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Thread: rack server builders? best one?
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01-03-2008, 02:19 PM #1Web Hosting Master
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rack server builders? best one?
I'm looking for a cheaper alternative to Dell's poweredge rackmount servers.
Which other server provide do you recommend for reasonable quality and better pricing then Dell?
How many servers have you bought from them and how many hardware parts failed out of these?
Thanks.
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01-03-2008, 02:55 PM #2Web Hosting Master
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I recommend RackLogic. We have bought a bunch of systems with them over the past year ( ~15 systems) and all have been great. No hardware failures yet. We did have one small issue with 1 of the 2 ethernet ports on a supermicro server motherboard not working right, but we had that replaced.
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01-03-2008, 03:33 PM #3Web Hosting Master
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racklogic.com?
There site is shot, no info. Nothing.
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01-03-2008, 03:40 PM #4Web Hosting Master
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yes that is the website. contact them via email or phone for whatever server you are looking for.
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01-03-2008, 03:43 PM #5WHT Addict
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Interpro Microsystems - interpromicro.com ask for Andy they are a Super Micro shop (and I consider super micro superior in their chassis, power supply and motherboards to all other enterprise server providers).
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01-03-2008, 03:44 PM #6Web Hosting Master
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I've always been a proponent of sticking with name brands, the quality is just far superior due to the available engineering resources. However, you might check out pogolinux.com. I've been working with Paul Bibaud @ pogo, and his pricing is nothing short of phenomenal. Paul's contact information is paul.b@pogolinux.com, 206-753-2249 and I can't recommend him enough.
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01-03-2008, 03:48 PM #7Web Hosting Evangelist
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You should probably ask this in the colo forum to get more input.
We have used apaqdigital.com for our supermicro servers. The owner is active on these boards. I have been involved in the purchase of over 20 servers from them and the prices are always good and the shipping fast. If I recall we had one server in with a flaky controller but he sent us a replacement quickly.
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01-03-2008, 05:16 PM #8Junior Guru Wannabe
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01-03-2008, 05:50 PM #9Poooooonnyyy :*
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Recently we were ordering all of our hardware from 8anet, but after issues with delivery times and simply bad communication, we decided to go with someone locally.
After our move from alphared to steadfast, Karl put us in contact with a local company, amadisystems.com. Their prices were a heck of a lot better than what 8anet gave us and I liked the fact it was local so all work we've needed, he simply went to the DC to check up for us. Setup time was very good, 3 days from order -> in rack, quite good considering half of the parts were supermicro.
We've since then ordered another 2 boxes with him, all have gone well.
:-)
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01-03-2008, 06:05 PM #10Junior Guru Wannabe
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01-03-2008, 06:25 PM #11Backup Guru
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01-03-2008, 06:44 PM #12Web Hosting Evangelist
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I couldn't be happier with my SuperMicro machines from http://www.apaqdigital.com/. Chong is the best. Great service, reliable hardware and reasonable prices.
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01-03-2008, 07:48 PM #13Web Hosting Master
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Supermicro boxen from ApaqDigital.com - no failures in any machines over 4 or 5 years of doing business. Quick, prompt service and super fast shipping on spare parts. Highly recommended!
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01-03-2008, 07:53 PM #14Web Hosting Master
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I checked apaqdigital and they have this motherboard
Foxconn 946GZ7MA socket 775 desktop board
Is Foxconn any good? the supermicro mb models are a heap more expensive.
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01-03-2008, 08:14 PM #15Aspiring Evangelist
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In my mind nobody can beat the prices, and quality support that Rob and Don give at Rack Mount Specialists (http://rackmountspecialists.com/)
I have been using them exclusively for a few years now.
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01-03-2008, 10:04 PM #16Junior Guru
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I really think you should go with Dell especially for colocation. Every server comes with 3-year on site support. If something happens to your server they will go right over to the DC and fix it.
In addition, right now you will likely get a price better than a Supermicro given the specials Dell is offering. Free processors, free RAID card, $850 off $2800... etc etc. If you're purchasing a bunch of servers you can get a business account with them and receive even better discounts. I really have to say I've had great experiences with Dell.
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01-03-2008, 10:12 PM #17THE Web Hosting Master
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I can't find pricing on anything even close to what I can get from Amadi Systems (Yes, I know they don't have a site up yet, but they're great to deal with, just contact curt@amadisystems.com) and with the Supermicro boxes you can get more drives in the same space, they use less power, etc. as well. I'd rather pay the local colo shop, or stop in myself, to replace bad RAM or a hard drive if something were to happen then pay Dell an extra several hundred to do it. Your colocation facility would also likely be much faster to respond than Dell, especially with Dell's standard 10/5 next business day offering.
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01-03-2008, 10:22 PM #18Randy
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apaqdigital.com for fast east coast deliveries
rackmountspecialists.com or go-pcn.com for fast west coast deliveries.Fast Serv Networks, LLC | AS29889 | DDOS Protected | Managed Cloud, Streaming, Dedicated Servers, Colo by-the-U
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01-03-2008, 10:26 PM #19Web Hosting Master
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for budget server builds, we have extensive experience with foxconn boards in last 12 months, and found that they are extremely reliable. 0 return for the few hundreds we have installed thus far. in fact, we have seen more failed supermicro/tyan boards than desktop boards from foxconn/asus/gigabyte/intel.
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01-03-2008, 10:57 PM #20Junior Guru
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Amadi Systems can beat this?!:
Dual Quad Core E5420 Xeon's 2.5 GHz 1333FSB 2x6MB Cache
8GB 4x2GB RAM w/ room for 4 more chips
3 146GB 15k RPM Raid-5 w/ room for 3 more drives
This can be had for $2900 at Dell w/ 3 years on site support. I find it hard to beat. Can it be beaten?! Say it isn't so?
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01-04-2008, 12:40 AM #21Web Hosting Guru
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Dell has gotten quite aggressive with their 1950 (1u) and 2950 (2u) pricing recently. This is of course if you want a server class motherboard, ECC ram, decent raid controller, the three year NBD warm and fuzzy support, and excellent Linux/Unix support.
I have no problem building your own but if you are looking for a server class machine make sure to stick with server class hardware and ECC ram. Asus, Supermicro, and Tyan boards are going to be more reliable 99% of the time. Using anything less than ECC ram is a big no no.
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01-04-2008, 01:01 AM #22Web Hosting Evangelist
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The Dell servers I have worked on had pretty dysfunctional RAID controllers. Once I had a bad drive but the controller did not realize it. When trying to manually break the mirror or remove the drive, it refused to do any operations on the array (even after unmounting in the OS) until I reboot.
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01-04-2008, 01:19 AM #23Web Hosting Master
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01-04-2008, 04:41 AM #24Web Hosting Master
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Comparing with Dell is like comparing a $500 hooker against hooking up with your 50 year old aunt selma. Of course it's going to be better.
Supermicro makes good commodity servers, but they're just that, a commodity, whitebox manufacturer. Compared to something from HP, Sun, or IBM they're weak, especially on the on-board diagnostics, and management side.
For dedicated servers where you don't need much (any) sophistication, sure Supermicro is fine, but for more intensive applications, give the big 3 a chance, they'll surprise you. Looking inside some Sun servers is like peering into a work of art. I'm especially fond of Sun's latest round of LOMs, which have embedded Linux in them.. It's lightyears ahead of Supermicro's IPMI implementation.
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01-04-2008, 09:20 AM #25Randy
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