Lessons Learned Through Several Computers
Revisiting Several Computers
Over time, I've configured a number of desktop and server computers in my
personal digital domain, generally including some mix of Linux and
Windows operating systems. When I do this, I usually collect notes about how well
the process works or fails, in case the accumulated experience may be useful in the
future. They were helpful in late 2018, as I've configured the latest system where I'm
now typing and which is now, dare I say,
idling smoothly. 
This project
assembles several of these histories
in a single place.
Looking back in reverse chronological order, I summarize:
- vaviary, in which I deploy a small cloud-based server to host a web-facing application
- apollo, in which I obtain a second server box as below and configure it as a desktop system
- go3, in which I migrate the home server environment in 2017 to a contemporary hardware box actually designed for that purpose
- go-ng, where, in 2012, I repurpose a somewhat newer desktop system (originally manufactured in 2004) for server purposes
- gorilla, in which I build my first home server in 2009 by recycling an old desktop machine which had been a current model in 2003
Summary Characteristics
| Name | Date | Hardware | RAM | Disk | Sysbench | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vaviary | 2019 | Virtual | 1 GB | 25 GB SSD | 650 | |
| apollo | 2018 | Dell PowerEdge T30 | 24 GB | 1TB + 2x4TB RAID1 + 1TB SSD | 4.8K | |
| go3 | 2017 | Dell PowerEdge T30 | 8 GB | 1TB + 2x4TB RAID1 | 4.8K | |
| go-ng | 2012 | Dell Dimension 4700 | 1.5 GB | 1TB + 3TB | ~1.5K | |
| gorilla | 2009 | Dell Dimension 2400 | 1.5 GB | 400 GB (PATA) | ? |
The table's sysbench column reflects the number of events/second as reported by
the following command (as of sysbench v. 1.0.11, with approximation for earlier versions):
sysbench --threads=4 cpu run
Formatting Notes
Within the individual system discussions, I've applied CSS to highlight a couple of topics of interest:
-
I've highlighted some performance measurement topics
-
I've also highlighted topics concerning power consumption and monitoring
Each discussion contains a quick summary of the motivations for that particular system build. The heading for that section is presented in a bolder font than the font used for other headings at the same level.
On some pages (particularly the one for apollo), I'd indulged in verbose titles. On narrower displays, shorter variants are substituted for some of these.