RE: NICs - bottleneck (was Re: Dropping the AS/400 as a Web serving platform) -- MIDRANGE-L

Not necessarily. If I were building a high-availability server, I would
probably get a NIC from a company that is known for their quality of their
network cards, like 3com or Intel. I am not saying a $30 Linksys or $15
bargain bin card couldn't be as reliable, what I am saying is, their
reputation says that they have high quality products, thus the chances of
needing to replace it is slimmer.

Still, with the price of computer hardware these days, there isn't much of
an excuse to sell hardware at astronomical prices (a 100GB IDE ATA66 hard
drive sells for $300 USD at Best Buy, how much for that much disk space in a
AS400?). For the price of an AS400, a cluster of Linux servers could be
built that would be just as reliable, and possibly even faster in processing
power, more disk space, and just as secure. Granted, it would take up much
more space and need more cooling.

-----Original Message-----
From: Brad Stone [mailto:brad@bvstools.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2001 9:04 AM
To: midrange-l@midrange.com
Subject: Re: NICs - bottleneck (was Re: Dropping the AS/400 as a Web
servi ng platform)


Mike, what's the difference is between a $15-$30 NIC and a
$1800 NIC?

Pick out two nics, price them, then tell me what makes one
more expensive than the other.  What makes one "bargain
basement" and the other "high quality"?  Is this mostly
perceived because of the price?  Is it
tariffs/shipping/manufacturing costs/etc?  Or is it actual
quality.

Do the terms "high quality" and "expensive" automatically go
together?  Sure, to a point (and to a certain point of
view).  But we're way past that point.  Memory is less
expensive now, by over 200% from a few months ago?  Is it
any less high quality?

Brad

On Wed, 3 Oct 2001 08:15:43 -0500
 "Wills, Mike N. (TC)" <MNWills@taylorcorp.com> wrote:
> If you were truly building a web server that needs to be
> up 24/7/356, you
> would buy the high quality expensive parts, not bargain
> bin generic parts. I
> agree that a simple server can be built cheap, but that
> isn't necessarily a
> reliable server.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brad Stone [mailto:brad@bvstools.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2001 9:23 PM
> To: midrange-l@midrange.com
> Subject: Re: NICs - bottleneck (was Re: Dropping the
> AS/400 as a Web
> servi ng platform)
>
>
> Chris, you're missing the point.
>
> I don't know how many nics you can put in any iSeries.
> The
> point is how much do those NICs cost.  I can get a 10/100
> for a PC for $15.  And build a PC for 300.
>
> If I could buy parts for my iseries at best buy, then it
> wouldn't be a big deal.  A server maching like an iSeries
> should be able to accept multiple (5 or more) nics.  A
> base
> 270 should be able to have at least 5.  If not, it's not
> a
> server.  It has to be able to handle the bandwidth.
>
> I'd love to hear the lowdown, if anyone knows, how many
> NICs
> you can install in most used boxes, and the price of
> each.
>
> Brad
>
> On Tue, 2 Oct 2001 11:41:35 -0700
>  Chris Bipes <chris.bipes@cross-check.com> wrote:
> > But I can put in multiple NICs into one AS400.  My 720
> > came with 2 10/100
> > and we use a Virtual IP and load balancing.  How many
> > NICs can you put in a
> > 850 24way AS400?
> >
> > Christopher K. Bipes          mailto:ChrisB@Cross-Check.com
> > Operations & Network Mgr  mailto:Chris_Bipes@Yahoo.com
> > CrossCheck, Inc.              http://www.cross-check.com
> > 6119 State Farm Drive         Phone: 707 586-0551 x 1102
> > Rohnert Park CA  94928        Fax: 707 586-1884
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Brad Stone [mailto:brad@bvstools.com]
> > Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2001 11:38 AM
> > To: midrange-l@midrange.com
> > Subject: Re: NICs - bottleneck (was Re: Dropping the
> > AS/400 as a Web
> > servi ng platform)
> >
> >
> > Even so, it's still only equal to 10 10/100 nics, which
> > is
> > not that much, depending on the size of the farm you're
> > comparing it too.
> >
> > Brad
> > _______________________________________________
> > This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
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> >
>
> Bradley V. Stone
> BVS.Tools
> www.bvstools.com
> _______________________________________________
> This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
> (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list
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Bradley V. Stone
BVS.Tools
www.bvstools.com
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