On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 11:27 PM, Erik Trimble <erik.trim...@oracle.com> wrote: > But you're not doing an equal comparison.
Thanks for the enlightening. I am also working in a datacenter, like you do, so I am also perfectly aware about hardware just like you are — that's for the record. I've picked up hardware and it supposed to assume that *equivalent* machine from SuperMicro is cheaper (because I assume I am talking to pros here?). Besides, I know what is inside that Sun Fire thing, I know the guts, manufacturer and I even know where the factory is located, BTW. Again: nothing special with that machine and it also has one one power supply (which is very convenient BOFH excuse when your Java failed on a trade bid). Other machines from what Snorcle offers — that has better hardware (yes, it has) and also has better supplies etc — but their prices are also damn bigger. Once again: I certainly like that Sun hardware and I think it is good one. But, again, I am saying that it is expensive stuff and Super Micro can easily replace that thing (unless Snorcle going to break Solaris intentionally not to boot on that hardware, which is very possible, because Oracle has less than zero trust among geeks). > OEM equipment has a whole bunch of different features that you can't get > via a build-it-yourself rig like Supermicro (even if you are having a > whitebox vendor assemble the Supermicro and not do it yourself). Not > just Sun equipment, but all OEM equipment is in a totally different > class. Oh sure it must be so, since it is assembled in Oracle (well, not really, but at least logo is there). :-) And what are that outstanding features we can not get on equivalent Super Micro, I'd like to know? For example, what's so special in that machine, in particular? Can you please tell me exactly, because I'd like to hear it explicitly? Or you want me to tell you a real cost-estimate for the actual parts and tell the actual price of each gut, including a case? It is almost like a cents, it is cheap like mushrooms. And folks @oracle.com perfecly knows that. But price is still huge. Question is for what exactly (I really don't know why the price is so high — maybe "Sun" logo contains pure platinum or chassis is golden? — I don't know)... Why price is so high? > Now, maybe you don't want those extra features, and that's fine. But > don't think that you can say "well, my Fiat (car) is better than your > Peterbuilt (semi-), since it costs 10% of the price, and both can drive > down the highway at 100 kph". Up front pricing is but one of many > different aspects of buying a server, and for many of us, it's not even > the most important. No-no, your Fiat is actually much worse, it is like a russian LADA. :) Because with SuperMicro for the same price I've got more RAM, better CPU, larger storage and TWO power supplies. And yes, it is more silent and takes less power, so more greener. Support is also very good: parts are replaced very quickly, if failed (we don't have only just one box in our DC, you know). We also got hardware-only support (unlike Snorcle offers) and also price is much much smaller. But to be fair enough, I have to admit that LED indicators blinks better on Sun machines — the color is more vivid, cool and an aluminum case is more look like it is an Apple XServe. :-) > When doing price comparison, you have to compare within the same class. Right. You need an explicit drill-down, fine. So the Sun Fire X2270 M2 Server on pure list price costs $3,962, one year warranty. And now identical Supermicro 6016T-TF with exactly the same config/warranty for the full price what I have to pull out my wallet is $2,190 — which is mostly as twice as cheaper. I think red Oracle logo label (or blue Sun's) must cost the rest — must be made from a chunk of platinum... :) -- Kind regards, BM Things, that are stupid at the beginning, rarely ends up wisely. _______________________________________________ zfs-discuss mailing list zfs-discuss@opensolaris.org http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
