Red Hat hardware advice

[Jason Dixon]

On Dec 23, 2004, at 7:13 AM, Bohmer, Andre ten wrote:

> We have Red Hat EL AS v3 and v2.1 running on top of about 40 HP 
> Proliant
> server (dl-140/145/360/380). Due to serious problems regarding 
> stability
> of a number of those servers (HP is looking into this problem) and the
> HP firmware craziness, just in case we have to make the though decision
> to change hardware brand, a question to you all. The grass always seems
> greener on the other side, so are there people who want to share their
> experience regarding Red Hat EL AS on top of let's see IBM or Sun
> hardware or maybe an other A brand? Any pitfalls to watch for or other
> tips?

Until 3 months ago, I was _the_ Linux Engineer at an enterprise 
webhosting company.  We used HP Proliant DL3x0/5x0/7x0 servers with all 
the agents and iLO stuff, so I feel your pain.  I experienced a 
never-ending stream of "pass-the-buck" syndrome between Red Hat and 
HP/Compaq as neither side would fully address instability issues with 
the platform.

I've never used IBM or Sun hardware with RHEL and I have no reason to 
try.  Sun's Linux offerings never matched up with our requirements.  
IBM has always exceeded our price points (according to the Product 
Managers), particularly since RHEL was already our most expensive 
platform (*)(**).  I've used Dell PowerEdge servers since then, and 
have been pretty satisfied.  Their agents and RAC cards are the closest 
thing to the "boot-to-bluescreen" management experience that HP offers, 
and their Linux engineers are very active on the Linux/PowerEdge list.  
If you consider the Dell route, I highly suggest subscribing to that 
list and getting other users' input on your pending purchase.

HTH.

* Compared to Windows on the same HP hardware and Solaris on Sun.  
Believe it.

** Ok, so this was because this company insisted on purchasing the top 
level of support (platinum, 24x7), even though RH engineers are only 
available during "normal business hours".

--
Jason Dixon
DixonGroup Consulting
http://www.dixongroup.net