Athena at MIT: Recommended and Supported Athena Server Configurations

Server Types
Information is provided on IBM/Linux servers and Sun/Solaris servers.

Product Life Cycle
Important: Vendor product life cycle for this class of machine are SHORT. Athena Server Operations renews its servers on a two year cycle.

Before You Buy
Support for particular server class configurations will end much sooner than for desktop systems. Whereas the expected lifecycle of a desktop system is four years, the expected lifecycle for a server system is two years.

Hardware Maintenance
Server class hosts do NOT get their hardware support through Hotline, since we don't buy the systems in big enough quantities to stock spares. We recommend you acquire a hardware service contract either directly from the hardware vendor, or through a third party such as Akibia. Marion Bagley, 617.253.1744 can help you do this.

System Administration
If you purchase the Athena Full-Service Option for server class hosts, Hotline will make a house call to re-install Athena software. Hotline does not do system administration or software trouble shooting. You are responsible for backing up local data, doing fault isolation, and reporting bugs if your system misbehaves.

Other Questions
Contact owls@mit.edu.

IBM xSeries 335 (Linux)
IBM part numbers: 867611X (machine), 32P0726 (disk), 06P4792 (xSeries Cable Chain Technology Cable Kit)

• Processor: 2.8 GHz Intel Xeon Processor with 512KB L2 cache
• Memory: 512 MB memory
• Drives: 36 GB 10k RPM Ultra320 SCSI Hot Sawap disk, 24X CD-ROM drive.
• Expandable to 8 GB of memory and two internal SCSI drives (146 GB SCSI max supported drive size).
• Graphics: ATI Rage XL with 8MB video RAM, max resolution 1600x1200
• Expansion: Two PCI slots

Notes

• The 06P4792 xSeries Cable Chain Technology Cable Kit is required to connect keyboard and mouse to the system
• This is an example configuration. The entire xSeries 335 line with all its memory, multi-CPU, and disk (either ATA or SCSI) configurations should work with Athena Linux

Any of the standard configurations that Sun ships will work with Athena. IS&T has experience deploying Athena on the following servers:

Sun Fire V100 (Solaris)

• Processor: 550 MHz UltraSPARC IIi processor with 512 KB L2 cache
• Memory: 1 GB memory expandable to 2 GB of memory
• Drives: 80 GB internal EIDE disk, 24X CD-ROM drive
• 1U (1.75 inches) in height
• Graphics: Cannot take a graphics card; serial console required
• Expansion: Two internal 40GB EIDE disks. Has no PCI slots, but does have dual USB ports

Sun Fire V210 (Solaris)

• Processor: One or two 1.34 GHz UltraSPARC IIIi processors with 1MB cache
• Memory: 512 MB memory expandable to 8 GB of memory
• Drives: One 73 GB hot-swap Ultra160 SCSI internal disk, 1 Slim-line ATAPI DVD-ROM (Optional)
• Graphics: Does not ship with a graphics card, but one can be added
• 1RU (1.7 inches) in height
• Four 10/100/1000 BaseT Ethernet ports
• Expansion: One PCI slot, one hot-swap Ultra160 SCSI disk, and one USB port

Sun Fire V240 (Solaris)

• Processor: One 1.34 GHz UltraSPARC IIIi processor or two 1.5 GHz UltraSPARC IIIi processors with 1MB cache
• Memory: 512 Mb memory expandable to 8 GB of memory
• Drives: One 73 GB hot-swap Ultra160 SCSI internal disk, 1 Slim-line ATAPI DVD-ROM (Optional)
• Graphics: Does not ship with a graphics card, but one can be added
• 2RU (3.4 inches) in height
• Four 10/100/1000 BaseT Ethernet ports
• Expansion: Three PCI slots, three hot-swap Ultra160 SCSI disks, and two USB ports

Sun Fire V440 (Solaris)

• Processor: Two or four 1.593 GHz UltraSPARC IIIi processors with 1MB cache
• Memory: 4 GB memory expandable to 32 GB of memory
• Drives: Four 73 GB Ultra320 SCSI internal disks or four 146 GB Ultra320 SCSI internal disks
• Graphics: Does not ship with a graphics card, but one can be added
• 4RU (6.85 inches) in height
• Two 10/100/1000 BaseT Ethernet ports
• Expansion: Six PCI slots, and four USB ports