., but is supported by Dell.
> 
> aloha,
> dave
> 
> 
> On Sat, 12 Feb 2005 05:02:38 -0700, Nate Duehr <nate at natetech.com> wrote:
> 
>>William wrote:
>>
>>
>>>My employer just practically donated an older Dell PowerEdge 2300 server to me.  It has a couple
>>>things I have to fix before it's usable (one of the SCSI drives is bad and it's missing one of its
>>>hot-swap drive thingamajigs -- I honestly have no idea what they're called, but they hold the SCSI
>>>drive such that it can lock into the case and mount onto the SCSI RAID backplate).  After I get
>>>the hardware issues figured out, I'd like to put Linux on it.  I favor RedHat, but I also need to
>>>stick to the "free" route.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>RedHat doesn't really "exist" anymore for personal uses... do you mean
>>Fedora?  If you're going to stay with a RedHat derivitive, I think
>>you'll want at least Fedora Core 3.
>>
>>
>>>When I get the hardware figured out, the system will have 6 drives, 2 CPUs, 2 NICs, and about a
>>>Gig of ECC RAM.  I'm going to use the machine as a dedicated Apache+TomCat (probably with PHP,
>>>Perl, and FTP on it, as well) server -- no GUI -- at home.  Can I get Linux and this desired
>>>configuration onto this box?
>>>
>>>
>>
>>Yep.
>>
>>
>>>Notables:
>>>1)  I'm never installed Linux onto multi-CPU boxes.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>On most distros nowadays, this is a non-event.  You'll probably find
>>that the installer automatically selects an SMP kernel for you.  It
>>should generally "just work".
>>
>>
>>>2)  I've never dealt with SCSI drives, and know very little about them.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>You'll find them to be pretty easy -- different naming conventions
>>depending on if you're on a 2.4 or 2.6 kernel,  but treat them like
>>regular disks...
>>
>>
>>>3)  I've never dealt with RAID systems (or hot-swappables, but that seem self-explainatory).
>>>
>>>
>>
>>There's a couple of options here, but I'm going to assume you're looking
>>to use Dell's proprietary PercRAID hardware if the machine has it.  If
>>it does, useful information may include what the BIOS says the version
>>number of the PERC controller is.  There's at least 4 major versions.
>>You may find that on some distros you may have to find add-on kernel
>>modules to "see" the hardware RAID.
>>
>>However... doing a quick Google search found this:
>>http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl/?pagename=details&hid=29
>>
>>Which shows the PowerEdge 2300 has an Adaptec 7xxx series controller.
>>So... the really important question is whether or not the machine has
>>the hardware RAID option or not.  (It was an option.)  If it doesn't no
>>worries -- you can certainly do software RAID on almost all modern
>>distros with minimal learning curve and pain.  (RedHat/Fedora's Anaconda
>>installer is a bit cryptic about it, but you can set up software RAID
>>fine during the installation process directly.)
>>
>>
>>>4)  I already have to pay plenty to solve the hardware issues, and I am just a home user, so I
>>>really can't dump thousands of dollars into Enterprise Linux offerings.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>You don't need them... definitely not.
>>
>>
>>>5)  I'm tenacious and willing to experiment, if necessary.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>This will help a lot with the RAID options.  Everything else is probably
>>a piece of cake.
>>
>>
>>>6)  I have 6 other servers already at home, most of which are RedHat Linux, so I'm not a _total_
>>>noob; I'm just doing research before potentially wasting a lot of time.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>You'll do fine... the usual advice... listen for a few more folk's
>>responses (other people will certainly think of things I didn't) and
>>dive right in... if you get stuck, we're here to help!  ;-)  I've done a
>>couple of installs of RH or derivitives on similar Dell hardware.  The
>>only real gotchas are the hardware components that require Dell's
>>drivers, and Google is your friend.  RedHat's propensity for being able
>>to stomach distributing binary drivers and not worrying as much as other
>>distros about the ramifications -- or perhaps they've signed the
>>NDA's.... who knows? -- should help if you go that route.
>>
>>C'mon in... the water's fine.  Those older Dell towers were built pretty
>>well, and work well too.  I haven't worked with any of their newer
>>hardware lately, but that stuff was pretty solid once you figured out a
>>plan to get any needed oddball drivers for their proprietary RAID
>>controllers loaded.
>>
>>Let us know how it's going...
>>
>>Nate
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