[Tfug] Server purchase

[Chris Hill]

Wow, that sounds great, Claude. And I didn't even think of IBM as an 
option when I had my server built. Please tell me how it goes when you 
install Debian on it!

Peace
C

Claude Rubinson wrote:
> Just to followup... I inquired with a number of Linux vendors
> (Monarch, Penguin Computing, R Cubed, Pogo, and pretty much every
> vendor that advertises in Linux Journal).  Either they didn't stock
> tower servers and/or they didn't respond to my inquiries.  I was
> finally able to speak with someone at Monarch Computers (only after I
> called their number; apparently, they don't respond to their online
> form).  However, when the sales rep sent me a followup email, it got
> tagged as spam and I didn't see it for 2 days.  (And it didn't inspire
> confidence that the sales rep typoed "Monsrch" for "Monarch" in the
> subject header.)  I responded to his email requesting a detailed price
> quote and never heard back.  I don't know if these vendors are too
> busy for a single server purchase or what, but the overall experience
> was not good.
>
> So, I ended up back with IBM.  A fantastic website and when I
> requested an in-person phone call to discuss some customizations, they
> were back in touch with me the next day.  The rep connected me with
> Jeskell, an IBM partner in Phoenix who were able to answer all of my
> questions and had two price quotes to me the next day.  I spoke with
> them over the phone today about my various options and the rep
> concluded that my best deal would be to purchase from an online vendor
> (or the IBM website).  So I got a decent entry-level server online for
> a bit under the $799 retail price with free shipping.  It would have
> been a few hundred bucks cheaper but I sprung for IBM's 3 year
> warranty over the 1 year warranty (so I'm covered through the
> completion my dissertation).  Added 4 250GB SATA drives with 5 year
> warranties (for half a terabyte of disk space under Raid5 with a
> spare) for a total of a bit over $1000, significantly less than I was
> prepared to spend.  And it's IBM with the incredible IBM service to
> which I've grown accustomed.
>
> I may have been able to pull together something a bit more powerful
> and with a bit more disk space for a bit cheaper if I had built it
> myself.  But this is far easier and gives much greater peace of mind.
> So I'm content.
>
> Claude
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 09, 2006 at 12:31:12PM -0700, Claude Rubinson wrote:
>   
>> I'm looking to order a file server and am looking for recommendations
>> for vendors.  Primarily, I'm looking for good customer service,
>> someone who has experience building machines that will be running
>> Linux, and will be willing to work with me even though I'm a grad
>> student who's looking to keep costs relatively low.  (For what it's
>> worth, the server will primarily be acting as a remote backup, so I'm
>> looking for good drive reliability---I'll be running software
>> raid5---but don't care about speed and RAM, which is where I'll be
>> looking to cut costs.)
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Claude
>>
>>
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