[ale] Looking for recommendations on next low end linux server hardware

[Neal Rhodes]

Time to build our next home office server. 

We have usually used IBM Netvista off-lease, bought two new drives and
mirrored them, and stuff it full of RAM. 

This time I'm trying for a fast dual core 64 bit system with good
cooling for two drives and maybe 4-8GB RAM, but would like to get a
decent video card that can support dual head.  

I'm thinking of running VMware ESXi 4.1 and Centos on top of that, along
with whatever other VMs I need to load.    

Graphics support needn't be gaming fast; just hi resolution.  (1920x1080
is probably fine.)  This is a database development and general office
linux machine for me and my partner. 

My dollar target is around $300, or the top end of the TigerDirect
off-lease systems. 

Any recommendations on stuff that "just works", as opposed to stuff that
has problems with linux and VMware? 

Also, any thoughts on mirroring?   Fedora and Ubuntu handled software
drive mirroring pretty simply at install time.   Can VMware do that
transparently for its Virtual machines?


Neal 
MNOP Ltd

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