This is an example of a reasonable priced Oracle server. The configuration below was around £700.
From R12.2 an Oracle Weblogic Server is included so you will need a lot more power to install R12.2 in a reasonable time. You could install and run R12.1 on a 4Gb Atom CPU based server but for R12.2 I would recommend minimum 8Gb and ideally 16Gb running on a i7 or Xeon CPU. Also to speed things up it would be good to run the database on a RAID 0 disk array.
If you intend to install Oracle Fusion in the future then use a Xeon CPU that can address plenty of memory.
The configuration I have chosen is:
| Component | Manufacturer | Notes |
| Case | Coolermaster P100 ATX Case with Thunder 700W PSU | Large cabinet for HDD’s and CPU cooling |
| Motherboard | Supermicro MBD-X9SRL-F-O | Supports iKVM, RAID, Xeon E5 and 256Gb RAM |
| Cpu | Intel Xeon E5-2603 4 Core | Cheapest large memory range server CPU |
| Cooler | Supermicro SNK-P0050AP4 LGA 2011 Intel Xeon CPU Cooler | Has to fit narrow LGA2011 Xeon socket |
| Ram | Kingston ECC 1333MHz 240-pin RDIMM DDR3L CL9 16Gb | I bought two of these for best performance |
I already have 4 hard disks from a previous server. 1 HDD will be for staging and 3 HDD’s will be for the RAID 0.
Hardware Installation
This is not a detailed instruction but just a hint of how to do this, so be sure to follow the supplied manuals with your product.
Unpack motherboard
Open CPU socket
Insert CPU and lock socket
Insert RAM
Prepare CPU cooler and change to narrow layout
Mount cooler onto CPU and then add fan
Mount motherboard backplane first
Mount motherboard in case
Mount cables – power and USB
Mount fan, cabinet and staging HDD cables
Added 3 RAID HDD’s
Installed hot swap bay for OS hard disk
Ready
Plugged in with two Ethernet cables – one for the iKVM and another for normal internet access
