[TriLUG] Flaking PSU?

[Jim Ray]

my argument for folks spending $4000+ for a real server is as follows. 
here is the one we sell that has the necessary hardware under the hood 
for an entry level small business running linux or winders:

http://www.neuse.net/server

the first point brings up the insurance argument.  do you have insurance 
for your business?  of course, you do.  everyone does (or at least 
should).  so, the RAID5 with hot spare, redundant power supplies and ECC 
memory insure risk of downtime and data loss.

as for optiplex vs dimension, i stay away from both and am partial to 
intel motherboards because i've been working with their chips since 1981 
when the SDK85 with a whopping 8085A processor came out.  i don't care 
who stamps their name on the front.  dell likes cheap and fast.  i like 
local and high quality.  fact of the matter is that i can get local and 
high quality cheaper than dell as well.

if they've got budget for the expensive UPS, they've got budget for a 
real server.

just my $0.02.

hth,

jim
Jim Ray, President
Neuse River Network, Inc.

tel: 919-838-1672 x111
http://www.Neuse.Net

Ask about our Clean Technologies.  Established in the Carolinas 1997.

Brian Henning wrote:
> That's fair, and I'll answer it honestly.
> 
> Partly, it's due to my inexperience and shortcomings as a salesperson.  At
> this point, I'm not very good at making a convincing argument for a $3,000
> machine that, on the surface, appears to do no more than a similarly-spec'ed
> $500 machine.  (Yes.  What I described is essentially a desktop-grade
> machine in a server case.)
> 
> The second factor is the person to whom I have to make the sale.  In this
> particular company, the concept of opportunity cost is almost unknown.  If I
> spend $500 on parts, and yet end up devoting 100 hours out of the next year
> to direct service of said parts, he still feels like he's come out ahead.
> (and in fact, at my current pay scale, compared to a $3,000 capital
> investment, for those numbers he does come out quite a bit ahead,
> opportunity cost notwithstanding).  In this company, for example, we buy
> Dimensions instead of Optiplexes except in the case of incentive programs
> such as UPS' Customer Technology Program.  This company would rather spend
> two weeks to a month every year cyclically creating new QuickBooks company
> files and jumping through the hoops necessary to carry critical data over
> (as well as creating the headaches of tracking previous transactions) than
> put down the up-front cost of a financial system that can better handle the
> stress of a business which lives largely in the retail market (where we can
> easily have a customer list that grows by 15,000 in a year).
> 
> Gradually the mentality of the company is changing.  We now have a proper
> 2500VA UPS system in our network closet, rather than the two or three
> desktop UPSes that used to live in there.  But the closet (which now houses
> six computers, the UPS, and our PBX equipment) is still being
> (ineffectively) cooled by a mildew-filled sputtery 20-year-old window-unit
> air conditioner, despite my continuing suggestions that the A/C can't keep
> up with the heat output of the equipment.  It's a smallish company, with a
> strongly-entrenched small-company mentality.
> 
> So there's the long answer.  The short answer is "it's what makes the boss
> happy right now."
> 
> Cheers,
> ~B
> 
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org]On
>> Behalf Of Kevin Flanagan
>> Sent: Monday, June 19, 2006 7:09 PM
>> To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list
>> Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Flaking PSU?
>>
>>
>> So,
>>
>>
>>     I've got to ask the question, if you wanted a server, why didn't you
>> buy one. I don't see anything that you are doing in the system you
>> listed out that couldn't be done in a desktop.  If you pay the premium
>> you get quality and service.  If you add up all of the parts, and your
>> time, will you really end up saving dough over buying a "name
>> brand" server?
>>
>>
>>
>> Just my $.02
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>     Kevin
>>
> 
>