New Server Build - Part 2

Posted by JD 02/04/2010 at 17:03

So with all the equipment here, I began the server build. Refresh your memory for components by reading New Server Build – Part 1.

The Old Machine

Before beginning this build I booted the old machine; it was running FreeBSD previously. It had an Athlon 1800+XP CPU, 2GB DDR RAM and AGP graphics. It also had an S3-Virge PCI video card AND an SMC 1000base-tx GigE NIC. Both the NIC and video card were reused in the new server build.

The old machine also had (3) IDE devices – (1) DVD-RW and (2) WD 250GB disks. The motherboard only supports 1 IDE cable, so I’ve connected it to the DVD and 1 of the disks. At some point, I need to boot off USB or get/scrounge a SATA boot disk. I do have a spare 3.5" 1GB SATA, but that is used for weekly off site backups currently. I’ll probably try using a 2GB SDHC flash drive for boot since the host OS only runs the hypervisor.

Bad Parts

That Intel Pro 10/100/1000 GT network card I wanted for VMware ESX compatibility is the wrong form factor for my case. It can’t be installed since I bought the short desktop version, not the normal sized card. Not used.

The Intel Core i5 CPU did come with a CPU cooler/fan and with thermal grease pre-applied to the heat sink.

All other purchased parts are used. After first boot and memory burn in, I’ll know if any parts are bad or not.

Nominal Build

After pulling out the old motherboard and old 380W P4 power supply, the build was fairly straight forward.

  1. The new Corsair power supply installed with just slight miss alignments for all 4 screws, but still worked. I was impressed with the PS packaging and all the tiny zip ties included.
  2. The new BioStar motherboard is a miniATX and replaced the older BioStar ATX-sized MB nicely. I remembered to put the back faceplate into the case, but I forgot to punch out 2 of the USB and all of the audio openings until the entire build was finished. Since you would normally have to remove the MB to get access to the face plate, I used a small screw driver to reach around and push the metal punches out. Problem solved with zero impact visible.
  3. I had to move the IDE disk drive closer to the DVD due to cable length. Normally, we don’t want to mix a fast and slow device on an ATA 133 Mbps cable, but in this case, I didn’t have a choice.
  4. I used the generous supply of tiny cable ties to perform some cable management. This was primarily used with excess power cables.

I took many photos of steps along the way. It is a hassle to post them on this blog, so unless someone is really, really interested, then 1 finished photo below will be it.

Time to boot the machine and begin the burn in tests!

Check out New Server Build – Part 3 for information on the first boot and burn in.

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