Although this build is headless (no monitor), it still requires a graphics card for installation and instances where ssh is not practical. The Intel DP55KG motherboard used in this build does not have on-board graphics and requires a PCI-e video card for installation. Unless, you are really that good and know the install screens by heart.

Looking up a the graphics card from the bottom of the case

Hard drive (hdd) installation and ThermalLake hdd coolers are a nice addition to the hdd bays. The 2009 HAF case lacked sufficient ventilation to bring the drives below 31C. The ThermalTake coolers eliminate that issue and they look sweet!

An important component of building a machine is cable management. Managing your cables in a way that is esthetically pleasing and functional is an art. I am still working on it. In the image above, I hide many of the power cables under the hdd where nothing much is happening and it is out of the way.

Cable management

Managing your SATA connections with zip ties and color codes helps to identify each component. In this example, red represents the HAF case connector, dark blue are the RAID1 drives, and the light blue cable is for the DVD-ROM.

SATA connectors and motherboard wiring

The finished HAF case increases visibility.

The finished Product!

Don’t be offended if I do not write much here. This image is for reference so that we can see Chrome rein in!

As a quick guide, first enable mod_status, if not already done so, with sudo a2enmod status. Next, edit your /etc/apache2/httpd.conf file and add the following declarations:

<Location /server-status>
    SetHandler server-status
    Order deny,allow
    Deny from all
    Allow from XX.X.XX.XX
</Location>

If you want to view the status of your Apache processes from your current machine, simple add Allow from XX.X.XX.XX to your parameters as seen above. Restart your Apache server and navigate to your target location.

If you want to automatically refresh the results page every 10 seconds, use the following:

http://localhost/server-status?refresh=10

Change the refresh time to suit your needs.

2009 HAF with Intel i7

The new HAF design incorporates more shrouding around the side of the hard drives and a more focussed side door fan. Additionally, the larger 200mm fans have been replaced by smaller fans, I believe them to be 120mm. Check TigerDirect for HAF cases to see a few of the different HAF cases available.

Visible shrouding for an added fan to pull more heat from the hard drives

The previous years’ case design seemed to have a problem with keeping the hard drives (hdd) cool. Prior to installing ThermalTake A2427 hard drive coolers, my hard drives were purring along at around 32C. It surprised me that they were that high with that monster red LED fan in the front of the case. Granted, 32C is cool for hdd’s, however, I like my  drives cool as ice – it’s my prerogative.

ThermalTake A2427 hard drive coolers

The new HAF did not come with this new hard drive cooler fan that the shroud is designed for. I took it off in favor of the new ThermalTake hdd coolers. Personally, I prefer a case without internal shrouds that you will oftentimes see in HP or Dell cases. Granted, I am sure that many of you will shake your head and tell me that case designers do things like this for increased focused air flow. However, when engineers add this shrouding, it creates spots for dust buildup and tends to sacrifice the temperature of one piece of hardware versus the other.

The next major enhancement to the HAF case is the addition of USB3.0 ports. Although USB 3.0 is still relatively new for hardware devices, the new HAF incorporates the hardware into the case. USB3.0 is backwards compatible with USB2.0, therefore you will not need an additional hardware other than the included wire with the case.

USB3.0 front ports on left side

USB3.0 ports on left with eSATA and sliding power switch cover

New focused smaller side fan replaced the monster 200mm intake side fan on older models

I am quite pleased with the new Intel DP55KG motherboards. There are more features on the board than I will use (e.g. bluetooth and overclocking). However, I know that the Extreme series board will treat me well. A minor issue with the DP55KG is the placement of the RAM slots in relation to the PCI-e slot. Larger graphics cards will require you to remove the closest stick of RAM to install the card and flip the locking mechanism on the PCI-e slot. Not a major issue, but something to keep in mind.

Intel DP55KG with Intel i7 processor in place

This particular server will operate Ubuntu Server v.10.04LTS, RAID1 with 2*500GB WD Caviar Black drives, with only Apache, PHP, and MySQL.

