Configuring Server Hardware

On most small to medium-size servers, very little needs to be done to configure the hardware other than make a BIOS change to enable hyperthreading. Once this option is set, most of the remaining tasks are related to physically installing RAM, I/O adapters such as NICs, disk adapters for SCSI or SATA, and that's about it.

On medium to large systems, you will find a variety of management software to help you configure, operate, and maintain the hardware. Most hardware vendors have their own version of this kind of software, offering a wide variety of capabilities and options.

On large enterprise systems such as the HP Superdome, NEC5800 Express, or Unisys ES7000 family, configuring the server hardware has entered a whole new dimension. On these larger enterprise systems, you will find a management processor (MP) hiding within the server. The management processor, and its software interface, controls the hardware - from booting a partition, to configuring different hardware partitions, to changing memory layout, to managing the power to different hardware components. The management processor handles all of these tasks.

The tasks that need to be achieved to manage all the large systems are very similar, but the way each hardware vendor implements their interface is unique, from the Java/Web site approach on Unisys to the Telnet-based command-line interface on HP and NEC systems.

Windows Server System Reference Architecture

Anytime you're thinking about building a new server, or are designing a new application, it is worthwhile to refer to the Windows Server System Reference Architecture (WSSRA) to find the latest Microsoft-recommended configurations, and to determine whether a configuration exists that might match closely with what you want to do. If Microsoft has already built a server configuration that matches your requirements, then you can save a lot of time by reusing the work they have already done. The WSSRA is a reference architecture that contains prescriptive guidance for setting up servers for different roles in an enterprise.

Windows Server Catalog

The Windows Server Catalog (www.microsoft.com/windows/catalog/server/) should be your first stop when considering purchasing any new hardware. If the new hardware isn't in the catalog, then it's not supported to run Windows Server 2003 (or Windows 2000) and won't be supported when running SQL Server either.