RE: Opinons?

> From: Jones, John (US)
> 
> You definitely want duals vs. a single CPU.  Dual 3.2s should be quite
> nice.  At a $200 bump over 3GHz chips, it's reasonable.  The other
price
> bumps are definitely dimishing returns and probably wouldn't be
> worthwhile.

Yeah, I'm debating the additional $300 for 3.4GHz.  It's a tossup.


> Leave the other components unchanged.  Or drop the disk to 2 mirrored
> 300GB 10K drives.  Less power/heat/noise but more capacity.  A little
> less performance as well, but probably not so much less that it'll
> matter that much to you.

I'm actually betting on the 15K drives.  My theory is that Java is
particularly sensitive to disk speed and that the 15Ks will dramatically
improve throughput.  I've got some evidence to that effect in that WDSC
on equally powerful CPUs performs noticeably worse on 5400RPM drives
than on 7200RPM drives.  We'll see how 15K stacks up.


> How will it be backed up?  If data sets are small, tweak the CD to a
DVD
> burner.  Or pick up a used SCSI tape drive (does it have an external
> SCSI port?).  Or over-the-wire to your iSeries.

Currently I back up to external USB hard drives.  Cheap, fast, simple.
For my setup, a tape drive doesn't make sense.


> Which xSeries model is it?

To go the 3.2 it's the model 226.  The 3.6 would be a model 336.  The
3.4 could be either one.  There's not a lot of difference between those
models.


> For OS handling, I would suggest checking out the VMWare Technology
> Network subscription at $299 a year (
> http://www.vmware.com/products/vplatform/vmtn_features.html ).  It
gives
> you developer licenses for all VMWare stuff and you could then run
both
> Windows 2003 & Linux concurrently.  Key is it's meant for developers
> only, which is exactly what you're after.

Excellent.  I think that's the ticket.


> BTW, when buying Windows 2003, or any version of Windows, if you're
not
> getting it dirticus cheapicus with the server, you can probably save a
> bundle by getting the OEM version.  Identical to the retail, but must
be
> purcahsed with hardware.  Most places include some trivial piece of
> hardware, like a power splitter cable or even just a case screw, to
mee
> the obligation.  Like this:
> http://www.buycheapsoftware.com/details.asp?productID=1132&cid=71

Better yet, I am now an official Microsoft ISV, and I get everything for
$375 a year... that's OS's and development tools and everything.
Sometimes it pays to be on the Dark Side <g>.

Joe