Comment Sun does have some problems... (Score 1) 641
Every machine has it's issues. In the name of honest reviews I offer the following. I manage a few E10Ks for various customers and have found them lacking in several regards:
- I have heard Sun salespeople market these things as "fault tolerant"; they have since stopped.
- Price/Performance: Almost everyone I know who runs these things partition them down to E4500 sized domains; these are awful expensive 16 CPU systems.
Some Sun issues that affect uptime (on any platform):
- Alternate Pathing just doesn't work as advertised. Unless a path (disk/network) goes completly dead in one instant you are stuck with a faltering path -- just like normal. Most disk controller failures are long-term slides: AP does not kick in. Sun's local SEs privately suggest dumping AP.
- Sun storage is way behind that of Network Appliance, et al. Failures in a disk path are hard to diagnose: if you are losing conections to an A5200 array you follow Sun guidance -- replace every GBIC in the path, then start replacing Interface Boards. There is NO way to trace a failing GBIC.
- Speaking of GBICs, I had Sun provide replacements for EVERY GBIC deleivered with new E10Ks and Exx00 servers after I learned that those produced by Vixel Corp had "longevity issues". Call Sun and ask about this.
Despite this, I still don't want to touch an NT box. Hardware can be fixed, salespeople can be beaten into submission...we make progress with Sun. Our NT systems crash and we can't get anywhere with MS or Compaq.
Believe it or not, I am a Sun fan. I just think that discussing issues openly breeds solutions. Microsoft seems to hide and deny any issue...that's why I prefer Sun systems.
While a bit off-topic, I am waiting for a Linux distro that can handle new hardware without a reboot, scale up to 64 procs/64 GB RAM, and can journal their FS. anyone at VA or SGI listening?
- I have heard Sun salespeople market these things as "fault tolerant"; they have since stopped.
- Price/Performance: Almost everyone I know who runs these things partition them down to E4500 sized domains; these are awful expensive 16 CPU systems.
Some Sun issues that affect uptime (on any platform):
- Alternate Pathing just doesn't work as advertised. Unless a path (disk/network) goes completly dead in one instant you are stuck with a faltering path -- just like normal. Most disk controller failures are long-term slides: AP does not kick in. Sun's local SEs privately suggest dumping AP.
- Sun storage is way behind that of Network Appliance, et al. Failures in a disk path are hard to diagnose: if you are losing conections to an A5200 array you follow Sun guidance -- replace every GBIC in the path, then start replacing Interface Boards. There is NO way to trace a failing GBIC.
- Speaking of GBICs, I had Sun provide replacements for EVERY GBIC deleivered with new E10Ks and Exx00 servers after I learned that those produced by Vixel Corp had "longevity issues". Call Sun and ask about this.
Despite this, I still don't want to touch an NT box. Hardware can be fixed, salespeople can be beaten into submission...we make progress with Sun. Our NT systems crash and we can't get anywhere with MS or Compaq.
Believe it or not, I am a Sun fan. I just think that discussing issues openly breeds solutions. Microsoft seems to hide and deny any issue...that's why I prefer Sun systems.
While a bit off-topic, I am waiting for a Linux distro that can handle new hardware without a reboot, scale up to 64 procs/64 GB RAM, and can journal their FS. anyone at VA or SGI listening?
