Reliable mobo for linux only server

[tyler_durden]

Can anyone recommend a RELIABLE mobo for use as a server for squeezecenter? My old mobo has died after about 3 years of daily use. Does anyone make a reliable motherboard?

I want a mobo that is going to last more than 3 years of continuous use if that is possible. I plan to set up one of the flavors of linux that allows configuration from a remote terminal so I don't need graphics on the new board, just networking.

Thanks,
TD

[SuperQ]

I upgraded my linux server to an ASUS M2N-E with an AMD 5000+ dual core. Been working great for about 6 months now.

The trick is to get good quality ram sticks and a good PSU. Cheap ram, and unstable power can make a machine very crashy.

[tyler_durden]

I'm looking for minimal CPU power, 1-2 GB ram, USB ports for HDDs, on board wired networking, and RELIABLE (as in >5 years) operation. No need for dual core, ultra high speed, 5.1 surround audio, dual SLI graphics, etc. This machine will only run squeezecenter and will only be accessed via network.

It seems mobos have a lot of electrolytic capacitor problems. Fans are very unreliable. Minimal fan requirements are a plus.

TD

[mherger]

> It seems mobos have a lot of electrolytic capacitor problems. Fans are
> very unreliable. Minimal fan requirements are a plus.

I think there's been one year with really bad electrolytic capacitor
production. Complete series of mobos died after a few months. I had one
such board, and the vendor (Via) replaced it without discussion due to
these known issues.

But other than that I haven't had a single board die before I replaced it.
I've been using a Via C3/500 (only 2 years so far) and a Soltek barebone
(don't even know the mobo :-)) for 3-4 years. And at one of my previous
jobs we were using any kind of Asus or MSI boards for the servers.
Whatever was cheapest that day. I didn't see one single board die in 4
years. But I've seen a lot of disks, RAM modules and fans. And these fans
are crucial for the board's live. I'd say don't go high-end. Don't
overclock. Or take server boards (which cost a good amount of money).

[SuperQ]

Hrm.. maybe a tiny bit under-powered, but very reliable.

http://www.soekris.com/how_to_buy.htm

The net5501-70 has 512M of ram, should be enough to run slimserver on linux without too much trouble. My slimserver is using 60MB of ram (7.0alpha) right now.

Another option would be fanless mini-itx board.

[signor_rossi]

I plan to set up one of the flavors of linux that allows configuration from a remote terminal so I don't need graphics on the new board, just networking.

Thanks,
TD

But for the setup of a linux distro you do need a graphics card and a monitor, or are there means to do without?

As for the reliability of mobos, I have an Asus P4B533E for 5 years now (not in 24/7 use) where soon the USB interfaces exhibited strange behaviour (added an pci USB card), other than that it runs fine. But I must say that after a year I changed the case because the first one was a bad choice with poor ventilation which led to high mobo, CPU and HDD temperatures. So my advice is to check your case and to substitute it if aprropriate.

Bye, signor_rossi.

[Mark Lanctot]

I'd go fanless if I could. This is not based on practical experience, just on supposition: fanless components have lower heat dissipation, which means lower temperatures, which means longer life. This also means no rotating parts, which are inherently less reliable. Finally it also means lower power consumption, a consideration if it's running 24/7.

In terms of practical experience, get a UPS. My last mobo died when it was powered on/off several times a second after a power blip caused by an electrical storm as the power grid re-activated. I've found configuring the UPS to be tricky in Linux though, so for now it's a "dumb" UPS, but at least it will prevent that killer on-off-on-off.

[riffer]

I had a Tyan running 24/7 for about six or seven years. It was eventually replaced only because of technical obsolescence. I also understand the Intel boards are also very reliable, but haven't used any myself.

[Mathiou]

It is still not running 24/24 because I have to find an enclosure for it but I use this motherboard and I find it is a good solution to run slimserver:

http://www.ieiworld.com/en/product_I...model=WAFER-LX

- 500Mhz processor (fast enough to run a debian with slimserver and samba)
- fanless
- same size than an 3,5" HDD
- needs only a +5V power supply
- 4 x USB2
- VGA
- Integrated audio (don't need it but it is included)
- dual LAN 100Mb
- compact flash port
- support 1/2 IDE devices (HDD larger than 137Gb with the last firmware)
- support 2 SATA HDD (with software RAID)
- 1 slot for DDR ram

This motherboard is designed to be integrated in industrial PC.

[gerph]

Can anyone recommend a RELIABLE mobo for use as a server for squeezecenter? My old mobo has died after about 3 years of daily use. Does anyone make a reliable motherboard?

I want a mobo that is going to last more than 3 years of continuous use if that is possible. I plan to set up one of the flavors of linux that allows configuration from a remote terminal so I don't need graphics on the new board, just networking.

Thanks,
TD

My server recently died after about 7 years of service, being almost continuously on - when it stopped doing reliable DMA transfers I decided that something was so wrong it probably wasn't worth recovering from. So I did some hunting around. Originally I wanted another 500MHz system - I bought a 500MHz fanless VIA system for my parents and paid quite a bit for it and... it probably wasn't worth the hassle. So I decided this time around to just go for a regular MB - and reuse my old ATA discs where I could. Since the server sits in the eaves of the house, it doesn't really matter what it's like...

So... This is what I settled on... (from Dabs)

Dabs Value Midi Tower 350W Beige
quicklinx:3PQPWS | mfr#:8027A1 £20.29

Crucial 1GB 240DIMM PC2-5400
quicklinx:4L43WS | mfr#:CT12864AA667 £17.61

MSI S775 VIA P4M900 DDR2 MATX 8CH AUDIO LAN
quicklinx:4L60WS | mfr#:P4M900M2-L £29.37

Intel Celeron D 352 3.2GHz Socket 775 512Kb
quicklinx:451VWS | mfr#:BX80552352 £29.08

Strictly I could have skipped the case as my old one would have done, but messing around removing the MB from the old case and fitting the new one just seemed like a whole lot more hassle than I cared for - plus the old machine can remain 'together' as a backup in case things went wrong.

Mostly I went for 'cheap-but-does-the-job'. It's got >6x the processor speed, 2x the RAM and faster memory too, and it did worked pretty much straight off. Basically the old drives came out of the original server and straight in to this one and up it booted (that usually seems to be the case for Linux; I've never been able to just swap drives with Windows - not and have it work like before anyhow).

Specifically you were asking about reliability, which - having just bought the new MB - I can't really answer. But I am expecting/hoping that this machine will last my the same sort of time as the previous server. Realistically, the machine's quite an overkill for what I use it for (SlimServer, some development work, external and internal webserver, mail and news) but a month or so down the line it's going just fine. Using the squeezebox is a bit nippier too.

For comparison, the original server was a 'Today Only' deal from Scan 7 or 8 years ago, and I have no idea what the MB make was - I wasn't even looking at that time for something that would be particularly longstanding or reliable... Just something that would do the job.

Dunno if any of that's any help but... there you go.