[Sunhelp] 3500 vs 4500

[Jim Howell]

Hi,
         A single I/O board can handle at least 3 devices and more 
depending on device type.  So you could have your disk array and tape 
library share an I/O board from that viewpoint, however they also share the 
capacity of that board and affects redundancy.
         If you think that your desired configuration would complete fill a 
3500 I'd consider getting a 4500 so that you have growth potential.
Jim

At 12:05 PM 9/21/2000 -0500, Yoho, Cindy wrote:
>Hi Folks,
>
>I am looking at the specs for the E3500 and the E4500 from Sun's website and
>I have a question I'm sure you all can answer for me quicker than a Sun
>rep...:-)
>
>The specs say the only differences are in the max number of CPUs (8 vs 14),
>the max external disk storage (2 TB vs 4 TB), the max amount of RAM (8 GB vs
>14 GB), and the max number of boards (5 vs 8).  It's this last difference
>that I am wondering about.  Are these boards the CPU and I/O boards?  In
>other words, the more CPUs I add (14 CPUs would take up 7 boards at 2 per)
>the fewer I/O boards I have left (7 left for I/O boards if I have 14
>CPUs)???
>
>We need to put a 300GB disk array and an AIT tape library on this server.
>Would that take up 2 of my boards, or is it figured differently?  What about
>the internal devices, like DAT, CDROM, and internal disks - do they take up
>a single I/O board?  I guess I'm used to figuring slots, and I'm not sure
>what a board contains on a Sun.  With HP (which I'm more familiar with!)
>some of the "boards" are half-height, some are full-height and some are 1.5
>height.  I may have 5 "slots" but I can put into those 5 slots 10 1/2 height
>boards, or 5 full-height, or 3 1.5 height and 1 half-height, etc.
>
>Thanks in advance for your help on this -
>
>Cindy
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