From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jun 25 09:33:55 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C8B4116A400 for ; Sun, 25 Jun 2006 09:33:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from joao.barros@gmail.com) Received: from py-out-1112.google.com (py-out-1112.google.com [64.233.166.182]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C10B643D67 for ; Sun, 25 Jun 2006 09:33:49 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from joao.barros@gmail.com) Received: by py-out-1112.google.com with SMTP id e30so1185436pya for ; Sun, 25 Jun 2006 02:33:49 -0700 (PDT) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; b=KvihF+A5NpYNNZR1xaVzmpWw1h/Uu3Xrm8lQ7LXsHl9hKjh9SAE0la68KmNd9x8ylsdMDZUVUMswrs4UU16Wh3dl0aU5rrNnt2eGRpIctnftBOIENx18T/1eZbr5B48PRQPN1Yh3qPIgdlWdRgz9Js+OTm3DV3+g984YhUxXW1k= Received: by 10.35.84.16 with SMTP id m16mr4516142pyl; Sun, 25 Jun 2006 02:33:48 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.35.117.14 with HTTP; Sun, 25 Jun 2006 02:33:48 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <70e8236f0606250233o13eb66c4r62a63e91a567cae5@mail.gmail.com> Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 10:33:48 +0100 From: "Joao Barros" To: "Marc G. Fournier" In-Reply-To: <20060624215742.N1114@ganymede.hub.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <20060624215742.N1114@ganymede.hub.org> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Opinions Wanted: Dell PowerEdge Servers ... ? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 09:33:55 -0000 On 6/25/06, Marc G. Fournier wrote: > > I'm currently weighing options ... my last two servers were HP Proliant, > and I *really* like them, but I might have a line on a supplier in Panama > that deals in Dell Servers and not HP ... > > Looking at Dell's web site, the PowerEdge has an optional "Remote Access > Controller" that will it *sounds* like will give me similar functionality > as HPs iLO ... > > But, I've heard bad things about their 'desktop offerings', and am not > sure if that follows through to their "Servers" ... > > So, I'm kinda looking for both good, and bad, experiences with the > PowerEdge stuff ... anyone with opinions? > I recently quit from a 4 year job on an ISP with around 300 Dell machines (almost all server models), some older Compaq (Proliant 3000) and recently, about 1 year, some IBM. During this time I found out this: - Compaq Proliant 3000: Failed Power supplys occasionaly. Failed SmartArrays after a reboot. When we called in with something failed, not many questions were asked, they send the part with no problems. - IBM Dual Xeons, Quad Xeons, Xeon and Opteron Blades, and Power5: 3 racks full of machines and had 1 server dead at arrival, 1 FC card dead after some months and nothing else failed! Support was miserable but it wasn't from IBM. - Dell: we had almost all models and all had problems. Power supplys, memory, motherboards, fans. Disks, well guess that's not Dell's fault. I remember the 6450 model, a quad Xeon that had a plastic door. If you close the door with some speed, nothing ridiculous, the server would shutdown. They were usually clustered, neat hein? Dell support even at the highest level is a pain. You hear something like: Customer: we have a problem with a blade server. Support: Please disconnect the power from the machine and connect again. Customer: But that will powerdown ALL the blades! Eventually the contract was raised from Silver and Gold to Platinum on all machines so that we could skip the normal support lines... I had a small stop on a bank last month and they work exclusively with HP, around 3500 servers. Major problems were with disks and some powersupplys and I think dead drives are to be expected. Onboard iLOs rock!!! Coming from Dell Hell I was pretty impressed with HP's machines. If I ever am in a position to choose, I'd go with either HP or IBM, although HP seems to have a stronger Opteron offer. -- Joao Barros