Re: More hardware design (was Re: GigaRouter)

[Alexis Rosen <alexis () panix com>]

Avi Freedman writes:
> [Alexis writes:]
> > Does anyone know of a *small* rackmount case for PCs? By this I mean one
> > that doesn't chew up quite so much vertical room as the usual boxes.
>
> Yes, look in computer shopper.  There are some short rack-mount PCs.
> I'm trying to get pricing on them now.

Neat, you can tell me what you learn. :-)

> And Crystal makes dream rackmounts;
> 4 across, 8 down in a 7' x 19" rack.  But I suspect they're hideously
> expensive.  They use passive backplanes :(

I've seen these. If you're going that route, you can use the Multitech case
or others with separable ISA backplanes. You'll get about the same density,
and I think it works out a whole lot cheaper.

> > One of the annoying problems using an intel box instead of a sun is that
> > there's no real console. If it dies, the only way to kick it remotely is
> > with a remote-control power switch. These are expensive and unwieldy, not
> > mounting nicely in racks.
>
> I think I told you about these :)
> $500 or so from Black Box, 15 or 20amps across the whole switch, but it's
> code-activated and has 8 outlets.  I guess you'd probably plug it into a
> terminal server port. [...]

Yes, in fact I noticed this while I was checking their catalog for the
switch info. 15amps, which is enough for 8 Intel CPUs, as long as you're
not running 4GB drives on each one.

> > Lastly, I've seen this really neat rackmount chassis from Multitech. It's
> > got 22 ISA slots, severable into up to 9 parts, and enough drive bays to
> > actually run 9 separate servers. If you're looking for maximal density it
> > seems like a good bet. The only problem I can see is that you'll need CPUs
> > with both SCSI and viseo on board (thus my first question) unless you're
> > willing to run on IDE drives. I figure that for light or medium-use servers,
> > ethernet over ISA should be fine.
>
> Roughly how much?

Um, well, I've run machines taking a few million web hits a day using ISA
Ethernet boards. I doubt you could push a machine to the wall without using
more than a T1. Maybe several T1s. 

/a
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