I'll agree with you (and I did say it before) that Compaq is more expensive. But it's important to remember what you get when you buy a Compaq. If the system that you build yourself fails, you are your own warranty, so start paying out. Secondly, if a component fails, are you available to go and get the part needed? Compaq will have it there same-day if you want it that way. And if you aren't in a position to access the server, Compaq will send a tech to install the part for you. Additionally, at 4K for a Compaq box, you're looking at an embedded RAID controller, 3+ disks to run RAID5 with a hot-spare, ECC memory, and all the cooling you'll ever need. I don't see a need for a CDRW or DVD player in a server, this is just overhead. I'll give you that they are noisy, but hey, it's a server, it shouldn't be sitting at your desk! Also, the DL380 is certified RH compliant. The decision to purchase Compaq often is as much a business decision as it is a technological one. Given that the bottom-line for IT in businesses is ROI, often times a more expensive component up front can yield a considerably higher ROI over time. Loss of productivity, data security, downtime, man-hours all play into the decision-making process.
Now, I've had multiple bad experiences with Apache Digital, but if I had to recommend an "off-brand" server, I'd lay my money on Penguin Computing. We have several of their servers. They are (obviously) Linux focused, they offer all of the redundancy that the "big-boys" do, and so far, our servers have been bullet-proof. They are considerably less expensive than Compaq, but again, the trade-off for lower cost are the things I mention above. At a data-center I once worked in, there was a Google.com presence. They had something along the lines of 8 cabinets of half-depth, 1U servers from a company called Rackable.com. Think about that...a 42U cabinet containing 40 servers on EACH SIDE of the cabinet x 8 cabinets. Can you say 640 servers!!!! Rackable (at the time) was very affordable. I don't know what their prices are like now, or if they even still exist. Again, my $0.02 worth, and I'm sure that by the time this thread is finished, Paul will have enough "2 cents worth" to buy another server. HTH, Kelly Cobean, CCNP, CCSA, ACSA, MCSE, MCP+I Network Engineer AT&T Government Solutions, Inc. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of supernet Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 9:02 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Everything working now? [7:49438] $4,000? Kind of expensive. I built a dual P3 1.13GHz system for less than $1,800: Intel SIA2 motherboard with 2 P3 1.13GHz 1GB memory (IBM) 2x36GB Cheetah SCSI (15,000 rpm compared to 10,000 rpm) CDRW+DVD Lian-Li aluminum case Accessories The thing I like is it's very quite. Compaq servers' noise really bothers me. I bought everything from ebay and all brand new. With $4,000, I can build another system for standby. Yoshi -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Kelly Cobean Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 10:05 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Everything working now? [7:49438] Paul, I'm sure that you'll get 1000 diffent suggestions on this, but my preference is Compaq. The DL380-G2 offers everything you'll need. You can get Dual processors, SCSI-RAID, etc, and they are fully Redhat compliant. We are using several of them with Redhat 7.2, and they are awesome. They are a little more expensive, but the support, service and quality you get from Compaq are unmatched in the Intel-based server industry in my opinion. Cost is probably around 4K/server once you outfit it with drives, etc. Check CDW.com for prices and configurations. HTH, Kelly Cobean, CCNP, CCSA, ACSA, MCSE, MCP+I Network Engineer AT&T Government Solutions, Inc. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone, and do not necessarily relfect those of AT&T Government Solutions, Inc., it's management, or it's affiliates. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Paul Borghese Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 10:21 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Everything working now? [7:49438] GroupStudy is definitely causing me to age prematurely! Ok, I think the list, newsfeed, and website are back in operation. I did disable the archive search engine and may enable it later once things stabalize. We need to obtain new hardware and we actually have the money to purchase said new hardware :-). With the free bandwidth from Swiftcomm and the selling of banner advertisements, we have been able to create quite a trust fund. So I need suggestions on Intel based servers that are 1u in size. The more redundancy and memory, the better. Probably SCSI. The new server needs to work under RedHat Linux. Any suggestions! Paul Borghese Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=49502&t=49438 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
