RE: Help me Justify iSeries

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: Jones, John (US)
> 
> If you read the warranty on most desktop-class drives, they will state
> something like 300 or so power-on hours per month.  They are not
> warranted for 24x7 operation.

This is not true for all drive manufacturers.  IBM's response to the POH
number on one of its drives (now a Hitachi drive):

"The 333 power-on hours (POH) defined in the 120GXP data sheet is not a
new spec for our GXP drives; it is consistent with what we've held our
desktop drives to in previous generation drives. The 333 power-on spec
is not an indication of a maximum number of power-on hours or limitation
of the Deskstar 120GXP. 

Our specifications indicate that the 333 power-on hours per month
represent typical desktop PC usage. This assumes an 11-hour day based on
a 30 day month. Users can and have successfully run the drive more than
11 hours a day and 333 hours per month; the drives have been used
successfully in 24x7 environments.

IBM stands by the 3-year warranty for the 120GXP. Power-on hours will
not be a determining factor in negating the warranty."


> Anyway, on a modern iSeries, finding a few extra GB for document
storage
> probably shouldn't be too much of an issue.  Also, your separate
system
> adds complexity to the environment, which by nature adds to the
> administrative costs/overhead.

We weren't talking about a few GB.  I'm talking specifically about when
you have to add DASD to support binary data.  Some of the posters were
talking about hundreds of thousands of documents, which can easily be
hundreds of gigabytes.


> Now, if you were already going to do Linux/Windows for, say, the web
> serving, then by all means add the disk to that existing server and go
> for it.  But as a separate, standalone box I wouldn't want the added
> admin that entails.

That's one of the things you add in to your business decision.  I'm not
sure how much admin you think you need on a file server; typically it's
the least time consuming job in a network.  But by all means, make sure
you include that time in your decision making process.

Joe