First post, by aroneox
I want accomplish two things with this IBM X3500 M2 server.
I need to zero fill erase a RAID array on an IBMX3500 M2 server. The RAID array in composed of 6 individual 146gb hard drives connected in a RAID-0 configuration.
I then want to set the machine up so that it can be used by another party. I need to know if there is a fairly straightforward Linux distro that will support this machine, and is fairly straightforward to install. I want to have the machine in a useable state when it gets to the new owner. Setup for the new owners network, and if they choose to keep the Linux bistro installed will be up to them.
This last weekend I cleared an office space of abandoned computers. The new occupants of the office space had no interest in the machines, and asked me to take them away, with the condition that all information contained on the hard drives was cleared off.
Normally this wouldn't be an issue, as I would just use DBAN and do a multiples zero fill overwrite. But I've never had to do this with a RAID array. And from what I've read, DBAN doesn't work with multiple drives as an array -- it only works with individual drives.
I've found a solution to work around this.
The solution is to configure each individual drive a it's own RAID-0 array. This way DBAN can see each individual hard drive. From there it appears that all the drives can be selected in DBAN and it will overwrite them one-by-one.
https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to ... ontroller
https://www.orangecomputers.com/node/?c ... &docid=31
That seems like the most straightforward way. But, as someone who hasn't done this before, there might be a better way that still ensures the drives are erased to the point where the data is (almost certainly) irrecoverable.
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As to the server software:
The system came installed with, and is currently running, Microsoft Server 2008. This is a Windows 7 based server product. It has been EOL'ed. I could reinstall the same version back over the cleared hard drives, but feel funky about handing over a server that has gone without recent security patches.
I see that Red Hat Linux and SUSE Linux are also supported. I believe that both would need a service contract of some kind for either. I do know that Fedora Linux is the free version of Red Hat. Also Ubuntu looks to be available as a server distro, and from what I can see doesn't require a service contract. But I'm not sure if that's just vanilla Ubuntu or a specific server product, or that it really matters.
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Advice on both is appreciated.