Steve Meyers wrote: > What server hardware vendors do you use? What experience have you had > with them? > > I've used Penguin Computing, which I love, except that lately they've > been lagging in some areas. For example, I can't currently get a 6 or 8 > drive 1U SAS system from them -- all the other vendors I've looked at > have those. HP is probably the best I've used, but they're a bit > pricey. Dell works, but I've never really liked them. It's hard to > give a reason why, but they just haven't been my favorites. > > I'm interested in possibly buying from either Pogo Linux or Silicon > Mechanics, but don't have any specific experience with them. I was > planning to purchase from Penguin, but they've let me down with their > product line. > > Thanks! > > i'm gonna say this depends on your attitude and amount of hardware savvy-ness.
for the person that wants the 'enterprise' support and the rather stable hardware solutions, i would definitely recommend HP servers. the new dl360's and dl380's look awesome though i have yet to play with them. their blade systems are top notch. the HP iLO cards are really nice. in my opinion, HP and dell are the only options when looking for this category. it is definitely a pricey route though. if you are someone who is more hardware oriented and can do a lot of it yourself, supermicro is a great route to go. i have been playing with their new nehalem (xeon 5500 series) 1u servers and really like them. i just ordered about 40 of them. you can get them in a variety of configurations, including a 1U form factory with eight 2.5" SAS drives (http://supermicro.com/products/system/1U/1026/SYS-1026T-URF.cfm). these newer systems come with a build in ipmi management controller that does almost everything a iLO can do. kvm-over-ip, SOL, virtual media, remote logging, AD authentication, power control, UID lights, etc. they are rather amazing. the slightly older supermicro boards have ipmi as an add on card that works great but is missing some stuff like AD and only really works if you get the dedicated lan port models. but still awesome. one tip about purchasing hardware is to definitely check driver compatibility for the particular distro or OS you are going to put on it. i didn't check things when i ordered some hardware for a remote location earlier in the year. when i tried to do a remote install, it puked cause debian either didn't have the driver (etch) or had a slightly broken one (lenny). this is one reason why i like supermicro so much, they pretty much tell you the exact chips that are on the boards. hope that helps you out a bit. mike /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
