RaQPort: CentOS + BlueQuartz GS12 2.8 GHz 1GBRAM 2x200GB RAID1 with SUN COBALT RAQ550 GUI

( Manufactured by RaQport Inc.)

Sun Cobalt RaQs were designed as relieable and inexpensively priced turn-key server appliances. Although they were based on open source software they in fact were burdened with a lot of proprietory add-ons (like the GUI interface and LCD-drivers) which made upgrades or manual installs a nightmare best left to experts (like us). However, in the best tradition of open source software we would like to introduce the CentOS + BlueQuartz Server Appliance, which is based on the following soft- and hardware:

CentOS is an Enterprise-class Linux Distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public by a prominent North American Enterprise Linux vendor (read that as RedHat). CentOS conforms fully with the upstream vendors redistribution policy and aims to be 100% binary compatible. CentOS mainly changes packages to remove upstream vendor branding and artwork. CentOS is free.

BlueQuartz is an open source project which is based on the Sun Cobalt Sausalito architecture of the Cobalt RaQ550. BlueQuartz provides the same GUI functionality which a RaQ550 provides - minus the Chilisoft ASP. Yes you can download and use Frontpage support. Sites, users, mailinglists and settings can easily be imported from an existing Sun Cobalt RaQ to a server running BlueQuartz - through the built in CMU utility.

This PKG installs "Microsoft Frontpage 2002" support on your BlueQuartz server appliance in the same way as you were used to Frontpage 2002 support on a RaQ550. Aside from installing the Frontpage server extensions it also will install the GUI pages and handlers which allow to enable and disable Frontpage support for individual sites. Of course you can also publish Frontpage pages to users home directories, too.

Full Update BlueQuartz server OS/software is loaded and the server is ready to be connected to Your Network.

All patches and security updates are up to date. You do not have to install any more Sun Cobalt Updates.

Yum Update will install all the updates automatically.

Server comes with dual 120GB SATA HARD DRIVESRAID1 but we can update up to dual 500GB SATA RAID1 and up to 4 gigs of RAMSystem is 10 times faster then RAQ550

New RAID Package Installed!!
Will install over top of the default one installed! RAID Tools v3.0 is already included on v2.5 of our CD! [ read more ]

Software Installed:

Apache 2.0.52
PHP 4.3.9
MySQL 4.1.12
Perl 5.8.5
Python 2.3.4
Bind v9.2.4
Sendmail v8.13 w/ SMTP Authentication
Microsoft Front Page 2002 Installed
CMU Tools Installed
CCE Shell Tools
Midnight Commander Installed
RAID v3.1 PKG Installed
dnsImport.pl Installed
mod_auth_external for .htaccess authentication Installed

Installer is based on Cent OS v4.2 - Fully patched as of January 5, 2006

Blue Quartz has been updated to latest versions available!

CMU Updated to latest version.

Rebuilt Kickstart Scripts for internal purposes

CD image is smaller! Removed unneeded files!

CD base install is smaller! Full install is only 640 megs!!!

Headless Install! Hook up to the serial port and watch it install!

Blue Quartz is now installed via CD Installer! No more "hack" installer. Provides for a Professional look and feel!

No more having to login to access wizard. After wizard is complete, you will be prompted to login

Ability to change Network Settings via the command line! This will even update the BQ GUI

Ability to install custom PKGS! Now you can turn into a full OSRCD!

Ability to launch custom install script. This allows you to install .RPMs, and make changes to your system!

Custom CDs are extremely easy to create yourself!

MySQL Databases moved from /var/lib/mysql to /home/mysql

/home/tmp & /var/tmp now point to /tmp partition

New Partition Scheme!

/boot	100 megs
/var	4 gigs
/tmp	1 gigs
/	6 gigs
swap	1 gig
/home	The rest of the available space

New RAID Tools v3.0

RAID Tools brings the functionality of the RaQ550 RAID system over to Blue Quartz! This is a replacement package for my old one I had made. Now you get active monitor notices about RAID failures, your system will rebuild it's self on reboot too! Previous versions of my RAID software will be removed automatically!

dnsImport.pl v2.0

When Sun introduced the RaQ550, Jeff Bilicki was nice enough to provide a way to move DNS from older RaQs to the RaQ550. The biggest problem though, it was unable to move RaQ550 => RaQ550. That is where this script comes into play. It is designed to move RaQ 4, 550, TLAS => Blue Quartz!

Import from:

Cobalt RaQ 4

Cobalt RaQ 550

First Light Network's Argon TLAS Server

Another Blue Quartz Server

Import to:

Blue Quartz ONLY

This does NOT work for RaQ 550 => RaQ 550!!!!
This is beta software. To the best of my knowledge it is functional. It may not function for you though. It does require that you have cmuTools already loaded! dnsImport.pl is not warranted free from defects!

GCC Compile Tools v2.0

GCC is the C/C++ compiler needed to compile software on CentOS & BlueQuartz. Additional compile tools have been provided in 1 easy to install package. This is required if you want to compile software on your server.

