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

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)
    
    
• Debian Wiki Guide to Software RAIDs: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/SoftwareRaidRoot
• Wikipedia RAID article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

Diagnostics & Databases

• Boot from local disk(s)
• Test USB ports (front and back),
• Test 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
  • Answer all the questions and record anything else noteworthy in the notes section

Fill out the Server Specs sticker based on whether you are doing Build or QC:

• For BUILD:
  • Put System ID on server specs sticker
  • Processor speed (GHz) and type (Xeon, Opteron, Core 2, Other)
  • Number of physical processors and number of cores per processor
  • Number of RAM slots
  • Number of included RAM sticks with their type, speed, and size
  • Number of hard drive bays and their interfaces (IDE, SCSI, SATA, SAS)
  • Number and size of included hard drives
  • Do not print! Instead, put your Volunteer ID on a piece of tape on the system
• For QC:
  • Confirm the accuracy of information already on the Specs sticker
  • The total amount of installed RAM
  • Number and size of included hard drives
  • Write the System ID# on a Server Tag sticker (small labels marked S1, S2, etc.) and stick it to the front face of the chassis.
  • Print the printme, write the number from the Server Tag in the upper right-hand corner of the printme, and give it to your instructor.

• 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!