[Sunhelp] Rack mount E3500

[Gregory Leblanc]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ds [mailto:ds at primenet.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2000 7:21 PM
> To: sunhelp at sunhelp.org
> Subject: [Sunhelp] Rack mount E3500
> 
[snip]
> Since Sun's rack config starts at $7,500 dollars... I was thinking of
> purchasing a PC rack to place it in.  We use Compaq 19" racks ($2,500)
> for all our PC servers (we have a total of about 12 Compaq racks in
> toll).  My thought would be to purchase the floor kits for the E3500's
> ($100 ea.) and then place them on four way mounted shelves in 
> the lower
> portion of the Compaq rack.  Since we need the monitor and 
> keyboards at
> a remote location (about 40' away) we could purchase the 10m
> keyboard/monitor expansion kit ($75 ea.).  Then place a cheap 220
> terminal in the rack as a console for both units... total 
> cost... about
> $3,300 w/tax (I said about).

Well, I'm a total rack-mounted server newbie, but we do have a pretty
extensive server room.  Our new Alpha at work (the idiots already know VMS,
they're sure as heck not going to let me run Sun stuff.  Heck, I can barely
keep Linux on my workstation...), is rack mounted, and it wouldn't have been
a good deal if it didn't have two "support" HP Netservers, and two external
drive chassis.  What we do for all of our servers is to get the 23" racks,
and set PC tower sized servers next to each other on the rack, two or three
levels high.  Assuming that the 3500 isn't much bigger than a DS20, it
should fit all by it's lonesome on a 23" rack.  Then put a shelf above it,
and the second 3500 on that shelf.  With a good dumb term, you should be
able to run serial from both of them to that for your console.  Oh, now that
I learn how to read, that's what you said, oops.  The racks should only be a
few hundred dollars, plus whatever it costs to bolt them to the floor ($50,
depending on how up-tight your server room is).  I don't see why the Sun
rackmount would be any better than the Compaq, aren't they relatively
standard?  
	Greg