If any of you recall, I sent a message before regarding issues with a 100 client-based Samba server. After speaking with the company I'm working with and showing them some of the replies, they are enthusiastic about the system, and we're all looking forward to seeing it working. Thank you for all your replies and for your help. There were quite a few replies, and I can't get a chance to reply to all of them. All this help I'm getting really makes me want to try and contribute back however I can. The support on this mailing list is remarkable. One last question, I promise. :-) They're willing to spend around $10000 USD for the system, as they want the best system, since this will be a mission-critical part of their corporation. I figure that the amount is probably overkill, but I'd like to spend the money in getting the most fault-tolerant and reliable system they can get. We're also looking for a good disk subsystem with a lot of storage. They use Dell as a vendor for most of their systems. Is a Dell Poweredge server shipped with no OS installed and RAID a good buy? Will the hardware work with Linux? They're looking to have a RAID 5 based array. There are too many options with those systems, and I'm not sure what all of it means. Dell is their preferred vendor. If there is another vendor that would make a system that works better, and it's a compelling difference, I'm sure they would go along with it. If you have any experiences with hardware for a powerful fault-tolerant redundant RAID system on the budget of $10000 or less, I'd be interested in finding out what kind of hardware you got and whether you have any problems with it. Thanks for your help, Ben
Ben, just as a thought, why not attack this as a High Availiblity problem, much cheaper than fault-tolerant... Most fault-tolerant solutions that I have seen, (Compaq/Tandem,Sequent,Digital) will run in the neighborhood of $100,000.00 USD or more. With Linux and little scripting you could have 2 solid servers, and a fail-over solution that could meet your needs. I am not conversent with Dell, but I know that there are servers with raid 5, for around $5000.00 and a pair would give you a High Availiblity answer. If you like we can take this offline... A.G. "Benjamin Suto wrote..."> If any of you recall, I sent a message before regarding issues with a > 100 client-based Samba server. After speaking with the company I'm > working with and showing them some of the replies, they are enthusiastic > about the system, and we're all looking forward to seeing it working. > > Thank you for all your replies and for your help. There were quite a > few replies, and I can't get a chance to reply to all of them. All this > help I'm getting really makes me want to try and contribute back however > I can. The support on this mailing list is remarkable. > > One last question, I promise. :-) They're willing to spend around > $10000 USD for the system, as they want the best system, since this will > be a mission-critical part of their corporation. I figure that the > amount is probably overkill, but I'd like to spend the money in getting > the most fault-tolerant and reliable system they can get. We're also > looking for a good disk subsystem with a lot of storage. > > They use Dell as a vendor for most of their systems. Is a Dell > Poweredge server shipped with no OS installed and RAID a good buy? Will > the hardware work with Linux? They're looking to have a RAID 5 based > array. There are too many options with those systems, and I'm not sure > what all of it means. > > Dell is their preferred vendor. If there is another vendor that would > make a system that works better, and it's a compelling difference, I'm > sure they would go along with it. > > If you have any experiences with hardware for a powerful fault-tolerant > redundant RAID system on the budget of $10000 or less, I'd be interested > in finding out what kind of hardware you got and whether you have any > problems with it. > > Thanks for your help, > > Ben_______________________________________________________________________________ A.G. Russell IV KC5KFD High Order Software e-mail: ag4@hos.net Phone 512-834-1145 These are my views, on anyone else they would look silly. When it absolutely, positively has to be destroyed by tomorrow... United States Marine Corps -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is a heap of info about RAID. Only some RAID hardware is supported, You must read the HOWTOs and other recources to find out if the supllied DELL hardware is supported. DPT RAID hardware, there are others, is well supported. A little light reading: http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/mini/DPT-Hardware-RAID.html http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/Root-RAID-HOWTO.html http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/mini/Software-RAID.html RAID at linas.org: http://linas.org/linux/raid.html also check out the following for general and Linux specific RAID discussions. http://www.uni-mainz.de/~neuffer/scsi/ If you are unsure about the Dell hardware, try a search on Deja news, someone may have been over that territory before. Benjamin Suto wrote:> > If any of you recall, I sent a message before regarding issues with a > 100 client-based Samba server. After speaking with the company I'm > working with and showing them some of the replies, they are enthusiastic > about the system, and we're all looking forward to seeing it working. > > Thank you for all your replies and for your help. There were quite a > few replies, and I can't get a chance to reply to all of them. All this > help I'm getting really makes me want to try and contribute back however > I can. The support on this mailing list is remarkable. > > One last question, I promise. :-) They're willing to spend around > $10000 USD for the system, as they want the best system, since this will > be a mission-critical part of their corporation. I figure that the > amount is probably overkill, but I'd like to spend the money in getting > the most fault-tolerant and reliable system they can get. We're also > looking for a good disk subsystem with a lot of storage. > > They use Dell as a vendor for most of their systems. Is a Dell > Poweredge server shipped with no OS installed and RAID a good buy? Will > the hardware work with Linux? They're looking to have a RAID 5 based > array. There are too many options with those systems, and I'm not sure > what all of it means. > > Dell is their preferred vendor. If there is another vendor that would > make a system that works better, and it's a compelling difference, I'm > sure they would go along with it. > > If you have any experiences with hardware for a powerful fault-tolerant > redundant RAID system on the budget of $10000 or less, I'd be interested > in finding out what kind of hardware you got and whether you have any > problems with it. > > Thanks for your help, > > Ben >-- Peter Debus Computer Systems Administrator School of Mathematical Computer Sciences University of New England Armidale NSW Australia Ph: 61 (0)267 73 2412 Fax: 61 (0)267 73 3312
Linux does not work with Dell RAID system. You will need to find a RAID card that works with Linux. Otherwise Dell is OK. -- William Stuart (william@hae.com) "...and that's why I suggest putting your IP router in a suppository configuration" --Dilbert 1/8/1999> -----Original Message----- > From: samba@samba.org [mailto:samba@samba.org]On Behalf Of Benjamin Suto > Sent: Saturday, January 23, 1999 3:06 AM > To: Multiple recipients of list > Subject: What kind of system works best? > > > If any of you recall, I sent a message before regarding issues with a > 100 client-based Samba server. After speaking with the company I'm > working with and showing them some of the replies, they are enthusiastic > about the system, and we're all looking forward to seeing it working. > > Thank you for all your replies and for your help. There were quite a > few replies, and I can't get a chance to reply to all of them. All this > help I'm getting really makes me want to try and contribute back however > I can. The support on this mailing list is remarkable. > > One last question, I promise. :-) They're willing to spend around > $10000 USD for the system, as they want the best system, since this will > be a mission-critical part of their corporation. I figure that the > amount is probably overkill, but I'd like to spend the money in getting > the most fault-tolerant and reliable system they can get. We're also > looking for a good disk subsystem with a lot of storage. > > They use Dell as a vendor for most of their systems. Is a Dell > Poweredge server shipped with no OS installed and RAID a good buy? Will > the hardware work with Linux? They're looking to have a RAID 5 based > array. There are too many options with those systems, and I'm not sure > what all of it means. > > Dell is their preferred vendor. If there is another vendor that would > make a system that works better, and it's a compelling difference, I'm > sure they would go along with it. > > If you have any experiences with hardware for a powerful fault-tolerant > redundant RAID system on the budget of $10000 or less, I'd be interested > in finding out what kind of hardware you got and whether you have any > problems with it. > > Thanks for your help, > > Ben >