[cobalt-users] My experience upgrading a RaQ3 - HD, Memory, and OS

["Toby Miller" <tobymiller28@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Just thought I'd share with the rest of the list.  I have received sooo much 
information from this list I thought I'd give back for once.

I have read MANY posts on this list about upgrading a RaQ3's Hard Drive, 
Memory, and even the OS to the RaQ4 OS.  I recently upgraded a RaQ3 
(standard model not the 3i) and thought I'd share how it went and what the 
procedure was.

My RaQ3 was low end with 64Mb of Memory and the 8.4Gb drive.

I installed two 256Mb DIMMS from Crucial Technologies to bring the memory to 
a total of 512Mb.  I did this first, rebooted, and all was well.  You can 
find the exact DIMMS on www.crucial.com.  Use their memory wizard.

Next, I upgraded the Hard Drive from the paltry 8.4Gb drive to 40Gb using 
IBM Deskstar 40Gb 7200RPM drives (P/N 07N8450).  These drives consume less 
power than the original 8.4Gb drives that Cobalt had installed.  I know many 
people were concerned about the heat difference between 7200 and 5400 but 
IBM claims that the deskstars run cooler than the original Quantum or 
Seagate drives do -- and they consume much less power.

Next came the OS install. Booted an Wintel machine with the RaQ4i OS restore 
CD and followed the instructions for the install. Booted the RaQ and 
restored it using the RaQ4i install CD.  Installed in no time and was up and 
running with no problems.  Immediately downloaded and applied all the 
outstanding RaQ4 patches. (remember this WAS a RaQ3 and is now a RaQ4)  
Checked the GUI to confirm memory and it showed 512Mb.  No problem so far.  
Then checked the GUI to confirm HD space and it was showing only 5.4Gb. 
Bummer.  Searched the archives on this issue and found several people saying 
it was the restore CD and that you couldn't resize or even go greater than 
32Mb.  Not wanting to give up all that space I decided to try another 
option.  I resized the partition.  Here is what I did...

Login as root ==> su -
Make a temp directory ==> mkdir /hometmp
CD to the new directory ==> cd /hometmp
Tar a copy of /home ==> tar cvf home.tar /home
Shut down all services ==> /etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd stop

*NOTE* You must shut down all services (i.e. admserv, httpd, inetd,etc..)

CD to root/root directory ==> cd /root
Unmount /home ==> umount /home
Change /home partition to new size ==> cfdisk
Write changes to /home partition (usually hda4)
Make filesystem/format ==> mkfs /dev/hda? (where ? is the # for /home)
Re-mount /home partition ==> mount /home
CD to root ==> cd /
Un-tar copy of /home ==> tar xvf /hometmp/home.tar home
Remove backup of /home ==> rm -r /hometmp

Now reboot the RaQ from the LCD panel.
Once rebooted DF now shows 38Gb for the /home partition
AND SO DOES THE GUI!!!  So now I have a old RaQ3 that is now a RaQ4 with 
512Mb RAM and 40Gb of disk space.  You CAN go above 32Gb limit.
My next project for this RaQ is to install the DupliDisk2 RAID
solution provided by Arco products to make this little RaQ4(3?) a RAID1 
server.  The DupliDisk2 is an IDE RAID1 controller that is slotless and 
requires NO OS support.  Great solution.  www.arcoide.com

So what did all of this cost?

512Mb of memory ==> approx $99 us
40Gb IBM Deskstar HD ==> approx $89 us (each)
Arco DupliDisk2 RAID Controller ==> $279 us

Instant RaQ4r!

Regards,

Toby Miller


***CYA NOTE***
This is my experience only!  These procedures DO VOID your warranty with 
Cobalt/SUN and could cause serious problems with your server.  These 
procedures were performed on a spare RaQ3 with NO active sites. If you 
decide to upgrade your RaQ -- you do so at YOUR OWN RISK.
***CYA NOTE***



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