Sun Servers?

C

cburwell

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 2, 2005
Messages
269
I have been looking to get a server for a bit now. At first I was going to build a new PC, put a Linux distro on it, and use that as my "production" (more on that later) server. I started looking at rackmount servers on e-bay one day out of bordem. I came across a few Sun 1U servers that seemed to be pretty good deals (Cobalt RAQ 3 & $, as well as Netra X1 & T1).

A quick search on google showed that it is possible to install Linux on the Sun hardware, it just seems that you need the "SPARC" install disc.

It does not seem that any of them have any sort of video output. This leads me to believe that they do not support video, so remote administration would be the only option. This does not bother me, as it would free up some of the resources that would otherwise be used up by a GUI.

Does anyone have any experience with these servers? I know nothing about the servers or the Sun architecture.

I am looking to run the following: Apache, PHP, MySQL/PostgreSQL, SSH, and maybe FTW. The server is mostly used locally, but it does get some minor external use for school projects.
 
Does it have to be rackmount?

Honestly you would be better off with one of those $160 Linspire Linus PCs I have seen on sale at Fry's and Wallyworld at times.

I have a Linspire PC (wiped it clean the day i arrived, installed FC) I bought at Walmart running for 3-4 years now, runs 24-7 and only cost $199.
 
I work for a small telecom company and we have 8 Sun Netra T1 100's with DC Power supplies(NEBS Compliant). We run FreeBSD 4.2 SPARC on them(would run Solaris but thats a whole other story in and of itself).

The servers are headless but they have on-board LOM and serial management. If you have one of the baby-blue DB-9 to RJ-45 Cisco Console Cables you won't have a problem getting into them.

The servers we have run basic services on them, 2 run Caching DNS, 1 runs DHCP, 1 runs TFTP, FTP and web services to store files for IP phones, 1 runs internal DNS, 1 runs centralized syslog management and cacti, 1 runs centralized RADIUS to allow centralized logging and the other is currently just a spare. We purchased ALL of these used with dual 18 gig scsi HD's,(running software RAID), 400 Mhz processorsnow and 256 MB of RAM. While I would like more RAM on some of the boxes and possibly more HD space at times the processors ara amazingly efficient for their speed. They have been running without a hitch for close to 2 years now. The console ports work out great, you can buy a serial concentrator for quite a bit less than you can purchase an IP KVM for.

Our TFTP/FTP/Web Server doesn't run any type of SQL on it or PHP but takes between 50 and 100 hits on the apache server a minute with no noticable load increase.
 
I found the Cisco cable on E-bay (Item #: 130011391528).

It looks like the netra X1 has a serial port on the back of it that looks just like an ehternet port, and the standard DB-9 port should be used to connect to the computer that you will connect to the server from.

What would I do if I want to use a laptop that does not have a DB-9 port? Can I use just an ethernet cable to connect to the server that way? Or would I have to use a DB-9 to usb connector in addition to the cisco cable?
 
You would buy a USB to serial converter. If your laptop doesn't have a serial port on it I would highly recommend getting one of these. Mine has saved my butt so many times.
 
Cool, thank you! I figured that is what I needed, but I wanted to make sure before I bought anything.
 
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