Building a quiet Mini-ITX Server with ClarkConnect

[mherger]

Where has the original thread gone? I don't know. Wanted to remove my own posting. The board gave me unknown power - and upon click on "Remove Post" the whole thread was gone :-(.

I'm really sorry for this as I know this was one of the (if not THE) most popular threads on this board. I don't know whether there's a kind soul in Mountain View able to restore it.

Meanwhile I've restored its content from Google and my browser's cache:

http://www.herger.net/slim/Buildinga...arkConnect.htm

[vrobin]

You should get the last version from google cache before it's gone and post it again there...

[mherger]

> You should get the last version from google cache before it's gone and
> post it again there...

I added the last four or five posts from my browser's cache. It should be
complete.

--

Michael

-----------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.herger.net/SlimCD - your SlimServer on a CD
http://www.herger.net/slim - AlbumReview, Biography, MusicInfoSCR

[vrobin]

The whole thread can be read there, but it won't last forever, you should copy paste it there:

http://209.85.129.104/search?q=cache...ient=firefox-a

minilinked there:
http://minilien.com/?behqUQ4MBH

[mherger]

> The whole thread can be read there, but it won't last forever, you
> should copy paste it there:

It's missing the latest four postings of the past few days. As I mentioned
you'll find the _full_ thread on the very first link I posted (it's based
on yours).

--

Michael

-----------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.herger.net/SlimCD - your SlimServer on a CD
http://www.herger.net/slim - AlbumReview, Biography, MusicInfoSCR

[vrobin]

It looks like I've read your message too fast... sorry for this

Robin

[mick_w]

Michael - thanks for rescuing the old thread - I've now added a copy to the links page on the website...

I thought it might be worth adding this post with a fresh link to the site:


***** http://www.ulverston.myzen.co.uk/mini-itx/index.htm *****


I've also added a new link to a Dutch translation that Ramon Boerman has added on his website.

Mick

[mherger]

> Michael - thanks for rescuing the old thread

....that's the minimum I could do after accidentally deleting it :-/.

Michael

[Fifer]

A heartfelt thanks to mick for his excellent instructions (and to others who helped me along the way with some Linux dummy questions). My mini-ITX server is now up and running and the performance running SC7 is far superior to my TS-101 running 6.5.1 (in fact, it's much quicker than the TS-101 running 6.3.x).

After some initial problems getting CC to install on my eBay purchased EPIA M10000 Nehemiah (overcome by transferring the HD to another machine and doing the install there), I found mick's instructions to be very clear, simple, comprehensive and accurate. The whole thing cost less than £150 (case, board and memory under £100 from eBay and a new Maxtor 250GB disk at £45) and despite my initial reservations, SC7 seems to run just fine in 256MB of RAM. A complete rescan of 4500 tracks took about 18 minutes which is slower than mick's setup, but still respectable. Everyday operation with the remote, the web interface and with Jive all seem perfectly responsive and normal. Scanning might be quicker with more memory, but a complete rescan from scratch is a reasonably infrequent operation so it's probably not necessary.

I opted to use one disc for the OS and the music (my Cubit case only takes one HD), but the HD seems only to be accessed during playback or scanning and not at all when idle. As it happens, the HD is quieter than the processor fan (which is very quiet and effectively inaudible when the box is located under my desk). Noise wasn't a major issue for me in any case as the server is in my study on the first floor and I listen to music downstairs. However, it is very quiet which is a bonus.

So, for under £150, I have a high performance, low power, small form-factor SlimServer box with power enough to cope with future SC (or SC) developments for the next wee while. I'm very happy.

Now to install AlienBBC and get print serving working ...

[MrStuff]

Following inspiration from Mick I have finally built myself a dedicated file/slimserver box based around Via hardware and Clarkconnect. However it just doesn't appear to be stable or
responsive enough and I need to understand if I've made a
fundamental mistake before struggling to resolve the issues I see.

Can someone take a look at this and let me know if what I am
trying to do is sensible or not?

Here goes some information:

Hardware:
Via EN12000EG board
1GB Ultra low profile DDR2 (533MHz)
(Ran memtest86+ for 6 hours with no errors)
Old Fujitsu MHT2040AT 40GB 2.5" HDD (system)
(Possible repalce with SSD if prices fall next year)
New Western Digital WD10EACS 1GB HDD (main file storage)
Pioneer DVR-K17 DVD Drive
Travla C158 (60W) case (fan disconnected)
Temperatures well monitored - never gets very high
(CPU ~45C, M/B ~66C, HDD's ~42C)

Software:
ClarkConnect 4.2
Slimserver 6.5.1 (as I've been using on my FC5 box)
Mplayer/AlienBBC (installtion/versions as suggested by Mick)
GkrellM-Daemon 2.2.4 for remote status monitoring
lm_sensors 2.8.7
Various tweaks to webconfig for logging system/harddrive temps

Clients:
1*SB1
2*SB2
Linux (FC5 box) (Samba, SSH & Gkrellm)
Win XP Pro Box (Samba & Softsqueeze)
Vista Ultimate laptop (Samba & SoftSqueeze)

Goal:
Virtually silent
Centralised file storage (currently on FC 5 box)
Slimserver to support 3 simultaneous streams (Flac/AlienBBC)
Central mail server with anti-spam/virus
Imap links to clients on Windows/Linux boxes

Problem(s):

*Everything* works in isolation (inc AlienBBC and MPlayer).

Under heavy Samba load (from WinXP) Slimserver is
unresponsive and music streams break-up/stall
Raising priority of Slimserver in preferences doesn't
seem to work (process doesn't change it's nice value).
Manual re-nicing (-4) of SS does improve responsiveness,
but quickly leads to kernel panic and a need to reboot
machine/fsck storage HDD.

Samba access from FC5 box causes virtually instantaneous
Kernel panic (version mis-match problems?)

Haven't tried access from Vista laptop yet.

Machine has been observed to panic at other times as
well, notably when trying to download cc-devel and when
strange characters are input through keyboard (connected
through KVM which sometimes sends "strange" characters
when switching PC's under control).