[ILUG] OT: server spec

[Paul Kelly :: Blacknight Solutions]

>  See, I know Paul. And one of the requirements is likely to 
> be "under 100k", if the DL380s are considered expensive....

Indeed. Well the company is a small company, but because of the nature
of their systems which don't nessesarily need to be manned, but need to
be availble for remote nodes to send information to the primary server.
The other problem is they have bought 4 servers this year without
askking for advice, just bought them as they needed them. 

In speaking with them I found that 1 highly available machine would do
the work of the other 4, but they could keep the other 4 to manage
separate tasks while using the main machine to provide essential file
storage and database access. 

>  The DL380 G3 is the best option. Hotswap PCI, PSUs and 
> disks. Excellent hardware quality. Smashing support. I've 
> about 30 of them, and not a problem (bar disks) on a single 
> one. Compare that to the Intel SR2300 boxes, which have PSUs 
> that explode, motherboards & raid cards that fail etc. they 
> are a dream.

Yeah, I have sold approx 15 DL380's this year to single customers as
Mail servers and other bits n' pieces. They are clean, expensive
looking/feeling. By that I mean they look and feel like really good
quality machines, and as of yet have got no call outs for repairs. Save
a disk or 2 here and there just like yourselves. With Raid 5+1 this is
not an issue.

> 
>  Find out what the cost per hour of downtime is. Assume that 
> worst case, a DL380's motherboard will go squiffy, and take 
> you four hours to get a replacement (if you are paying for 
> high-end support). If it pays you to keep a spare DL380 there 
> (no need for disks, PSUs cpus or RAM), do it.

Cost per hour isn't an issue, the type of service they offer is
different from ISP level stuff etc. its really a matter of "if an
incident occurred and we missed it, we could be taken to court" sort of
situation.

I've actually been in touch with Stratus and its looking like they will
be able to fullfill my needs :)

Paul


> 
> John
> -- 
> Irish Linux Users' Group http://www.linux.ie/mailman/listinfo/ilug/
> 
> 
> -- 
> Email scanned by Blacknight for viruses and dangerous 
> content. Visit http://www.blacknight.ie for more information
> 


-- 
Email scanned by Blacknight for viruses and dangerous content.
Visit http://www.blacknight.ie for more information