> From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu May 25 00:16:30 2000
>
> On Wed, 24 May 2000, Chris Mauritz wrote:
>
> > For the cost of the LPr, you're probably better off going to someplace
> > like Penguin Computing and have them roll something for you that's
> > known to work. It will likely be a bit cheaper too.
>
> The deal with the LPr's though is there's a 2 for 1 promo. At the 2 for 1
> pricing (PIII-550 with 64mb is about 2750 IIRC...so $1375 each...but you
> have to add more memory, disks, and in my case a RAID card) it's pretty
> close to the price I'd pay to buy parts from a distributor like Tech Data.
> Vendors like Penguin or anyone else I'm aware of can't beat this kind of
> price. Based on current prices (if I could actually find Mylex
> cards...which I can't) I can take one of these LPr's add an Acceleraid
> card, 256mb of good memory, 2 IBM 9gb drives, and have spent about $2500
> (not counting the hot swap brackets which may jack it up as much as $330
> if the info I got today is accurate). A similar box from Penguin is $2765
> before adding a RAID card and doesn't appear to have hot-swap. Add a RAID
> card, and it's about $3200. Even with the overpriced brackets, the LPr is
> cheaper. The other advantage to the LPr over buying parts is less parts
> to hunt down and put together. Parts shortages over the past few months
> from Intel and Mylex are making it a PITA to build systems from parts.
I suspect there is a reason they're selling 2 for 1. 8-)
> > Personally, I found an outfit that has a 1 RU enclosure that has 2
> > swappaple drive sleds (they do this by using an integrated floppy/CD
> > device to save a bay). They're designed for IDE disks. I've been
>
> Some of our colos have 1U cases with 2 hot-swap SCA SCSI drives. I don't
> think you can squeze a RAID card in any of these cases though.
Sure you can. I haven't tried a full length card like the ExtremeRAID
1100, but you can put one PCI card in the 1RU units. I've used both
BT-952 and Adaptec 2940U2W cards in penguin 1U boxen. I suspect you
can even fit a full length card in the ones from rackmount.com, but
I haven't actually tried it yet. They're giving a set of SCA hot
swap sleds to beta with RH and raid 0/1. We'll see how they work.
I suspect the cost will be about the same as the LPr deal you're
getting, but with a much smaller footprint and more reasonably
priced parts.
And yes, parts are a pain these days. Nobody wants to carry
inventory. The only way to do it is to settle on a design and
then hoard enough parts to make a few spare servers until you
decide to change your design again. 8-)
C
--
Christopher Mauritz
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
