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Re: Servers

You're doomed!

Seriously, somebody is going to have to take the time to learn how to
become a proficient sysop or you are going to be terribly sorry and
regret purchasing a server. This person should be given some sort of
release time for the purpose because it is rather involved. I suggest
first purchasing a copy of the Essential System Administration and
TCP/IP Network Administration books from
O'Reilly & Associates. They have a web site from which you can order
their books: http://www.ora.com/.

You do not say whether you wish to network PC's, Macs or some
combination of the two. This will in part dictate what sort of server
you should be looking for. The Compaq ProLiants make nice Netware
servers whereas the Digital Alphas are hot unix boxes. The highest
end Mac you can afford is, of course, best for a pure Mac shop.

Don't forget that you need to plan for effective and frequent
backups, an efficient wiring plan for the building, security and all
that stuff. It is more involved than just plugging a few boxes
together and considering all the issues beforehand will prevent
expenditures later to correct mistakes. Servers are typically I/O
bound rather than compute-bound so it is less important to get the
latest and hottest CPU and more important to make sure you have
sufficient (and sufficiently high speed) interface capability.

Get the O'Reilly books before you do anything. You'll be glad you
did.


We are a four person department with relatively few majors but a large
service component. We use the computers in the laboratory extensively for
data acquisition. None of us has any extensive experience in computers
other than what is casually picked up as a generic physics teacher and our
technical support on campus is understaffed, overworked, etc.

Jim Riley, Department of Physics
Paul J. Camp "The Beauty of the Universe
Assistant Professor of Physics consists not only of unity
Coastal Carolina University in variety but also of
Conway, SC 29528 variety in unity.
pjcamp@coastal.edu --Umberto Eco
pjcamp@postoffice.worldnet.att.net The Name of the Rose
(803)349-2227
fax: (803)349-2926