[nylug-talk] Slim home server for samba and subversion ( and possibly IMAP)

[Chris Knadle]

On Friday 16 May 2008, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> On Thu, 2008-05-15 at 01:14 -0400, Chris Knadle wrote:
> > I've installed several *NIX OS's via BOOTP/TFTP including PXE, but I'm
> > not sure what you mean by "legacy" BOOTP/TFTP, and I've never attempted
> > to load Windows via BOOTP.  Just... somehow never came up.
>
> Oh, sorry, I should have provided some context.
>
> Too many Windows admins I know are of the type that only know "product
> names," not "technology implementation."

   That may be the way it was presented to them.  AFAICT this may have more to 
do with with Microsoft-influenced marketing and how the information is 
typically taught.

> So most literally think 
> Microsoft not only invented the technologies it uses in its Remote
> Installation Service (RIS), but are wholly ignorant that the UNIX world
> has been using the exact protocols same for decades.

   I've had several such strange discussions with Microsoft advocates in which 
we couldn't tell we were talking about the same technology.

> [ FYI, I keep my "Minesweeper Consultant and Solitaire Expert" (MCSE)
> and related Microsoft paper non-sense "current" for a reason.  Not
> because I believe in it, but when you have more Microsoft credentials
> than the engineers from a Microsoft Gold Partner, it tends to win you
> more contracts.  Especially when you're selling against Microsoft. ]

   I understand and I don't see anything wrong with that.
   I don't have an MCSE personally.  It just doesn't interest me.  Some say it 
may be worth money if I had it, but money alone isn't enough of a motavator 
for me to go through the effort.

> >    When it comes to drives only being used 8 - 14 hours / day, well, I
> > don't disagree, but I think there's just not much to be done about it. 
> > Obviously I'm not going to try to power down my remote servers for half
> > of every day just so that the drives can be spun down.  ;-)  So as far as
> > I'm concerned the length of time per day that I use a disk is arbitrary,
> > and I'm just not going to worry about it -- it is whatever it is.  I'm
> > likewise probably not going avoid working on my laptop just because my
> > "allocated" disk usage time for the day is up.  :-P
>
> That's why every vendor introduced the 24x7 "Enterprise" commodity disk
> about 5 years ago.  Originally the name was "Near-line" meaning they are
> not spinning 24x7, but powered 24x7.  They are fabbed the same way as
> "consumer" commodity disks, right off the same assembly, but they test
> to lower vibration and better thermals.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but what I've read on the subject seems to 
disagree at least some.  As far as I can tell in terms of longevity it 
doesn't matter (much) what kind of drive is used, or what interface, and I 
would tend to doubt that drives marked "enterprise" or "near-line" would make 
a huge impact in longevity.  This is just one example of studies I've gleaned 
through:

     http://storagemojo.com/2007/02/19/googles-disk-failure-experience/

But again I have never used "Enterprise" nor "Near-line" drives as far as I 
know, so I only have second-hand knowledge of this from reading various 
studies.

   -- Chris

-- 

Chris Knadle
Chris.Knadle at coredump.us