Hardware vendors (was: Just when you think you've seen it all...)

Bill McGonigle bill at bfccomputing.com
Tue Jun 27 11:47:01 EDT 2006


On Jun 27, 2006, at 10:42, Ben Scott wrote:

>  So who do you recommend for servers?  Compaq I've had too many bad
> experiences with gratuitous incompatibility to go near.  I believe HP
> killed their own server line when they bought Compaq.  Gateway's stuff
> is limited to the "entry level", even more generic than Dell, and
> their service is crap (I have to deal with two Gateway "servers", much
> to my regret).  IBM I have no real experience with, but my cursory
> investigation found their stuff *way* more expensive then Dell -- more
> than any irritations I've had with Dell.

All true.  The IBM gear is solid.  If you want a good server from a big 
company, buy IBM.  And their rack-mount rails are just yummy (~2 
minutes to rack a server once you understand the system).  I yell at 
our local Apple Rep about this whenever I get the chance (about 15-20 
min).  Their prices aren't much different than Dell's.

I really want to like HP but they're not quick on linux driver support 
for their proprietary hardware.  I have some that sill can't run 2.6 
kernels on the stock RAID controller.  And they seem to go up in smoke 
very easily with low-quality power.  My sample size is small on that, 
though.  I've always been irritated by Compaq servers for one bizzare 
hardware decision or other.

For price and a service contract, I've been using ServersDirect.com.  
Good Intel motherboards, Chenbro cases, outsourced onsite contracts.

For price, I've been buying parts from NewEgg.  ServersDirect is about 
25% more expensive than buying parts.  Many of my clients are beyond 
the 100-miles-from-a-city limit that many service contract 
organizations enforce.  Those servers need an on-site spare, 'cause 
even if you buy the service contract it's FedEx morning delivery for 
any replacement parts.  So, there it makes sense to cut out the middle 
man because you don't get a discount for your no-service location.

I just spec'ed a server for a client in a 1U case with 4x320GB SATA II 
NCQ hot-swap (libsata pending) disks, 2GB ECC RAM, a pair of Opteron 
Troys on a 1GHz HT FSB, DVD Burner, with a 1500KVA UPS for $2400 in 
parts from NewEgg, including the tube of Arctic Silver.  A lesser Dell 
was a thousand bucks more without the burner or UPS and they really 
seemed to want to push me into SCSI and 2 or 3U for additional hard 
drives, so it wasn't too interesting.

I've been tempted to try out a Sun AMD server, or maybe an Apple once 
they have Intel Woodcrest XServes but haven't done either yet.

Also interested if there any local integrators around who can save me 
the work and do some on-site.

-Bill

P.S.  I forget what the kernel patch for the Dell clock did (it was 
tiny) but I'd really like to buy from a company who cares whether a 
RedHat installer will boot their server or not.

-----
Bill McGonigle, Owner           Work: 603.448.4440
BFC Computing, LLC              Home: 603.448.1668
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