[K12OSN] New Server

[Dimitri Yioulos]

On Friday July 14 2006 2:24 pm, Krsnendu Dasa wrote:
> I have just received the following advertisement and wondered what
> everyone thinks about this as a K12LTSP server for about 30
> clients. I don;t know much about servers. What is the x235 like?
>
> A. Ex-lease
> IBM xSeries x235 Server
> Xeron 2.0GHz
> 1024MB ECC DDR Ram
> ServeRAID 5i
> 3 x 34.6GB 10k SCSI's
> Onboard Gigabit
> Dual PSU's
> http://www.syscomm.co.uk/documents/ibm/x235_datasheet.pdf
>
> Price:$ NZ 850.00 + gst = $US 525
> Plus extra 1GB RAM
>         $ NZ 180 +gst = $US 110
>
> TOTAL: $ NZ 1030 + gst = $US 635
>
> I was also considering this option:
> B. Brand New
> Intel Pentium D Dual Core 805 2.66GHz 2X1MB 533MHz FSB LGA775
> Asus P5LD2 Intel 945P LGA775 ATX 1066FSB Pentium D DDR2
> 2 GB DDR2 533Mhz ram
> Seagate BARRACUDA 7200.9 160GB NCQ SATA2 3.5LP 2MB 11MS 7200rpm
> Cost =$NZ 954 + gst  = $590 US
>
> C. We are currently have 2x AMD 2500XP with 2 GB RAM and 120MB SATA
> HD + gigalan in desktop tower cases. We are using one of them as
> K12LTSP server. If I got a new server I would use the current
> machines as 1. smldap /home server and 2. backuppc server.  I would
> also run Windows on VMware server on one of them to cater for a few
> legacy apps. Or are these 2 machines adequate. i.e. 1. K12ltsp
> server 2. VMware Windows + backuppc
>
> I tend to favour A the exLease IBM because it is designed as a
> server so should be more reliable etc. The SCSI drives should give
> a good performance boost I have been told. It also sounds like a
> good base to build from. It has room for expansion in RAM, HD,
> another CPU etc.
>
> What do the experts think about these options?
>

I have this exact server!  It acts as a very busy Web server.  I can 
say that it's been rock-solid.  However (and this might be a small 
however, depending), if you're familiar with Dell servers, the IBM 
xSeries 235 is a quite different in terms of management.  I find, for 
example, updating Dell server drivers, firmware, etc. trivial.  The 
same tasks on the IBM are more difficult.  Not because of the 
hardware, but because of the driver, firmware, etc. installation 
process.  The internals of the IBM are pretty different, too.  That 
said, I do find IBM's documentation quite good (be sure the system 
comes with all of the documentation!).

Great price, too!

HTH

Dimitri

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