Im using the older server version right now to try it out with server 2k3 & maybe a couple linux installs

 

Sweet. We're getting ready to check it out with RedHat and Solaris 10 x86. HP gave us a bunch of blade servers to play with so we're gonna hammer 'em

 

Nice, we're looking to colo & we're trying to decide wether to take our cabinet over there, virtualize everything or a bit of both.

 

How many servers are you looking to virtualize or host, what OSs (2k3 and linux only?) and how much money do you have to spend?

 

We have 26 now i believe and were planning to add 6+ a year

We're running 2k3 on all of them right now but we might be switching to a different inventory system for all our stores soon that runs on linux so we're still on the fence with that too

 

Real IT conversations make my brain hurt.

 

Well without knowing the kind of hardware you have (and would be looking to virtualize), or the amount of storage, there are probably two seperate machines you could take a serious look at:

The IBM X3850. This is the x86 box you can run windows and linux on, supports up to four physical sockets, in which you can run the quad, dual or single-core Intel processors (so you could have up to 16 cores if you ran four quads). 256GB max memory, 587GB max internal storage, 7 pci slots for additional NICs and/or scsi to attach to an external disk array. Each box is 4U. Price isn't too bad - if you load them to the max you'll be looking at $20k-$30k, but you can get them as low as $11k.

or

The Sun Fire x4450. Supports the same amount of sockets as the x3850, less max memory, more max internal storage and more pci slots. A major benefit to this box is how small it is - 2U.

You could also look at blade centers. I've used the IBM H blades. IMO, they are a PITA. Their consoles are these horrible java-script abortions that you access through your web browser, the control consoles are cumbersome and their firmware was fairly buggy.

 

don't make me and mbasile start talking pets...

cat chat to commence in t-minus 5... 4... 3...

 

This is what we have right now, as you can see its nearly full.

 

*snicker*

 

Me too

 

Those look like fairly old blades and a couple of older 2Us? Looking at those, it seems like you're probably not using much in the way of proc/mem resources. You should really look at those x3850s or the x4450. I wonder if you could load up 2-3 of them and get rid of the current stuff you're running. You also don't have to pay for VMWare (which I'm sure you know) as they offer a freeware version. It's not too robust though, so you might want to evaluate going with the full version if you're looking for reliability and ease of use, etc.

edit: will ban for cat chat

double-edit: Another cool thing about VMware (this may be ture on the freeware too..) is that you can build out a server, save your preferences as an image, then when you go to deploy a new server, you just click that one and VMWare deploys it and sets it up for you in minutes. It's fairly sexy.

 

gf got it for me.

 

I knew I should have taken pictures of some of the racks at Penn State. We got to see one of the 7 main hub's for the departments. SOOOOOooo much fiber optic cable running all over the place.

 

I'm sure their computer room is very cute.