RE: [cobalt-users] RAQ competitors

[Aaron Bond <prdamrcn@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Just thought I'd throw my 2 cents worth in.....

The HP LPr's (and the behemoth LXr's) are really nice machines, we have
several of each.  Real powerhouses, and HP has announces support for RH
Linux on these (although, at this point I have not seen anything but MS and
Novell support in the box).  Keep in mind though, that a typical LPr box
will run you between 5 and 10 thousand dollars, depending on how you install
it (for instance, adding a second Xeon 450 CPU from HP will set you back 2-4
thousand bucks depending on which one you get).  Also, while the LPr is a 2U
box, it also is a full 39" lond, requiring a full size (BIG) rack!

We started looking at appliance boxes to help us cut some costs (we have
almost 90 remote sites).  Putting an LPr unit at each one was a costly
proposition in more ways than one.  My Cobalt experiance is limited at this
point, only having 4 of the units for testing, but so far so good.  The
Rebel Netwinder seems to perform fairly well also.

HP's support is legendary, if not inexpensive, and they are starting to get
on the Linux bandwagon.

Good luck!  And "Happy New Year"

Aaron Bond
Network Specialist
San Juan Unifies School District

-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel Ouellet [mailto:daniel@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, December 30, 1999 11:46 AM
To: cobalt-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [cobalt-users] RAQ competitors


This all sound good, but if I want a very robust server I would probably go
with HP!

http://netserver.hp.com/netserver/products/highlights_lpr.asp

This is a great server 2U in size, but what I am looking the most for is
SUPPORT, SUPPORT, SUPPORT, SUPPORT .....

OK, you got the point. I line the new IBM, but not sure on the reliability
of it. After all they only offer 1 year limited warrenty on this new unit.
For HP, it is 3 years. VALINUX, I don't know? Those days are for me anyway,
you don't have to share my point of view, the hardware become very
affordable that I can have a spare unit on the shelf doing nothig as I did
in Cobalt case where it took me 2 1/2 months to get a unit fix. After Lyle
step to the plate it was fix in 24 hours. That was impressive, but I got
this services only after sending a few email to the support and to this
list.

So, again, what about support on the VALINUX, is it good!? I would prefer to
go with a firm specialise on Lynux as the chance are higher to get what you
need. HP have great server, I have a few of them, and franckly, they never
go down, but when it come to Lynux support go else where, but in their case,
they make it very obvious on their web site that they don't pretent to offer
it!

So, my quest continue!

Daniel Ouellet

ÐLö
Lö
(7D0A
Original-From: Nikolas Samios <ns@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Original-Reply-To: cobalt-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Original-Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1999 21:19:05 +0100

Hi everybody!

I think the main advantage of the VAs is their superior CPU and HDDs. I
always missed RAID in my RaQs. Furthermore, the VAs use much more standar=
d
components than especially the RaQ1 and 2s. Maybe RaQ3 is equvivalent in
this point.

RaQs are great for getting things online without knowledge of Linux,
sendmail, apache etc... but as soon as you reach the possibilities of the
GUI (~2 days in my case :-)) maybe a bigger machine without the all-in-on=
e
GUI is better.

Maybe I'll get one or two of these fancy cluster-cities... ;-)

Byebye,

Niko

"J. Masterson" wrote:

> > Too expensive on these servers.
> >
>
> > Ð3E
> > > http://www.valinux.com/  and http://www.valinux.com/store/
>
> Sure, for the high end ones. But our company is buying a Raq3i today fo=
r
> about $2700 bucks. It has a 13 gig HD, 128 RAM, and a 300 mhz AMD
> processor.
>
> VaLinux low end server is $2865 -- slightly more... and has a 6.4 gig H=
D
> (smaller), 128 megs ram (same), and an Intel Pentium III 500 mhz
> processor (faster). So it's comparable, really...
>
> Not sure if VaLinux has the extensive web-based tools for people withou=
t
> extensive syadmin knowledge, however...
>
> --
> John Masterson
> Web Developer
> WAM!NET Missoula
> masterson@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>