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Date:      Thu, 20 Oct 2005 16:13:26 +0100
From:      Joao Barros <joao.barros@gmail.com>
To:        Karl Denninger <karl@denninger.net>
Cc:        Michael VInce <mv@roq.com>, stable@freebsd.org, Sten Daniel S?rsdal <lists@wm-access.no>
Subject:   Re: Network performance 6.0 with netperf
Message-ID:  <70e8236f0510200813n62382ef7ia4c79bc7911568ae@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <20051020145700.GA86725@FS.denninger.net>
References:  <434FABCC.2060709@roq.com> <20051014205434.C66245@fledge.watson.org> <43564800.3010309@roq.com> <4356BBA1.3000103@wm-access.no> <43579259.8060701@roq.com> <p06200714bf7d5916c6de@10.0.1.210> <20051020145700.GA86725@FS.denninger.net>

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Hi,

I work at an ISP with some 250 Dell machines.

We started with Silver support on non critical machines and Gold
support on the critical ones.
When someone at Gold says: "Sorry, can't find your tag number..."  We
had several official apologies from Dell and upgraded all the machines
to Platinum. Yesterday the same thing happened, the difference being
someone calling back 15 mins later apologizing for the mistake...
We have machines that we had to remove the cable holders due to
thermal shutdown...
We have clusters on 6450s that go off because we close the front panel
and the button gets stuck..
We had a Tape library with 4 SDLT drives upgraded to 6 drives and they
forgot to send cables. The commercial department didn't knew what
cables were needed, I had to call Gold to explain our setup (they have
it documented on our SAN guide, which they made) and even after that
they send cables for the 'fail safe configuration'
We have RAID1 arrays with 1 drive failed that crashes the machine and
then prevents Windows from booting...
We have exchanged boards like crazy...

On the other hand, we have 2 cabinets full of IBM machines for about 2
years and we had 2 problems:
- 1 board dead on a new machine
- 1 HBA died

Give me IBM or HP any day of the week, weekends included 8)

On 10/20/05, Karl Denninger <karl@denninger.net> wrote:
> I think that's unfair.
>
> I have a couple of Dell machines and my biggest complaint with them has b=
een
> their use of proprietary bolt patterns for their motherboards and similar
> tomfoolery, preventing you from migrating their hardware as your needs gr=
ow.
>
> This also guarantees that your $75 power supply becomes a $200 one once t=
he
> warranty ends - good for them, not good for you.
>
> Other than that, I've been pretty happy with their stuff.  Sure beats a l=
ot
> of other "PC" vendors out there in terms of reliability, heat management,
> BIOS updates, etc.
>
> --
> --
> Karl Denninger (karl@denninger.net) Internet Consultant & Kids Rights Act=
ivist
> http://www.denninger.net        My home on the net - links to everything =
I do!
> http://scubaforum.org           Your UNCENSORED place to talk about DIVIN=
G!
> http://genesis3.blogspot.com    Musings Of A Sentient Mind
>
> On Thu, Oct 20, 2005 at 04:26:31PM +0200, Brad Knowles wrote:
> > At 10:49 PM +1000 2005-10-20, Michael VInce wrote:
> >
> > > The 4 ethernet ports on the Dell server are all built-in so I am assu=
ming
> > > they are on the best bus available.
> >
> >       In my experience, the terms "Dell" and "best available" very
> > rarely go together.
> >
> >       Dell has made a name for themselves by shipping the absolutely
> > cheapest possible hardware they can, with the thinnest possible
> > profit margins, and trying to make up the difference in volume.
> > Issues like support, ease of management, freedom from overheating,
> > etc... get secondary or tertiary consideration, if they get any
> > consideration at all.
> >
> >       But maybe that's just me.
> >
> > --
> > Brad Knowles, <brad@stop.mail-abuse.org>
> >
> > "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
> > temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
> >
> >     -- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), reply of the Pennsylvania
> >     Assembly to the Governor, November 11, 1755

--
Joao Barros



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