Front Page 2002 Extensions

MS Frontpage 2002 are extensions installed on your CentOS / BlueQuartz server. This allows beginner users to be able to upload their websites in a very easy manor. No longer do they have to use FTP.

Mod Auth External is an external module for Apache that will pass authentication over to another program. This page is dedicated to that "other program". NuOnce Networks did not write mod_auth_external, nor do we provide support for it. We do provide support for our custom application!

The Tyan GS-12 1U server chassis is a very relieable and solidly manufactured barebone system with LCD frontpanel. It comes complete with rackmount slides, ample cooling and supports SATA, up to 4 GB of memory and Pentium 4 processors. Its performance and inexpensiveness makes it the ideal choice for an affordably priced server appliance.

We can highly recommend the CentOS + BlueQuartz Server Appliance as worthy sucessor of the RaQ550. It is much faster than a RaQ550. Also, all hardware components readily available from any well sorted computer retail store, so spare parts should never be an issue. The software (OS and GUI) are open source projects with a pretty active developer- and user-base.

We are at this moment porting our RaQ550 software to the CentOS + BlueQuartz Server Appliance and extras like the SPAM-Filter, AV-Suite, Security Package, php, MySQL and phpMyAdmin will be available shortly.

Aside from offering professional installation services we also plan on releasing certain pre-packaged software for free for this new and exciting plattform.

Sites, users, mailing lists and settings can directly be imported with the built in CMU from any Cobalt RaQ. So this is an inexpensive way to trade the aging Cobalt RaQs against much more modern hard- and software, while retaining the well known functionality and GUI interface.

Quick Overview:

• Plug-and-play: start hosting web sites in minutes
• Sub 1U form factor w/ full extension rails
• High speed drives, memory, and processor for diverse web applications
• Hosts hundreds of virtual sites with IP- and/or name-based lookups
• Standard web services like DNS, SMTP, FTP, SNMP, etc. included standard
• Compatible with Sun Cobalt RaQ1 550 users and sites

Features:

Software:
• CentOS Enterprise-class Linux Distribution (open source)
• BlueQuartz User interface based on RaQ550 Sausalito
• OS Restore CD included for easy OS reinstalls

We have the latest OpenWebmail and also Squirrelmail ready for CentOS + BlueQuartz.

I once installed Zope on a RaQ4 (actually, I'm still using Zope there). Python is by default installed on CentOS

Hardware:
• High-quality parts: genuine Intel processor and chipset
• SATA drives in "native" mode for super high-speed access (available in RAID or single drive configuration)
• ECC RAM up to 4GB
• Dual 1Gb Ethernet adapters
• Front-panel control for IP address, hardware monitor, password reset, etc.

Service:
• Limited OS support available through RAQport.com

• Obtain Support through the CentOS forum
• Obtain Support through the CentOS mailling list

Here are some screenshots from the GUI interface:

Features:

Detailed Specifications:

Software:
• Kernel 2.6.9-11
• Apache web server
• Sendmail SMTP server
• PHP 4.3.9
• MySQL 4
• LCD panel fully working

Hardware:

CPU:
• Intel celeron 2.8 GHz
• Supports 533/800MHz FSB 256 KB L2 Cache

Chipset:
• Intel® 875P MCH (Turbo Mode support)
• 4Mbit Flash EEPROM
• 2x Onboard Intel® 82547GI CSA 10/100/1000 GbE LAN Controller

Memory:
• 1 GB RAM installed (Supports up to 4GB ECC memory)
• 4 DDR DIMM sockets
• Supports PC3200, PC2700, PC2100 unbuffered ECC DDR SDRAM DIMMs

Expansion Slots:
• 1x 32-bit/33 MHz PCI v2.3 slot

Onboard I/O:
• 2 x serial ports (internal (default for unit LCD use) x 1, external x 1 )
• 1 x VGA port
• 2 x USB ports
• 2 x LAN ports

Front I/O:
• 16x 2 LCD panel
• 2 x USB 2.0
• Power button
• Power LED, HDD LED, LAN1 & LAN2 LED

Hardisks (Onboard S-ATA):
• 2 x 200 GB S-ATA (RAID 1)

Onboard LAN:
• 2x Onboard Intel® 82547GI CSA 10/100/1000 GbE LAN Controller

Dimensions:
• Dimension: 16.7" (W) x 15.3" (D) x 1.7" (H)
• Dimension (mm): 424 (W) x 387.7 (D) x 43.5 (H)

Power Supply:
• 300W Power supply

Transport GS12 (B5103) NEW IN BOX

Powerfull 1U rackmount Web Server

CentOS + BlueQuartz OS restore instructions

If you have a Tyan GS-12 with two SATA hardisks from us and need to OS restore the operating system, then please use this instructions:

Prerequisites:

• 1 USB CD-ROM drive
• 1 USB Keyboard
• 1 VGA Monitor

Connect the CD-ROM and Keyboard to the USB ports on the front or back of the unit. Plug the monitor in. Put the (included) CentOS + BlueQuartz OS Restore CD into the CD-ROM and power on the server.

