Another Hardware Question

[Kimball Larsen]

I recently asked about server hardware recommendations for my home  
server needs.

This is not about that.

Instead, this is regarding a new server we need at my office.  This  
will be used primarily as a backuppc host to backup all the machines  
on the LAN (gigabit), as well as a secondary DNS for our domain.

We currently have an atx tower form factor machine with a bunch of  
hard drives crammed in it - it's an intel core2 duo @ 2.66Ghz with 4GB  
of ram.  The last few days it has been acting up, and I fear that it  
is experiencing some hardware failure on the motherboard.  So... while  
hedging that we may need an entirely new server, I found this:

http://www.surpluscomputers.com/348232/rackable-systems-dual-xeon-3.0ghz.html

Freely confessing that I know next to nothing about the Xeon family of  
processors, and if the raid controller included in this box is any  
good, I throw myself upon the mercies of the PLUG Hardware Gods™ to  
help me get informed.

1)  Is this machine too old to be worth the trouble?
2)  Is the motherboard and raid controller Linux friendly?

Thanks!


- Kimball
http://www.kimballlarsen.com