Server Build Checklist
Preliminaries
- Check the motherboard for blown caps,
- Confirm that the battery (CMOS) is at least 3 volts,
- Check that it boots without keyboard. "Keyboard failure" error is ok. Just be sure you're not prompted to "press key X to continue..."
- Check that it boots from CD,
- Check that it automatically boots after power loss,
- Build Only: Boot to network and install Debian Squeeze to local disks,
- Debian Wiki Guide to Software RAIDs: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/SoftwareRaidRoot
- Wikipedia RAID article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID
Diagnostics & Databases
- Confirm that the server can boot from the local disk(s),
- Test any USB ports (front and back),
- Test the video ports (front and back),
- QC Only: Remove any SATA drives and give them to your Instructor,
- Run printme:
- Boot from network,
- Select printme from the network boot menu,
- Log in as guest,
- Open a terminal,
- Run printme,
- Record whether it's Tower or Rackmount and its size (1U, 2U, 3U, etc.), and anything else noteworthy.
- Fill out the Server Specs sticker based on whether you are doing Build or QC:
- BUILD:
- Put System ID on server specs sticker,
- Processor speed (GHz) and type (Xeon, Opteron),
- Number of physical processors and number of cores per processor,
- Number and type (DDR, DDR2) of RAM slots,
- Number of hard drive bays and their interfaces (IDE, SCSI, SATA),
- Do not print! Instead, put your Volunteer ID on a piece of tape on the system.
- QC:
- Confirm the accuracy of information already on the Specs sticker,
- Number of RAM sticks with their type, speed, and size,
- The total amount of installed RAM,
- The number, type, and size of installed hard drives (IDE & SCSI only),
- Print the printme, and tape it to the top of the system.
- BUILD:
- Have your Instructor look over the printme,
- Move the system to the Server Build KVM and run Memtest, if it hasn't already been done.
- Consult your Instructor for a new project!