Press F2 during power up to access the BIOS.

Bios settings:

1.) Make sure that the boot device (see menu entry "BOOT") lists CD-ROM as first device. If the CD-ROM is not listed as first device, then you can move it upwards in the list with the +/- keys on the numerical keypad.

2.) RAID: Make sure that RAID is [DISABLED]. Please note that onboard raid controllers are not efficient. We use software RAID.

Set BIOS "Advanced" to the following settings:

Installed O/S: [Other]

Reset Configuratiion Data: [NO]

Large Disk Access Mode: [Other]

Parallel ATA: [Disabled]

Serial ATA: [Enabled]

Native Mode Operation: [Serial ATA]

Legacy USB Support: [Enabled]

In BIOS menu "MAIN" confirm that IDE Channel 2 and 3 Master are set to the following settings:

Auto
32 Bit I/O [Enabled]

Save the changes and let the unit boot off the CD-ROM.

Actual OS install:

Read known issues in regards to USB CD-ROM
Sit back and watch it fly through setting up. It does NOT require any key board intervention!
When it is finished, it will be at a login prompt. Type “root” and hit enter.
It will ask you for the IP address, Netmask and Default Gateway. Please have them handy!

IP Address: __________________________
Netmask: ____________________________
Gateway: ____________________________
The setup script will continue adding and removing packages needed to run your new box.
After the install is finish, you will need to connect to the web address using a web browser
Follow on screen setup! And your done!
Before Actually Installing, please read the known issues to avoid any problems!

Known Issues:

USB CD ROM issue. The install may drop into text mode, “ask for language”. If this is the case, reboot the server and watch the monitor, when there is a pause and the display reads “loading /sbin/loader” remove and reinsert the CD ROM USB cord. You should see info box “loading USB storage driver and the install should continue without intervention.
Unless you remove the CD when ejected, the server may reboot and load off the CD when the install is finished. If this is the case, power down the server, power up the server and immediately remove the CD, so the server will boot from the hard drive.
During initial Blue Quartz Setup Wizard, the wizard may crash if you change the IP of the DNS server from 127.0.0.1. Please change it after installation is complete. This in no way will limit the functionality of server, nor will it degrade performance.
If you click on “System Settings” and then “TCP/IP”, you get a java script runtime error. This only appears to happen in Internet Explorer early version of 6. In Firefox, you do not have this issue!
The LCD may stop working after a “yum update”. If it does, simply re-install the LCD RPM located in /root using;

rpm --Uvh --force --nodeps /root/NuOnce-TyanGS12-LCD-1.0-1.noarch.rpm

Alternate OS restore procedure:

If you don't have an USB CD-ROM drive. You can also re-install the OS with an IDE CD-ROM drive.

If you do not have an USB keyboard and/or VGA monitor at hand, then you can connect a Laptop to the serial port on the back of the GS-12.

This procedure explains how to do that:

IDE CD-ROM install procedure:

Open the server by removing the top lids two screws on the back side of the server. Remove the top cover. Plug the IDE CD-ROM's IDE cable into the primary IDE channel on the motherboard. The primary IDE channel is the empty IDE socket near the CPU heatsink.

Make sure the IDE CD-ROM is jumpered as "MASTER" or "MASTER / Single Drive".

Next you need to connect power to the CD-ROM and this is where it gets tricky. The GS-12 only has two available 5,25" Y-powerplugs and both are used to power the two SATA hardisks. So you will need an adapter like this:

Y-Powercable (internal, for extra 5,25" power connection)

Unplug one SATA drives power cable, fit the adapter to the free power cable and the use the adapter to re-connect power to the SATA disk power plug AND to the IDE CD-ROM's power plug.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT attempt to do an OS restore with one SATA hardisk disconnected from power. The install will fail if the server is unable to use both SATA disks.

Then power on the server, put the OS restore CD into the IDE CD-ROM and follow the install instructions that you find at the beginning of this document. After the OS install is complete, power the server down, remove the IDE CD-ROM and power adapter, reconnect all plugs as they were, close the cover again and you're good to go.

Serial Install Guide:

If you don't have an USB keyboard or monitor at hand for the OS installation, then you can use a Desktop PC or Laptop instead to monitor the installation.

Connect a null modem cable to COM1 on your server to a Desktop Or Laptop’s COM port. The settings are as follows:

Baud: 38,400
Data Bits: 8
Parity: N
Stop Bits: 1
Flow Control: Off or None

Then connect the CD-ROM to the GS-12 server as outlined in this guide and start the install procedure.

Warranty:

Box: 1 year by Tyan

CPU: 3 years by Intel

Hard Drives: 3 years by Western Digital

RAM: lifetime warranty by Kingston

RAQport.com
2004 North Monroe Street
Arlington Virginia 22207 USA

Sales Team
Tel: 703.528.0114 ort 703 652-0993
Intl: 01.703.528.0114
Fax: 703.940.8300