[unclassified] RE: RHEL 5 on a Dell PowerEdge 600SC

[Sorin Srbu]

Gaddis, Jeremy L. <> wrote on Monday, June 25, 2007 12:05 PM:

> Sorin Srbu wrote:
>> <grin> I agree, but what if you want to build your own
>> monster-workstation with high-end components? None of the
>> brand-names in the industry (Dell, HP whatever) are that
>> well-known for providing really fast stuff. So I'm left with
>> building my own machine(s). Granted, I found some usable
>> hcl-lists on linuxquestions.org but that doesn't feel that
>> official, just some geek's word for it, that it will work. Know what I
>> mean? 8-] 
>> 
>> How do you guys do it? Only brandnames in the server-room and on
>> the desks?
> 
> That's how we do it.  I work at a .edu so we get decent pricing on both
> servers and workstations.  With the servers, sticking with what we
> already have means we're already familiar with the hardware and we know
> that it works.  For workstations, sticking to the same hardware "family"
> means we don't have to build new images for new hardware.  It's
> extremely nice to be able to only install the OS and applications once,
> make an image of it, and deploy that out to hundreds or thousands of
> workstations.  Having similar hardware means we also have spare parts
> on-hand in the event of a hardware failure.  In addition, we have great
> support from our vendors which comes in handy at times.
> 
> Years ago, I had the "build it myself so I know what it's in it, plus I
> can do it cheaper" mentality for my own machines, but I don't even do
> that anymore.  It's to the point where just about any machine I buy will
> support Linux (keep in mind I don't play games, do any high-end graphics
> work, etc.) and the price of PCs has came down so much it's not really
> that economical to build it yourself anymore.  I don't even have a
> custom-built box at home anymore -- they're all machines purchased
> direct from the likes of HP or Dell (though I've added larger HDDs and
> more RAM to all of them).
> 
> My newest workstation, an HP xw4400 (Core 2 Duo, SATA HDDs, DVD-RW,
> nVIDIA, etc.), has no problem running XP, Vista, Ubuntu, Fedora or RHEL
> out of the box.  We've really came a long way (with regards to Linux
> hardware support) in the last several years, thanks in part to companies
> like Red Hat.

Well, that's really the gotcha' over here. We mainly use the RHEL-machines to
do molecular modelling and calculations related to the modelling. That's why
they need to be really fast and preferrably have a high-end (nvidia) gfx-card.

Our windows-park is a bit more heterogenous, but lately I've begun buying 2-3
year old Fujitsu and Dell SFF-machines with the same basic hardware layout, as
the desktop park is really old and needs to be upgraded over the next year.
The Linux-machines are a bit more complicated, but will still last longer. 8-]

Thx for your reply. I think I have all I need for now!