[geeks] Dell T105 server arrives

[Shannon Hendrix]

On Apr 2, 2008, at 15:20 , Mark wrote:

> 3 words: external hard drive. I mean you could use a USB burner if  
> you had to...

See my other comments about using hard drives.

Hard drives are not a backup, they are data mirrors at best.

No incrementals, no shipping backups, no storing them in vaults, no  
snapshots, etc.

I do use hard drives for their intended purpose, but they aren't  
removable media.

DVD is the only thing I have that has the features, which I can also  
afford.

Even Blu-Ray isn't really big enough.  They spent so many years  
fighting over things that don't matter, it has delayed the 100GB  
version, and kept the media costs too high.

> You miss a vital point about the low-end Dell server range. They are  
> intended for office environments where (and I speak from experience)

No, I understand that, I thought you were generalizing the way you  
wrote that response.

Mostly I was just writing down quick observations, and except in a  
couple of cases were not intended as criticism, even though some took  
it that way.

If I didn't like the unit, it would already be on its way back... :)

> it doesn't matter how many times you tell people NOT to use THAT  
> switch, use the one on the front they won't listen, because that's  
> how they used to turn off the electric typewriter in 1981, so it's  
> good enough for a server. I know everyone here rails against making  
> stuff idiot roof, but honestly sometimes it's the only way to  
> actually ensure stuff doesn't get broken.

I used to buy glue-on switch covers for any machine that was exposed  
to humans.

I've not been able to find any of those in a long time now.

> Our sever is stood on a table with 3 sides exposed for better  
> through airflow. It's not in the main office and I thankfully work  
> somewhere where that box at least gets treated with enough respect.  
> I'm aware some people don't, however. A T105 could easy be mistaken  
> for a normal PC too, whereas our server (a P1800) couldn't really :)

Well, one good thing I guess: at least hitting the power button does  
an orderly shutdown these days.

One of my past jobs was recovering Sun workstations where the users  
would just toggle power on the back.

I never did figure out why Sun didn't install soft power switches.  It  
would have made a lot more sense.

Then again, so would modern serial technology... :)


-- 
"Where some they sell their dreams for small desires."