On Thu, Mar 18, 2004 at 10:41:53AM -0800, John Todd wrote: [...]
Realweasel is a great idea if you can afford it -- but the PCI version lists for $350, which is as expensive as some used 1U servers on EBay.
Is there an effective alternative? All the intel "servers" these days seem to have one of those handy-dandy (note: sarcasm) ethernet ports
$250 (Cisco 2511 w/cables) + 2x$200 (APC 9210) + 16x$270 (1u Intel PIII 650/2x18gSCSI/1g) = $4970 for 16 remotely-configurable/rebootable machines in 19u of space. Now, double that for 38u (4u short of a full rack) and add a Cisco 3548 at $1600. That turns into $11540 for 34 machines, all remotely manageable with remote power cycle. One of those systems could be an altq traffic shaper/router. Not a bad configuration for a best-effort 1u rental service. The trick of course is getting 32 identically-configured 1u machines at this price, with some spares. It's nice to buy equipment on eBay on a one-by-one basis, it doesn't scale for bulk purchases of identical equipment.
This is relevant, if tangential, to the current discussion on 1U colo for remote ops/looking glass/etc. Summary: 1) One respondent mentioned that Penguin Computing sells a complete system with a serial console/management port. I found the following links on Penguin's site: http://penguincomputing.com/store/relion-130.php (+ other select models) http://penguincomputing.com/support/serial_redirect.php 2) John Todd's excellent price break-down above is useful in the "best-effort" context. 3) Numerous respondents helpfully pointed out that a number of motherboards include a serial management/console port and have for several years. This is useful in environments where self-built systems are acceptable. In corporate environments, warranty and service issues may make that undesirable. 4) One nanog member indicated that I am an idiot. Personally, I recently priced intel server systems from a variety of major vendors including Dell, Compaq/HP, IBM, and Sun (intel-based). All of them offered (proprietary?) ethernet-based remote management. None offered serial management. Thanks to everyone for their responses. Kelly