Server Build Checklist

Preliminaries

Check for blown caps - Examine all of the capacitors
Check battery - Confirm that the CMOS battery is at least 3 volts
Boot Process - Ensure that the server boots properly in the following ways:

• Boots from CD - use an Ubuntu Live CD, leave Ubuntu running for next step
  
• Boots automatically after power loss - while still in Ubuntu from the previous step, unplug all power cords (and the keyboard for the next step) from the server to simulate a sudden power loss. It should reboot automatically - if not, check BIOS settings.
  
• Boots without keyboard - the server may report a "Keyboard failure" error - this is okay as long it boots successfully without human intervention, such as "press key X to continue..."
  

RAID & LVM Setup (Build ONLY)

Install Debian Squeeze - Boot to network and install Debian Squeeze to local disks, choose hostname, leave domain name as “fglan”

Setup Software RAID

• Debian Wiki Guide to Software RAIDs: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/SoftwareRaidRoot

Partition Disks:

• Create small partition (400-500M) on each device
  • primary partition at the beginning of the drive
  • use as “physical volume for RAID”
  • set as bootable
• Create large partition (all remaining space) on each device
  • primary, not bootable

Setup RAID for small partitions: RAID1 (bootable) with the number of devices equal to number of disks
Setup RAID for large partitions:

• For 2-3 disks:Setup RAID1, with number of devices equal to number of disks
• For 4+ disks:Setup RAID6, with number of devices equal to number of disks

Configure LVM - configure larger RAID1 or RAID6 array as LVM volume

• Create Logical Volume Group with same name as hostname
• Select Large RAID array as LVM Volume
  • create volume (4G) named root (mounted at /, ext3 filesystem)
  • create volume (1G) named swap (use as swap)
  • create volume (remaining) named srv (mounted at /srv, ext3 filesystem)
• 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/SAS 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.), multiple power supplies, if it's using hardware raid, 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 RAM sticks with their type, speed, and size,
    • 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,
    • 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!