server hardware recommendations?
 

Anyone have any server recommendations? It's gotta have a SCSI RAID controller, hold about 5 disks, and have 2 ethernet ports. It'll be running 24-7 serving a database (Debian, MySQL), so high-reliability is key.

We're looking at the Dell PowerEdge 2850, but I'm partial to doing business with small GNU/Linux-focused businesses if possible.

Any tips most appreciated.

Two 3Com 3C905 nics.
Multi processor motherboard using Opterons
512 MB of ECC RAM or more
A very, very good power supply with active PFC and Universal voltage

Set two drives in RAID level 1 (mirroring) for mySQL. Set two drives in RAID level 1 (mirroring) for OS. Set the other drive for a backup drive.

Thanks for the RAID tips Electro. I'd planned on using 3 drives, RAID 5, for the db, for more redundancy. I still have more reading to do on RAID though.

This page looks helpful: http://www.acnc.com/raid.html

BTW, I'm not assembling the box myself. I need something off-the-shelf. Maybe something from these guys: http://www.penguincomputing.com/ ?

Incidentally, why do you recommend a dual-proc system? Do db servers tend to be CPU-bound?

PowerEdge is a valid choice. They are used in production with GNU/Linux across enterprises in the industry.