[mythtv-users] New Backend - Hardware suggestions

[Christian Hocken]

Hello,
I'm planning to buy a new server which should hold the MythTV backend  
but also work as fileserver and gateway and it would be nice if it  
could also serve some diskless MythTV clients in the near future. My  
idea is to set up three virtual machines (MythTV backend, fileserver,  
gateway) based on Ubuntu Server 8.04 LTS and KVM or XEN.
1. The fileserver should mainly store backups from my notebook and  
data of future diskless clients. Therefore it should be failsafe. I  
think securing it via a software-RAID will be adequate. A hardware- 
RAID might be overkill 'cause I don't need a lot of throughput. I  
have a RAID 5 with 3 disks in mind since I'll only lose the capacity  
of one disk. But booting from this RAID won't work. Thus, I need  
another RAID 1 or at least a single disk which keeps the OS and which  
is bootable.
2. The gateway needs two NICs to connect LAN and WAN.
3. The backend is equipped with one DVB-C tuner by now but adding a  
second ord third one should be possible.

I'm planning to run Dom0 on the single disk resp. RAID 1 and to mount  
partitions of the RAID 5 to /home and /var. Fileserver and MythTV  
backend VMs will get own partitions on the RAID 5.

Requirements so far: At least 4 hdds, 2 NICs and sufficient PCI slots.

Unfortunately, I'm not very experienced in buying hardware. Most of  
the computers I've bought were prebuild. However, here's a list of  
hardware I've composed. But all parts are subject to change and I  
would be glad if you could made any suggestion.

CPU: 			Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Boxed
Mainboard:		duno - something with cheap graphics card already included?
RAM:			2-4 GB - maybe Kingston?
HDD(boot):		---
HDD(Raid 5):	3x WD Caviar Green 1TB. Not sure if WD Green are fast  
enough. I believe they're spinning slower.
2nd NIC:		---
PSU:			Maybe Enermax EPR385AWT. I think 82+ is a good choice.
Case:			As cheap as possible but not cheaper. Server will be located  
in a wall closet.


Last remark: The power consumption should of course be as low as  
possible and HDTV support (if ever available via cable in the lower  
Rhine area) would be fine.

Now it's up to you. What do you think about my hardware compilation  
and my RAID design and which RAM, boards, hdds and cases do you suggest?

Thanks in advance. :)

regards,
Christian