> -----Original Message-----
> From: Testbed Support for GridPP member institutes [mailto:TB-
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ian Collier
>
> I take your points about reliability and resilience - all of which can be
> met with an R310 - it supports raid and dual PSUs, but also supports
> single CPUs and modest amounts of RAM.
>
Indeed. I've priced an R310 which has dual PSU, pair of (hot
swap) disks, RAID controller, 16Gb RAM, quad-core processor,
5yr warranty, iDRAC6 enterprise, and it comes to £983.45,
or £1180.14 with the VAT. All that's missing is the 10Gbit
Ethernet card, which should add ~£140, so call it £1320
for the R310, so that's about a £500 saving over the R610
without (I think) any dramatic compromises.
> Extra CPUs and extra memory and all round beefier systems do not just cost
> unnecessary money up front but also consume extra power for the entire
> life of the box.
>
Not necessarily - newer kit is often more efficient. In particular
the notional R310 priced above has an older and more power-hungry
processor than the R610, and normal rather than low voltage memory.
> I am very, very much in favour of spending money to make the service
> dependable, but since the one thing you cannot do with these is put other
> services on them and since you really want two at each site, one for
> bandwidth and one for latency then not over specifying them is just
> prudent.
>
I think I agree with that in principle, we're just trying to
decide what does and doesn't count as overspecced.
Ewan
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