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Domain: crystalpc.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to crystalpc.com.

Comments · 11

  1. Crystal Darksite by B1 · · Score: 3, Informative · on Monitoring the Health of Your Penguin?

    You might want to take a look at the Darksite remote management card from Crystal Computing. I don't work for them, but I had the chance to try one out, and I liked what I saw.

    Basically, it's a single-board computer that sits in a PCI slot in your server, and monitors its vitals (hardware / software). It runs completely independently of your server, except for an optional OS agent that can monitor things like memory utilization, CPU activity, etc. (Yes, there is an agent available for Linux).

    It has a web-based administration interface, and can send you alerts and warnings via Email or pager, even if the main server locks up hard for some reason--in that case, you can perform a remote reset or even cycle the power, all from a web based interface.

    It's a pretty nifty card--you should take a look.

  2. Re:NEBS compliant hardware required by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on UnitedLinux Pushes Into Telecom Market
    I've used Sun carrier grade hardware, don't know of any Intel based. Does any exist?

    Here is a list I compiled.



    IBM
    HP
    Intel,
    Crystal PC,
    Force Computer,
    RadiSYS



    There are many many Intel server vendors but there
    are only handful who makes NEBS compliant ones.

  3. Re:Compaq Remote Insight by tuiterwyk · · Score: 1 · on Cheap KVM Over IP?

    Crystal PC group makes a product called Dark Site, information here. Won't let you access the BIOS, but will toggle power, etc, if motherboard supports it.
    Claim to have an OS agent for Linux, and lots of other operating systems, details here.
    Also will support the Serial Console interface.
    Think they sell for around $USD 500.

  4. Re:Compaq Remote Insight by tuiterwyk · · Score: 1 · on Cheap KVM Over IP?

    Crystal PC group makes a product called Dark Site, information here. Won't let you access the BIOS, but will toggle power, etc, if motherboard supports it.
    Claim to have an OS agent for Linux, and lots of other operating systems, details here.
    Also will support the Serial Console interface.
    Think they sell for around $USD 500.

  5. DarkSite does this and more! by qurob · · Score: 0 · on Hardware Monitor/Sensor Add-on Boards?

    http://crystalpc.com/products/dsoverview.asp

    30 seconds with Yahoo! does the job for you!

  6. Plesk is cool, and you can buy it Pre-Loaded by bladel · · Score: 1 · on Webhosting Control Panels?

    I've had a chance to play around with the Plesk interface, and I have to admit it's pretty cool. It's user heirarchy allows the serveradmin to manage the box, but site-specific functions can be delegated to the siteadmins.

    I especially dug the console for BIND, so your users can manage (and possibly mess up) their own DNS records. They have demo up on their site, I think.

    If you're into serious large scale deployments, you can get Plesk pre-loaded on Crystal's super small RIA appliance.

  7. Plesk is cool, and you can buy it Pre-Loaded by bladel · · Score: 1 · on Webhosting Control Panels?

    I've had a chance to play around with the Plesk interface, and I have to admit it's pretty cool. It's user heirarchy allows the serveradmin to manage the box, but site-specific functions can be delegated to the siteadmins.

    I especially dug the console for BIND, so your users can manage (and possibly mess up) their own DNS records. They have demo up on their site, I think.

    If you're into serious large scale deployments, you can get Plesk pre-loaded on Crystal's super small RIA appliance.

  8. Why CompactPCI? by ClubPetey · · Score: 1 · on CompactPCI-Based BSD Firewalls?
    CompactPCI is a relatively new spec, and as such there is not a lot of products in the CompactPCI line, nor is there any performance spec or testing done on this platform. cPCI is primarily used in the telephony industry where it afford extrememly high port density. You may be better off looking at the ISA bus, or the PCI passive-backplane. Both have been around much longer and have been shown to be stable. For a simple application such as a firewall, ISA or PCI will be fine. That said, here are some links to companies I have used in the past.

    Advantech supplied a full line of CompactPCI chassis and system boards at very reasonable prices. They also carry PC104, and other custom SBCs.

    Crystal PC supplies ISA-based computer systems in various rackmount configurations. Especially useful if you need 20 or 30 of the same box in a rack. They specialize in 1U and "toolbox" computers.

    Diversified Technologies supplies PCI SBCs, cPCI SBC, and an array of chassis.

    I would also like to take a minute and caution you against using *BSD (or Linux) as a firewall. While it is true that they came be designed for less, and that you have greater control, it also means you have greater responsibility to maintain these system. The advantage to a Cisco PIX is that the OS is not well know and not available for download. In the case of BSD, there are many more exploits available. Worse, you need to worry about both OS exploits and Firewall software exploits. In the case of the PIX, the OS is the firewall, and exploits are far fewer. While it may be more expensive, think of the cost to your business that a breach would cause. After you factor in the extra work, extra maintenance, and lower security, you'll find a PIX is much more cost effective.
    --
    He had come like a thief in the night,

  9. Re:Cute, but not practical by bladel · · Score: 1 · on Do it Yourself 1U Half-Width Server

    Absolutely. There's really no commercial value here, but it would suffice for routing a small home network or serving games at LAN parties.

    {shameless plug}
    My company builds powerful (SMP) high-density servers that sport all of these features and more.
    {/shameless plug}

  10. Re:Cute, but not practical by bladel · · Score: 1 · on Do it Yourself 1U Half-Width Server

    Absolutely. There's really no commercial value here, but it would suffice for routing a small home network or serving games at LAN parties.

    {shameless plug}
    My company builds powerful (SMP) high-density servers that sport all of these features and more.
    {/shameless plug}

  11. It's no big deal by dingbat_hp · · Score: 3 · on Major Linux Deployments

    This is Big Blue Iron we're talking about, not a bunch of individual PCs that just happen to be stuffed into a single rack.

    30,000 Linux OS images on a 390 is no harder to manage than those as MVS images, and not that much (sic) harder than a single one. Sure, there's a lot of user accounts to manage, and a mainframe port brings in complexity issues that aren't important for a one-per-desktop box, but you certainly don't have issues like 30,000 individual root passwords. It's a hell of a lot easier to admin than a Beowulf cluster.

    Lots of users with their own image of a shared (and protected) OS is what mainframes are all about.