Okay, you can call this an advertisement if you wish, but since I'm not in sales, I have no incentive to post this. I am posting this as an engineer, to get the word out, not to try and drum up business. I will not post details of pricing etc, because I don't really know or care. You can contact Plesk Sales for that info. So please take this into account before jumping to conclusions. (Mod's please move it if you think that it belongs in the advertising section).

Now on to the good stuff...

Due to a huge demand from our existing customers, we have just completed the a process of wiping out a cobalt raq3 or raq4 completely, replacing the OS with RH 7.3, and installing PSA 5.0.4. The entire process takes very little time. The longest part is actually transfering our "image" to the host network. It takes only minutes to do the actual install.

This should be very exciting news for anyone with these old machines collecting dust. With Sun's recent announcements to EOL their entire line of raq's, these machines will become pretty much useless within a year.

Thats great but if the software costs as much as the server then most people are going to junk them anyway.

Not really. Think about people who have datacenters full of raq's, because 2 years ago they were "the big thing" in hosting. You dont just throw away hundreds of servers. The cost of a software license is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Any host that has a halfway decent business will make up the (one time) cost of a license within a few months max. These servers will now have an extended life for at least another year.

So how does this work for individual RaQ owners - are we faced with the same 'try to flash our own ROM' and pray we don't get a boat anchor' routine?

:)

Brandon

Well,.. one could argue that it was a boat anchor when you bought it, but I wont go there ;)

We have a script that first grabs the existing flash, attempts to flash with our modified version, checks for error, then reflashes if necessary. If all attempts fail, it will restore the old. Obviously it's not foolproof, as with any other flashing process. The only problem we can forsee is if the power was killed during the flash, or something to that effect. And of course the minute you even look at a raq sideways the warrenty is void.

Has Sun gone made an announcement that the RaQ series will be EOLd? I've heard the rumor but has anything official been released?

Mike

RaQ4 recently was, that's it. Though there is a rumor that they're going to unload the entire business unit in a few months.

Brandon

woohooo

RaQ 4, CacheRaQ 4 and RaQ XTR have been EOL'd. All that's left is Qube 3 (which is very old, so I'd bet it's not long for this world) and RaQ 550, which had an 18 month projected lifespan from launch (May 2002).

Once a product is announced EOL by Sun, you can order it for 90 days, and they will ship it for up to 180 days. After that, they say they will "maintain" it (provide patches and spare parts/etc) for 3 years (5 years for the SPARC/Solaris machines).

IMHO this is an innovative idea. I agree with Dan, the dc's that were pushing raq servers a few years ago should have quite a few of them around still. If this works properly, then Plesk has just given these servers a new lease on life.

The price listed on the Plesk forum is more than reasonable, again IMHO!

Thanks

And why should Sun stop with their succesfull Raq line? very unlikely.

And how exactly are my Raq's useless after Sun stops selling them? i use Raq 3's long after Sun has stopped selling them. They still work like the day they came in.

Spread rumours, create confusion, and sell your product :puke:

While I totally agree that EOL products continue to perform just as well as the day they were announced (esp. relative to the RaQ4 line)... this statement:

And why should Sun stop with their succesfull Raq line? very unlikely

Is totally misinformed. Sun's revenues from RaQ's is dismal, and I suspect it's hardly enough to offset the support liabilities. At any rate the unit isn't 'successful' anymore, doesn't align itself with Sun's demonstrated growth strategies, and is precipitously close to getting the boot.

Just my opinion :)

Brandon

Could you please point me to the right location.... Cause i cant find the price list stated on the plesk website.....

Thanks Robbert.

If anyone is chucking there raq's i would take them off your hand for some £