Part III: Zeus rebuilt and configured!

I’ve spent the last month working with the newly built zeus server which is now powered by OpenSolaris (2009.06).

Here’s my final hardware specifications:

• CPU: AMD Athlon X2 5050e – 2.6Ghz (45W TDP, AMD-V)
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P (AMD 790X Chipset)
• RAM: 2x ****Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C5 (4Gb kit x 2 = 8Gb)
• Graphics: ASUS 9400GT PCI-Express
• Hard Disks:
  • rpool – 2x WD740ADFD – 74Gb 10K RPM, 16Mb Cache (mirror’d)
  • tank – 6x WD1002FBYS – 1TB, 7200RPM, 32Mb Cache (raidz)
  • base – 2x WD7500AAKS – 750Gb, 7200RPM, 16Mb (mirror’d)
• Addon cards:
  • SATA – Silicon Image, Inc. SiI 3132 Serial ATA Raid II Controller
  • NICs – 2x Intel Corporation 82545GM Gigabit Ethernet Controller (e1000g)

I’ve finally managed to get the GA-MA790X-UD4P on the OpenSolaris HCL list – woo! Unfortunately the onboard NIC will not work in the 2009.06 release even though it is detected:

Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller

Maybe in a future release. Make sure you update the BIOS as OpenSolaris may have an issue with the USB controller being ‘mis-configured’ otherwise.

Just for kicks I went to Jaycar and bought myself a power usage meter to measure the watts used by the new boxen (see a review of the Mains Power Meter on DansData).

Old Zeus

• Idle: 380W
• Load: 413W

New Zeus

• Idle: 232W
• Load: 270W

Nice, with an Intel Atom based server it could go _a lot_ lower, but I’m happy with this.