[Info-vax] Estimates of long-term availabilty of 600MHz DS10s

[abrsvc]

On Wednesday, May 9, 2012 9:53:00 AM UTC-4, tadamsmar wrote:
> We depend on 4 DS10s and an AS800.  Or more or less, 2 of these can be
> pressed into service as backup machines if need be.
> 
> DS10s seem fairly easy to find for <$2000 these days.
> 
> I wonder if I should stock up, put some on the shelf for the future.
> 
> How long will they be easily available?
> 
> What strategy do you use to make sure you don't run out of hardware?

I have numerous machines in stock as replacement units.  Any repairs are performed offline.   I do have spare components like power supplies, controllers, memory etc.  I have only had a few fans fail.  The Alpha itself appears to be quite solid and reliable. I have one that is on day 1207 now nad had over 1000 before that.  A move of data centers was the reason for the reboot.

I personally have had good luck purchasing systems and components through Ebay.  DS10s can be obtained for less than $1000 there.  Just be sure of the configuration and CPU speed.

Dan