[Info-vax] The Future of Server Hardware?

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2012-10-01 20:00:19 +0000, JF Mezei said:

> On 12-10-01 15:21, David Froble wrote:
> 
>> Weren't racks of a "gazillion" DS10Ls a good solution for some problems?
>> It seems that plenty of them were made and sold.
> 
> 
> If a rackful of DS10Ls was the best solution, why then did people buy
> Wildfire/Galaxy class machines ? How come the 1U version of the DS10
> didn't survive in the transition to DS15 ?

In general, different apps, different servers, different requirements.  
In short: One Size Does Not Fit All.

An AlphaServer DS15L?   Seriously?  Did you not hear about the 
phase-out of Alpha that was announced on June 25th, 2001?

> In the case of Google or facebook, do they really need that much CPU
> power, or is it IO bandwidth that they need ?

So after you've posited a mainframe as a solution, now you're 
interested in application requirements?  Hmmm.  You may yet have a 
career in sales ahead of you.  Processor requirements will vary, of 
course.

> And if Google stopped using gratuitous HTTPS for public data such as
> youtube etc, how much spare CPU would they suddently have in their data
> centres ?

Some folks find that security is a consideration?    For instance, 
Firesheep, or Cookie Cadger can cause issues on non-SSL/TLS links.

> If at the end of the day, what you need is a metric tonne of 1gbps
> ethernet interfaces to feed your internet links to the world with
> youtube videos, would't there be a better way than to have 1 metric
> tonne of 1U servers each with its 1gigE interface ?
> 
> In a mainframe class machine, how many gigE interfaces could the IO
> backpane support ?

If you're curious about the specs, look up the server configurations of 
interest and see for yourself.

You'll probably want to look at aggregated 10 GbE NICs, too.

Looks like a ProLiant DL-class box can support up to four 10 GbE ports.

Offsite links are probably SONET, though those will likely be off the 
switch and not off the server.

And while you're collecting requirements, don't forget to look at the 
relative costs involved.



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