A5000 - more details

[Darrell Root]

> We have a Sparc 1000, a 1000E, and a Sparc20.
> The Veritas sales rep said I can have all three
> hosts in the loop.

...assuming that's possible, I don't know...

That would be a bit expensive buying a HA solution from veritas
for a SS1000.  The SS1000 is considered a "small server" by veritas,
so their licenses are much more expensive than for a "workstation".

But a 8 CPU 50mhz SS1000 has 400mhz of "total processing power"
(don't bother flaming me, I know it's far more complicated than just
multiplying MHZxCPUs, I'm just making the point that it's just about time
to throw all our 1000's/2000's in the trash).

A dual-proc ultra-2/ultra-60 can have up to 600mhz of "total processing
power" (again I'm being ultrasimplistic, put away the flamethrowers).

The big weakness with the U2/U60 solution is the number of IO slots.
A SS1000 can have up to 12 sbus slots (not even counting the built-in
SCSI).  A U2/U60 only has 4 sbus/pci slots.  Memory expansion is another
problem.  If you need the IO slots, or maxxed out RAM, you're stuck.

OK, why would you spend money on new equipment when you've got some
1000's on the shelf?

1) Lower veritas cost (a U2 is a "workstation", not a "small server").

2) Lower maintenance costs (the sun support prices for the 1000-series are
   awful---presumably if you're bothering with HA then you're bothering
   with support).

3) Easier to stock spare parts (I like having a rack full of U2's, then if
   one dies I just plug in my spare and I'm ready to go---ever try to buy
   a complete spares kit for a E1000/2000?...not fun).

   Remember, part of HA is recovering from the inevitable disasters.
   Having all your servers be identical, and having one spare is a godsend
   (and that also lets you degrade your vendor HW support from 24x7 to
   next-day-ship...even on your HA gear...that'll save you tens of thousands
   of dollars at a significant site.

   So instead of buying 24x7 support on a big SS1000, you're buying
   next-day-ship support on a U2 "workstation" (and you'll still recover
   _faster_ after an emergency because you don't need to wait 4 hours
   for the support person to show up with the wrong part :-)

Just my $0.02

Darrell Root
Emergency Holographic Fileserver Engineeer
"Please state the nature of the fileserver emergency"
rootd@nas.nasa.gov