You're confusing PCs with server class machines. To meet our uptime
requirements (service level agreements), we require:
Dual processors
Dual power supplies
At least 4 NICs:
2 for the client's purposes
1 for management (SA and automation access)
1 for backup and restore traffic
Remote out-of-band console access (DRAC for Dell, ILO for HP, RSA for
IBM, service processor for Sun)
Mirrored drives for the OS (which requires a SCSI/SATA RAID controller)
Additional drive(s) for applications and application data
$2K is a very conservative number. Most of the machines we install are
much more than that, and we do get very good pricing from the hardware
suppliers because of the volume we generate. If the client wants high
availability (this is just for our standard SLA), then we're talking
about HA clustering, which _at least_ doubles the cost, and
significantly increases complexity.
Most businesses (unless they're a Google that knows they're going to be
treating systems as fungible) aren't interested in buying low-end
hardware for their business critical applications. If they were, they
would be "renting" part of a shared server from a mid-tier hosting
company, and not doing business with us.
Mark Post
-----Original Message-----
From: Linux on 390 Port [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
Thomas David Rivers
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2006 11:38 AM
To: LINUX-390@VM.MARIST.EDU
Subject: Re: OPM zLinux Experience
hmm...
I don't mean to rain on parades, but these figures seem kinda
high to me.
Tiger Direct (here in Raleigh) is running a deal where you can
get a 3.03ghz celeron w/256K cache, 1GIG of memory in a case
(with power-supply) for $79.99. So - $2K for a PC seems awfully
pricy these days.
Dell sells their bottom-of-the-line "server" for $399.99.
100g-bit switches are usually around $59 at CompUSA.
And - is there a reason not to just use one of the Intel boxes
as the firewall? That would be $80 + $40 for a brand new IDE
drive.
I suppose my point is that you can pay whatever you want for
a PC these days... of course, you get what you pay for.
Even so, I would think that someone doing a big purchase
could drive an awfully hard bargain out of a white-box
distributor, and get much better prices than these...
> I just returned from an IT Financial conference where I contrasted the
> costs between running the 45 servers on Intel versus the z/900. I took
> very conservative costs for the Intel machines ($2K per server),
Switches
> ($10K), and Firewalls ($10K) and all with no support (this $0).
- Dave Rivers -
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