[YLUG] Server purchase

[Pete Fenelon]

On Fri, May 19, 2006 at 11:20:45AM +0100, simon at principia.demon.co.uk wrote:
>   See what HP are offering - I spec their machines (specifically ProLiant DL380 and DL360 servers) in the clusters that I build and the systems we've sold so far with HP hardware have been rock-solid stable. Not cheap, but you get what you pay for.

My former workplace standardised on Compaq (before the HP takeover)
servers a long time ago and I see no reason to disagree with your
assessment. When I left (on Wednesday!) I'd had one Compaq box
running since 2000 with no unplanned outages due to hardware or
software failure. The HP-branded proliants don't seem to be quite
as indestructible but are still pretty good. Then again they're 1u
rather than 4u now and don't make a noise like a Vulcan bomber
powering up...

The setup we had has the HPs booting off their own system discs but
sharing a large external Westek RAID array - it has dual UltraSCSI
ports out, one going to the fileserver box and one to the mail
server, but consists of a couple of terabytes of ATA drives internally.
It might be sensible to consider such an approach - keep the OS
(which is the easy bit) on local disc but put all your precious
eggs in one *damn good* basket.

pete
-- 
pete at fenelon.com "That is enigmatic. That is textbook enigmatic..." - Dr Who
                 "There's no room for enigmas in built-up areas." - N Blackwell