Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 10:33:48 +0100 From: "Joao Barros" <joao.barros@gmail.com> To: "Marc G. Fournier" <scrappy@hub.org> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Opinions Wanted: Dell PowerEdge Servers ... ? Message-ID: <70e8236f0606250233o13eb66c4r62a63e91a567cae5@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <20060624215742.N1114@ganymede.hub.org> References: <20060624215742.N1114@ganymede.hub.org>
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On 6/25/06, Marc G. Fournier <scrappy@hub.org> 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
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