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),
• Test network ports (at terminal: ifconfig eth0 up,ifconfig eth1 up, then tail -f /var/log/syslog, and when you plug and unplug the ethernet cable, you should see reasonable printouts. Ctrl-C to stop the tail command.),
• 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.
• 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!