Stueyb

Hi peeps

I need to build a decent server class machine to go into a private DC. Bandwidth and disk space are not important, but reliablilty and uptime are important. Put anoter way, this machine being down will cost *ME* £800 a week. So any old quality machine i hear you say. The CPU however is majorly important. Let me put it this way it eats a p4 2.8 core for breakfast.

So are the AMD offerings really any better ? Dell have a special on a dual 2.8 but its a 2.8 Dont AMDs tend to overheat also? Yes it has aircon at the DC but hey i dont want burn out machines on my hands

stevencotton

The AMDs run cooler than their Intel counterparts.

If you stand to lose 800 quid a week (so just over 100 quid a day?) then I would be looking at an SLA from the vendor, or failover, or both.

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

I'd reckon a HP Proliant ML350 G4 would be fine for what you want to do... twin 3.4GHz Xeons for a basis

Go here to configure one: http://h30099.www3.hp.com/configurat...asp?Country=62

DemonDave

iTrader: (13)

you dont say anything with regards to budget

what about a dell poweredge 2950
with 2 x Dual Core Intel® Xeon® 5060, 2x2MB Cache, 3.20GHz, 1066MHZ FSB and 8gb of mem ?

then stick it on 3yr GOLD Support, 4Hr Onsite Response (24x7), Software Support, TAM Service

if it overheats then it is installed wrong - and that is down to the SLA with the DC - unless you have to provide the rack and cooling yourself?

http://commerce.euro.dell.com/dellst...ukpadpedge&v=d

if it is a DC can they not provide the hardware as well and support if?

Stueyb

Well the DC is a privatly owned one, about 5 mins from where I work. I want to colo my own kit in there and they are happy to take it on a colo, if it breaks u fix it type deal

My budget is about 1K all in. I dont really want to start getting super expensive as there goes my profit margin really, ie the costs of all this come out the £800.

DemonDave

iTrader: (13)

slight confusion then - you only want to pay a £1k for a machine that will run an app that kills a p4 2.8 (must be a really hardcore app). You are happy to cool it yourself, but you are placing it in a data centre - interesting as the DC should complain if there is a chance of it overheating and affecting other servers. If the machine goes down it will cost you £800 a week . I think you need to do a forecast over a year rather than one week - 800 x 52 is 41600 and you only want to pay £1k of that for a server that is fundemental to the business - not sure what kinda business case you are trying to make?

DemonDave

iTrader: (13)

and do they not have mininum standards for kit - ie rack mounted, certain power requirements etc etc?

Stueyb

Good point Dave, actually the DC is an informal arrangement. As for losing the money, a slight clarification. Its not like it will cost me ££ if it goes down, rather I will fail to make ££, kinda equates to same thing I guess, but its not that I have to give someone cash if it fails, ie its not an sla, just a project of mine that I have invested quite a lot of time and money in.

I guess I should stump up for a beefier machine.

DemonDave

iTrader: (13)

and a more formal arrangement with the DC - if I could make 800 a week, I would not be held by the ***** by a DC. I would want to ensure the service - plus what happens to data security etc etc

if you want to discuss more with posting on here pm - had lots of fun with this kind of thing

Dave.

David_Wallis

Id recommend HP all day long, nothing else especially not dell..

a DL385 or DL585 are my boxes of choice, run a 64bit OS etc

Unfortunatley your budget will not buy a decent server and OS.

David

stevencotton

His budget will buy a decent OS, because the best OS for the job is free

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

The problem with the DL models Dave is that they are rack mount Servers, which is why I recommended the ML model instead... We only buy DL's and BL's now (and yes the AMD xx5 models....) but for someone on a budget and (assuming) no rack, the DL is not really an option

DemonDave

iTrader: (13)

agree - thats why the dc requirements need to sorted

David_Wallis

LOL @ OS being free..

I thought with it being in a DC it must be rack mounted, and when doing co-lo space is normally at a premium..

A 380 is around 2k with a reasonable spec.

Alternatively you could use a dual cpu DL360, limited to one PCI Card (possibly two) cant remember, onboard Raid etc. however you have no redundancy on power until you go for a G4.

The main problem with most of the ML's is they are **** compared to the dl380's, have you seen the redundant fan for the ML370 iirc..

As for redundant psu, dual onboard NIC, Onboard Raid out of the box.

For guaranteed uptime, if it was going to cost me money Id spend the extra on a DL series, as If it goes down during the day whilst your at work can you get away to fix it? (assuming its not related to your day job)
Also the warranty is flawless on the HP Kit.

David

Stueyb

Hi Guys,

I havent moved any further with the DC yet. Basically, what this app does is it tunes business intellgence models for specific vertical market purposes. Its an "on demand" basis, but the amount of bandwidth required is miniscule, maybe 100GB a month.

I can rackmount the server, not a prob (for a cost). I think diverse feeds and redundant PSU is a good idea but is gonna cost. However all this But I shall defo be getting a SLA from them.

I am taking a look at the HP series now, although I havent used HP in about 5 years because all the jobs ive been on since have been comodity boxes or Dell.

David_Wallis

I wouldnt look at anything else, You'll find a lot more people will recommend HP over Dell..

I know people who have never had problems with Dell.. I have though and we unfortunatley made the mistake of buying a lot of them ONCE.

They were replaced at a big cost to the business.

We used to tell clients they couldnt install Dell Kit on in/on our site as we didnt want prospective clients to see them.

IBM X series are also worth a look.

David

David_Wallis

StueyB

Ive just got a quote for a DL380 this morning...

378736-421 HP DL380 G4 X3.2GHz 2MB EU Rack Srvr £1,125.00
Additional CPU is around 280
Redundant PSU is £90ish

2mb cache models now come with redundant fans.

so just add disks.

Disks could come from ebay as once in the server they are covered by warranty. AFAIK.

David