RE: Lots of advice needed on new HA server setup

["Andy Laurence" <andy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Paul Gale <mailto:groups@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> I'm looking for lots of views and opinions on the following please...

Sorry for taking so long to reply - needed to find enough time to
compose a sensible response!

> Another set of advice and recommendations needed for my new
> HA and home office server infrastructure.
>
> This is my current HA and business server PC setup:
>
> 1. Main Server (W2K3) running Exchange, IIS, DHCP etc + LOTS
> of HA Apps 2. Geovision CCTV PC (XP) 3. Asterisk @ Home Linux
> PC 4. Bonded ADSL router (Linux)
>
> The main server is suffering from 90-100% CPU utilisation for
> a high percentage of the time, so I want to split it out to
> two boxes, one the Exchange and traditional server bits and
> one the HA bits. I also need to try and quieten it down as it
> uses noisy fans and especially disks. It's currently a dual
> P3 1 Ghz 1GB ram machine. Also want to get RAID5 array in
> there with hot swap capability etc.
>
> This is what I'm thinking:
>
> 1. Main Server - W2K3 R2 Standard server
>    Running:
>    Exchange Server 2003 Standard (only 2 accounts but lots of
> old email)
>    RAID5 file server array (1TB?)
>    DHCP, DNS, WINS etc
>    IIS
>    FTP
>    POP2Exchange

This'll keep your business-critical apps from being sabotaged by other
apps.  Good plan.

> 2. HA Server - Possibly running W2K3 R2 Standard server?    Running:
>    Telcanto MP3 Server
>    WinAmp multi zones
>    HomeSeer 2
>    HomeSeer Speaker inc VR?
>    xAP Switchboard, Ping, Hub, Tel, Weather, Speech    Main Lobby
>    Server NeoSpeech Voices
>    Anything else that comes along

Assuming that these apps are the ones causing high resource usage, you
may want to spec up this box.

> 3. Geovision CCTV PC - XP or W2K3 Server?
>
> 4. Asterisk Server
>
> 5. Bonded ADSL Max Router

Ain't broke - don't fix it!

> So what do you think?
>
> My questions are:
>
> 1) What OS's would you use on the HA Server and Geovision PC and why?

I'd use whatever's available.  Mainly because most apps won't be
worried.  IIS is best on a server platform, but as you're running
Exchange on the same box, you'd be using a server OS anyway.

> 2) What hardware spec would you use on the main server and HA server?

The main server needs very little.  I have a server running the same,
albeit W2K, rather than W2K3.  It's a P200 Pro with a 36GB SCSI array,
and aside from the noise, copes admirably!  It serves over a million
hits a year on IIS, and also handles a few hundred emails a day on
Exchange.  2k3 isn't any different really, as far as resource
requirements go.  I'd stay low power consumption, and focus on disaster
recovery, myself.

> 3) Are there any rack cases that:
>    a) look good - aesthetics will be important
>    b) are quiet and allow good airflow
>    c) don't cost a fortune

No idea, although many moons ago, I built a PC into a VCR case using a
Dremel.  Would've been easier if MiniITX existed back then!

> 4) What redundancy would you build in? I have a large UPS but
> would you put in redundant PSU's etc? Anything else?

I'd say go for a decent make server (HP/Compaq, or IBM), and you should
get something resilient.  Of course, it'll be more power hungry, and
noisier than a MiniITX system.  How often do you lose a machine?
Regular backups, and a DR strategy, and you'll be fine.

> 5) Heat output is an issue, so need to keep it cool as poss -
> what processors and disks would you use?

As small as possible is my suggestion.

> Anything else?

As HA software tends to be updated regularly, and also gets tested
regularly (well, it does in my case), I'd look at software
virtualisation.  I'm about to migrate my HA apps to a new server running
Altiris Software Virtualisation Suite.  It's free for personal use, and
allows you to rollback any updates, and virtualise all apps.  No longer
will one plugin bring down your whole system!  The demo they gave us at
the office certainly looked good.  The virtualisation is so good, you
can run multiple versions of MS Office simultaneously!

Cheers,
Andy