If you have questions or comments, leave me a note below.

Read Part 2

If you are ambitious enough to market and maintain your own micro-blogging tool, there is a server-side software capable of accomplishing your goals.

StatusNet

StatusNet is the most complete micro-blogging tool available on the open-source market. It has a simple installation and is extremely thorough. You can create groups, includes RSS, and an embeddable widget for you site or for your users.

Site link: http://status.net/

Twitster

For those deeply embedded with Twitter, this server-side web application provides an active feed of specified hash tags (#) from your Twitter account. I cannot say that I use hash tags, but then again I rarely visit the Twitter page myself. With that said, it appears a well built software and very user friendly.

Site link: http://plasticmind.com/twitster/

MicroBucky

A simple micro-blog with a MySQL-PHP-AJAX framework. This server-side tool is RSS enabled and quite functional. The code base is adapted from the MIT licensed Jibberbook guestbook and is drop-dead simple to maintain.

Site link: http://code.google.com/p/microbucky/

A little tech about the i7: 8 thread, Quad core, L3 cache memory of 8MB, CPU has a thermal design power (TDP) of 130W.

In other words, it kicks ass.

sudo apt-get install mediatomb-common mediatomb-daemon mediatomb -y

mediatomb-common: The main package consisting of the MediaTomb binary and all files necessary to run MediaTomb from the command line as a regular user. The other packages depend on this package, so it is needed in all cases.
mediatomb-daemon: This package has additional files to allow MediaTomb to start as a daemon at startup. Use this package if you want to run MediaTomb at boot time.
mediatomb: Additional files to add a menu entry that opens up a browser to show the MediaTomb UI. This package is separated from “mediatomb-daemon” to allow installation of MediaTomb on a headless system. Install this package only on systems with X installed.

Next, you need to enable the software for PS3. Open up the /etc/mediatomb/config.xml file in gedit or nano and make this line say “YES.”

<protocolInfo extend="yes"/>

A simple and easy to follow tutorial is located here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MediaTomb

Problem

My problem with the Vista machines deals with how they look at the DNS for resolution. My DHCP server pushes DNS lookups in the following order: 10.1.10.35, 8.8.8.8, and 8.8.4.4. The 10.* block address is my internal DNS, while the latter two addresses are Google DNS. As I mentioned earlier, I host around two dozen or so websites from the server. Viewing them internally is made possible by operating Bind9, allowing internal NAT’ing. Back to Vista – When the Vista machines first boot up, they can navigate to my internal sites just fine. However, after a couple of minutes, the sites fall back to my internal router address, losing domain name resolution. After checking the iPv4 settings, my server is still top on the DNS. However, nothing dictates to Vista that it must use the servers in a specific order. Well, at least to my knowledge.

Perhaps, a horrible solution to this issue, but a functional solution is to manually edit the /etc/hosts file in Vista to include sites that I want to resolve. As my home network only has two Vista machines, I am not too worried about the time spent on this manual manipulation. However, for those with multiple users in a business environment, I am certain that there is another alternative.

The Fix

Navigate to C:/Windows/System32/drivers/etc/ and copy the hosts file with a new name; it would be something like hosts_original. The purpose of this is to create a backup in case something goes horribly wrong. Whenever you alter critical system files, ALWAYS make backups. Now that you have a backup of the hosts file, copy the original to your Desktop and open it up using Notepad or other text editor.

# Copyright (c) 1993-2006 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
#      102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com          # source server
#       38.25.63.10     x.acme.com              # x client host

127.0.0.1       localhost
::1             localhost
#ADD CUSTOM ENTRIES BELOW 29Aug10
10.1.10.28 ubuntuserver.server.local
10.1.10.28 nwlinux.com

Once you finish your changes, save them and copy and paste the file back to your Vista system folder. Reboot your machine and you are off and running. I stress, that this modification is likely not the best method or resolving domain names in Vista, but it is functional until I can configure Bind9 the proper way.

If you have questions or comments regarding this procedure, leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.

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