Re: First time buying System i5

Everyone else has covered the basics of your proposed config. I just wanted to 
correct one mis-understanding and answer one question...

From what I understand ESA gives me 24x7 access
to support vs. just within business hours (seems like
a good deal for only $110 more).

It's been awhile since I've paid attention to the service support options from 
IBM. With that said, from what I remember the 520 will be able to "phone-home" 
at off hours, but that doesn't mean you'll have automatic 24x7 support. The ESA 
is used to collect config/PTF info, report hardware/operating-system problems, 
automatically download needed PTFs, and you can also open support PMRs with it. 
However, if you open a support PMR off hours and you have a business hours only 
support contract then IBM won't help you until 9:00 am the next business day.

What are "feature codes"? 

They are hardware options available for your model. Sometimes they're sets of 
hardware, but most of the time their individual cards. For some reason they're 
always four digit numbers. For a software guy like me that pile of hardware 
feature numbers is about as easy to navigate and understand as an RPG-II 
program that uses every numbered indicator.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: albartell 
  To: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 9:05 AM
  Subject: First time buying System i5


  Hi Everyone, 
   
  For a variety of details I wont dive into, I am now tasked with
  purchasing/leasing my first System i5.  I am actually quite excited because
  it is the same feeling I get when I buy a new PC, except this time I have
  next to zero knowledge on what I need to tell the friendly guy on the other
  end of the phone.  I am coming at this from an Partnerworld ISV standpoint
  where they give what seems to be pretty darned good deals for leasing or
  buying (i.e. 1% of list price per month or 50% off list price). Note that
  this is strictly going to be used for development and does not need to be
  HA.
   
  Here's what I need to be able to do on the machine:
  1. Develop RPGILE/CLLE/CLE/SQL code (need to be able to compile at V5R1)
  2. QShell environment.
  3. Ability to run Java natively AND in a servlet container (Tomcat is my app
  server of choice)
  4. Ability to have more than one LPAR (rep tells me I need an HMC to
  accomplish this. The HMC is some sort of Linux appliance that gives you
  control over your different LPARS)
  5. Backup code and files (talking less than 1 or 2GB). Do I need addtl
  hardware for this or can I back to a network device?
  6. Less than 5 profiles on 5250 at any give time.
  7. DB2 and Query and SQL capabilities
  8. WDSC and PDM (I already have WDSC 6.0)
  9. Apache and SSL capabilities
   
  My retail price range is $10k to $15k which from what I can tell will get me
  a solid entry level machine.
   
  Based on the "Quick Pricer PDF" emailed to me, here is what I THINK I need,
  but I am lost as to if I have everything covered.
   
  Model/Server Feature SW Tier: 520-0975 P05
  CPW: 600/30 cpw
  Edition Name: Value
  Processor Speed: 1.9 Ghz Power 5+ includes L3 cache on 1200/60 cpw version
  Processor Feature: 8325
  Edition Featue and Price: 7350 $8,200
  ESA 24x7: $110
   
  Some things I don't understand or need clarification on:
  1. What are "feature codes"? (i.e. 8325, 7350, etc).  For instance, it
  appears as though feature 7350 is a package deal of some sort.
  2. From what I understand ESA gives me 24x7 access to support vs. just
  within business hours (seems like a good deal for only $110 more).
  3. What is "5250 CPW 30"?  Is that how much processing power is given to
  green screens?
  4. When they say "Disk Drive" on this page: http://tinyurl.com/pbpxa, what
  are they referring to? A harddrive? A backup drive of some sort?
  5. Do I need a "Twinax Adapater"?  Is that if I want to connect an old
  school console directly to the machine?
  6. What's the difference between the "Comm Adapter" and "Ethernet Lan" on
  this page: http://tinyurl.com/pbpxa
  7. Is 600/30 cpw enough horsepower to run a machine with less than 5
  developers on it at a given time?
  8. Is 1GB of memory enough to do general RPG development with some small
  Tomcat/Java and native Java mixed in there?
   
  Thanks to anyone that can help this lowly programmer buy his first iSeries
  :-)
   
  Aaron Bartell
  http://mowyourlawn.com
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
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