We are in the processing of upgrading our tired old 486/66 V1.1 server to a 
new Pentium server. Being out of the PC hardware configuration world for a 
few years I would like any comments on the config. The goal is reliability, 
smoking the performance of our NT servers,  and no bleeding edge pain ;-)

Requirements:

Using V1.3.2 as shipped on the NetBSD CD-ROM purchased from the netbsd.com 
Web page
Serves about 20 PC's using Samba (Windows software developers)
Must use a Compaq server (I know)

My Initial Design:

DeskPro 2000 (266MHz), DeskPro 4000 (300 MHz), Professional Workstation 
6000 (300 MHz)
or a ProSignia 200 (300 MHz)
(Any preferences ?? Does the 266 vrs. 300 matter  much ?)

96 MB RAM (is this enough ?)
2 x Adaptec 2940UW or Adaptec 2940 U2W Controllers
3 to 4 x Seagate Barracua 9LP drives (9 Gig Ultra-2 SCSI) in individual 
external boxes

Tape:

1 x HP SureStore DAT24
or
1 x HP SureStore DAT24x6 Autoloader (Probably using Amanda 2.4.x.y for 
backup)

CD Rom:

1 to 5 x Some SCSI CD-Rom drives

Questions:
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NIC Card - Under 3COM PCI Based cards I see: 590, 595, 900, 905 (Not 905b) 
cards work

I only see 905B on 3COM's WEB pages. What is still orderable from 3COM for 
PCI based cards for 10 or 10/100 Twisted Pair what work well with NetBSD ?

Looks like some of the Compaq NIC's are supported, any one tried the 
embedded models that come in the above listed Compaqs ?
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CD-Rom Drives

What model should I purchase if I purchase a tower disk case and plug them 
into the Adaptec ? Basically the guys want to keep 5 or so CD's on-line at 
all times.

Will the internal drives on the IDE bus work OK ?
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SCSI Cards

Adaptec's: says 2940UW is supported, what about the U2W ? Is there any gain 
? The UW
has been out for a while, should I risk the newer U2W ? Any problem using 
dual controllers in the same machine ? Where do you buy your SCSI cables 
from ?
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Scott Burns
NETCON Technologies Inc.
Scott.Burns@Netcontech.Com