Slashdot Mirror
Sun to Give Niagara Servers to Reviewers
abdulzis writes "Sun Micro's Jonathan Schwartz says that Sun is giving away free servers to bloggers who do a good job reviewing their servers. From the blog article: 'if you write a blog that fairly assesses the machine's performance (positively or negatively), send us a pointer, we're likely to let you keep the machine'" Mr. Schwartz, if you're reading this, feel free to send us one with "Attn: CowboyNeal" on the label.
The primary differentiator is not CPU power, but I/O bandwidth. Even with SATA drives, PC architectures still don't handle the I/O bandwidth that servers can handle. That's the same reason mainframes are still around - although raw CPU power on a mainframe is not as much as on a server or even a workstation, they can throw data around like nobody's business.
This is worse than goats.cx. Remember, you're on the internet, so anything goes. Be prepared to have nightmarish recollection of what you will see if you click on this. And remember, you were warned:
i q.jpg
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/8765/cortacabea2
Correct. They probably want to attract some enterprise buyers who actually own servers and possibly already use some Sun applications.
:-)
But then, why add blogs to the equation? I don't know many companies who have a blog and would be ready to post this totally random review of a server on it.
Perhaps they're trying to get big blogging sites who own their own server racks to post a review. I bet you that Ars Technica is up for this
Never the less, I like the Ars reviews. These guys are ammazing, it would be awesome if they could score a server from Sun.
Also, as for the credit information, if you look at their pages correctly. They state that they'll automatically bill you for the machine if it's not returned within 60 days. Trust me, they wouldn't give away a 5000$ machine without asking any credit or monetary information!
The hip way to get your IP. No ads, ever.
https://www.sun.com/secure/servers/coolthreads/tnb /agreements/index.jsp
Try and Buy Agreements
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom (Great Britain), United States of America
Comment removed based on user account deletion
So I get a server from Sun. Does that just mean I get a fast computer with a shitty audio and video card? Limited expansion slots?
Since this particular server is a Niagara Server, it has the Ultrasparc T1 chip. That's the big difference. This chip has 8 cores and each core can run 4 threads at the same time for a total of 32 threads of execution. So, IF you're running a web or application server, you will be able to support a LOT more users than a single core or even dual core processor for about the same price of a high end Wintel or Lintel box. Also, this chip uses a fraction of the power that a PC uses. Since servers are always on, this is a big deal for saving money in a data center. The total power consumption is about 70 watts. The Intel Chips use more than 100 watts. I don't know about expansion slots or video card actually, but if you care about that on this box, you're missing the point.
No Sigs!
I would like to add to the above post that Sun equipment has more than just a simple serial cable output. Lights out management (Sun's name for out of band management via RJ-45 serial port and Ethernet) is a must have for anyone that does serious enterprise server administration. Console ports allow you to power on and off the machine, and run diagnostics even if the machine is otherwise dead. Sure you can get it for some PC servers, often via an expensive add-on card, but every Sparc machine has this built-in from the desktops to the servers. Until PC servers break from the legacy BIOS, and add features like this as standard equipment they will just be PCs that happen to be running a server OS.
The main cost driver for SCSI/Fiber drives is testing. WRONG
Before leaving the factory, the platters on every single enterprise class drive receive extensive testing. That is why SCSIs still have a 5 year warranty from Seagate, because every single drive has been tested and meets certain criteria.
ATA/SATA drives are not given the same testing.
Several drives per batch might get an indepth screening, but the rest get a relatively quick scan and then they're out the door.
Your Ignorance Is Showing.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
There are differences in the hardware of mainframes, unix/as400 servers, pc servers and pc's. Most differences surround reliability (redundancy etc.) and parallel processing (multiple CPU's, multiple specialized processors controlling IO, etc. etc.) Here are a couple examples:
IO controller cache with error correcting checksum in memory and redundant power supply to ensure zero loss of data short of taking a sledgehammer to the thing.
Mainframe CPU - parity checking with automatic transaction rollback on error detection at the hardware level (on the CPU). This is why banks use mainframes, so they know the transaction completed, or didn't, no in between.
You get a LOANER server. At the end of 30 days, you have the option of buying it, or mailing it back, insured, at your expense, or taking the chance they like your bribed-for review. For 99% of the people that read Slashdot, that means you're out $60 bucks. That's a *long* way from getting a free server.
Yes, bandwidth. Up until the PCIe bus, a pair of GigE ethernet cards saturated a PC's expansion bus. Until AMD built memory controllers into their chips, servers (read: non-x86 UNIX) crushed PCs in memory bandwidth. Until NCQ, SCSI drives crushed IDE drives in effective bandwidth.
So basically, yes, until very recently, there were very large and substantial bandwidth differences. They've gotten smaller. More important, however, are the "lights-out management" features. If you can't reinstall the OS from four floors away, it isn't a server.
Reality Maintenance Group, Silver City Construction Co., Ltd.