PowerEdge 2900 and video cards

Currently I am having PowerEdge 2900 in tower body and the thing is that it is working on some of the programs of control and the services. This thing is working really good but I want to use two monitors. I have the idea that for achieving this I have to install graphic cards but the problem is that the server is not having any PCI-e x16 or AGP. So for solving this problem I want to buy riser-card from pci-e x4 to pci-e x16. I mean to say that the standard pci-e x16 graphic card or it will be better to find pci-e x8 or pci-x cards. Now the thing I want to know is that whether this is going to work or not. If it is not going to work then what are the other option I am having. See I am having a limited budget and need the solution for the problem I am having.

Sorry to annoy you but there is no solution for the problem that you are having. The problem is that there is no graphic card 2900. I will try to solve explain the things. Actually system are setup in such a way that the video card is put into specific slot, then the onboard video is going to disabled, making way for the card over the video functions. Unfortunately the problem is that there is no option in server for this. If you want to try this thing on the trial and error bases then you can. But trust me that you will not get the solution for the problem. If I get any solution for the problem you are having then I will let you know the same as soon as possible.

I want to install a minimal Linux distribution on a Poweredge 2900. The aim will be to put VMWare virtual machines and then (Windows 2000 Server, Dos, etc). So the base must be stable and light. I thought about a FreeBSD but I do not know enough, so I am left on Xubuntu. My problems: When I start with the Live CD, everything works well and even the network card is recognized. Great, I tell myself I will install it. Everything goes well except that I struggled a while before I understand that my fesait partitions on disk 1 instead of RAID5 logical drive. In short, I will reboot and GRUB crashes. Again this problem is related to discs. I had "Error 21" My first question: Is it normal that Ubuntu see the 3 discs that are the logical drive RAID? Normally I hate to see that the logical drive, which would not pose any problems, right? Well, after looking how GRUB, I can now start on the correct partition. Now I have problem to boot linux. Here are the messages:
I want to install a minimal Linux distribution on a Poweredge 2900. The aim will be to put VMWare virtual machines and then (Windows 2000 Server, Dos, etc). So the base must be stable and light. I thought about a FreeBSD but I do not know enough, so I am left on Xubuntu. My problems: When I start with the Live CD, everything works well and even the network card is recognized. Great, I tell myself I will install it. Everything goes well except that I struggled a while before I understand that my fesait partitions on disk 1 instead of RAID5 logical drive. In short, I will reboot and GRUB crashes. Again this problem is related to discs. I had "Error 21" My first question: Is it normal that Ubuntu see the 3 discs that are the logical drive RAID? Normally I hate to see that the logical drive, which would not pose any problems, right? Well, after looking how GRUB, I can now start on the correct partition. Now I have problem to boot linux. Here are the messages:

Quote:

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Begin: Waiting for root file system done. ALERT! /dev/sdd5 does not exist. Dropping to a shell ...

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I know that the root partition (\) is the sdd5. I add the options " noapci " but now hangs in a sort of infinite loop with this kind of messages:

Quote:

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Begin: Waiting for root file system... ... [42948557.435000] ide-cd: cmd 0x3 timed out [4294857.435000] hda: lost interrupt Done. ALERT! /dev/sdd5 does not exist.

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Dropping to a shell ...

For more information here is my setup information
Dell PowerEdge 2900, Dual Xeon 2GHz (4MB cache), 2GB RAM at 667MHz 3 hard drives in RAID5 73GB Hard controller on DELL Perc5i. A logical drive of 145GB mounted. These are logical partitions on the disk:
- 2 GB / FAT16 (tools diagnistiques) / sdd1
- 2GB / Linux Swap / sdd2
- 100MB / Ext3 / \ boot / SDS3
- Extended partition / SDS4
- 10GB / Ext3 / \ / sdd5
- 5GB / Ext3 / \ home / sdd6
- 116GB / Ext3 / Virtual / sdd7

Currently I am not having the clear solution for the problem you are having but I am having some question if you can answer these then I can try to help you. Is it normal that I see the physical disks sda, sdb and sdc in addition to the logical disk sdd Ubuntu? In your Raid5 hardware, you should see the logical drive, if I am right? Grub works there with a hardware RAID5 hence you can manage to boot from it. If you can provide the related reply for these things then I can have a clear idea about the problem you are having and can try to provide the solution. One more thing if you can install FreeBSD 6.1 then I think that everything will works fine. But the thing is that if you do not master FreeBSD then surely you are going to get problem. Just try these things and I hope that this will help you a bit.

Boasting an innovative hardware design, software commonality and continued focus on fewer bets System Update, 9th generation PowerEdge servers Dell reduce the complexity of data management for both small and large businesses. These servers are a common design on the whole range but also on future generations of servers to come. In addition, a common system image servers 1950 and 2950 enables updates to BIOS, but also those of system drivers, firmware, operating systems and applications from an easy model to copy. The Dell PowerEdge 2900 was designed to deliver outstanding performance in a chassis tower or 5U rack, thanks to quad-core Intel Xeon next generation memory technology to the DIMM with buffers and SAS hard disks in series.

As far as I know the Dell PowerEdge 2900 is equipped with a BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) which includes a complete set of tools that monitors server hardware, alerts you when your server goes down and allows to remotely performing basic operations. For environments with servers in data centers Secured or unmanned sites, Dell offers the DRAC (Dell Remote Access Controller) an optional feature for PowerEdge servers. Operated through a graphical user interface Web-based, DRAC can enable you to access, control, troubleshooting, repair and upgrades remotely, regardless of the state of the operating system. Common software for all PowerEdge 9th generation servers further helps simplify management. In addition, the specification of the behavior Dell sets a familiar platform for deployment, administration and maintenance simpler, and a total cost of ownership lower for multiple generations of PowerEdge servers.