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

["Wills, Mike N. (TC)" <MNWills@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

<snip>Remember these are *linux* server farms not windows.  Our linux
servers are as reliable as our as/400s.  The number of people needed to
maintain our linux servers is the same number needed for our as/400s (1
person). </snip>

...exactly. And in a cluster setup, the whole system doesn't go down when
one of the "nodes" goes down, but that is not what I was getting at and is a
whole other conversation.

The question becomes, why does IBM get custom made parts for their system,
which drives the price up drastically? I am not talking about the main board
or processors (those are okay), but the other components network, SCSI
board, memory, etc. I realize they want tight quality control, but how many
other server companies are changing over to "standard" parts to get the
price down, and still maintain tight control? SGI now uses nVidia video
chips, IIRC. They haven't changed their hardware much, just enough to reduce
the price on their systems.

I will defend and recommend As400s for many, many things, because I know of
the reputation and reliability. I don't recommend Viking to change to Ford
F150 pickups when what they use works for them. My question is why make
parts that only work in the F150 pickups and drive the cost of new parts up?
It is all about supply and demand!

-----Original Message-----
From: James Rich [mailto:james@eaerich.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2001 12:18 PM
To: midrange-l@midrange.com
Subject: Re: NICs - bottleneck (was Re: Dropping the AS/400 as a Web
serving platform)


On Wed, 3 Oct 2001, Pat Barber wrote:

> The biggest thing the economy system builders leave out, is the
> number of people required to maintain those "cheap" server farms.



James Rich
james@eaerich.com

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