Archive for November, 2007
November 29, 2007 at 12:19 am · Filed under Other things, blades, rackmounts
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20071127005470&newsLang=enÂ
FREMONT, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Rackable Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: RACK), a leading provider of servers and storage products for large-scale data centers, today announced that it posted the fastest x86 volume growth in North America among the top five x86 server providers based on year-on-year Q3 2006 to Q3 2007 growth rates from leading industry analyst firm Gartner.
According to Gartner’s comprehensive review of the market (“Servers Quarterly Statistics Worldwide: Database,†published in November 2007), Rackable Systems increased its Q3 2007 server shipments by 23 percent over Q3 2006. Rackable Systems’ 23 percent shipment growth over the same quarter in the previous year was the highest in North America among the top five x86 server providers, outpacing the nearest competition by five percent.
“We believe Gartner’s evaluation of Rackable Systems’ growth in the server market is a testament to the loyalty of our valued customers and our value proposition,†said Mark J. Barrenechea, president and CEO of Rackable Systems. “We think the numbers attest to our ability to design and deploy built-to-order, Eco-Logicalâ„¢ solutions to organizations of all sizes.â€
Very cool, well done to Rackable, they’ve been doing well recently. The more vendors we have, the more choice there is which has to be a good thing for the consumer, let’s not forget that by knowing what the different vendors are doing in their space, I am better informed about the platform and more able to ask my vendor(s) if they are going to provide similar functionality.
November 29, 2007 at 12:16 am · Filed under virtualization, vmware
http://www.bradslavin.com/2007/11/26/server-virtualization-migrate-a-server-the-smart-way/
I am not going to get into the nuts and bolts of operating system virtualization but I am going to give you enough information to follow along. Software virtualization is the ability to run multiple operating systems at the same time on the same computer. The basic premise is that for most of the day your server is basically idle and the CPU and memory are not tasked with processes all day long, the server has excess capacity and virtualization allows you to maximize your investment by installing another full version of an operating system on your hardware at the same time.
The reuse of surplus computer time can help to minimize the majority of hardware acquisition and maintenance costs and reduces your total cost of ownership and it can result in significant savings for any company.
Check out this post about virtualization, it raises some interesting points about virtualization and is worth reading if you’re wondering about the process/concepts. It’s always cool to see what people think. To me virtualization is about three main things:
- Business enabler - I can dynamically provision/add or remove capacity to meet the business need.
- Be more efficient - use the infrastructure I have more efficiently, be more energy efficient and bare metal efficient - fewer servers doing more for my business.
- Abstracting the application from the infrastructure - abstracting my business teams from the drivers, the firmware and all the other bits that come with server support - they become platform and server independent leading to point 1. The server fails, I move my virtual instance to server2. Next.
November 29, 2007 at 12:11 am · Filed under Apple type things, Other things
http://www.linux-mag.com/launchpad/linuxonblades/main/4431
I’ve often wondered why Apple maintains a server OS and product line. From what I can see, they don’t seem at all serious about the server market.
Just because I’m a Linux guy, it doesn’t mean that I don’t find other operating systems interesting. First and foremost, I’m a geek, and I always want to try out the new shiny. I particularly like to pay attention to what other *nix OSes have going on, and the features that will make life as a system administrator easier.
With the release of Leopard a few weeks ago, I was moved to peruse the features you could find in Leopard server. While I haven’t had the chance to get any hands-on time with Leopard server, the feature list looks interesting — particularly for SMBs that might not want to try to hire an admin.
But, looking at Apple’s product line and server features, I have to ask myself if these folks are really serious about competing in the server space.
Check out this article talking about Apple’s server line. It raises some valid points about the Apple server line. We’ll have to see how they evolve their business line and their server platforms. At the moment they aren’t quite in leagues with IBM or HP, but then I wouldn’t compare them in that light. It would be good to see them though entering the enterprise more, their servers might be great for certain functions, for those cross platform/cross function infrastructure systems?
November 29, 2007 at 12:07 am · Filed under Other things, blades
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/112607-server-based-computing.html
Client virtualization and blade PCs are gaining popularity, especially at the largest enterprises, but server-based computing is still the most popular alternative PC technology, a new Forrester Research report finds. About 18% of companies have implemented PC virtualization software, and another 8% plan to do so in the next year, the survey of 565 PC decision-makers in North America and Europe finds. Blade PC adoption is at 16% and server-based computing stands tall at 32%, Forrester reports.
Enterprises with at least 20,000 employees are the most likely to adopt these alternative PC technologies. “Large enterprises are in the most pain when it comes to managing and securing the PC environment – from both internal and external workers – and are therefore more willing to be early adopters in emerging technologies,†Forrester analyst Natalie Lambert writes in “Virtualization On The Client . . . Finally!â€
Blade pcs are certainly gaining interest in several banks having spoken with colleagues. There are a mixture of issues surrounding this. For some IT departments jumping ahead, virtualizing the desktop might be the clear way forward, abstracting the desktop function to a virtual machine and removing/virtualizing as many of the applications from the desktop to a web/citrix web front end is the target. For the traditional bank or trading house though, the liability part might be the issue, with the blade technology, all we’re doing is simply in effect moving the HP trader pc into a smaller form factor and putting it downstairs. There’s no great re-direction or reconfiguration of the platform, the ‘liability’ part, the who did this and it’s rubbish part from a new technology can make the blade pc seem a bit easier. We’ll have to see it will all depend very much on your budget, your data center space and where you see the desktop going in your business.
November 28, 2007 at 11:59 pm · Filed under datacenter
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,39290603,00.htm
Microsoft said on Tuesday that it will spend $500m (£239m) on building a new European data-processing centre in Ireland.
Microsoft said in a statement that the planned Dublin centre will house tens of thousands of servers providing information and web-based applications to internet users.
Construction will begin later this month, with the centre expected to be completed by 2009.
“This is the first ‘mega data centre’ deployment outside the US specifically targeted for the growth and performance of Windows Live services,” said John Mangelaars, vice president of Microsoft’s EMEA Online Services Group.
Very cool and good news for Ireland, it should bring some opportunities for the community and local economy. This is the second data center Microsoft has announced it’s launching (the other one is meant to be in Siberia). I wonder if we’re seeing Microsoft prepare more capacity for their current as well as future products and services. We’ll have to wait and see.
November 27, 2007 at 11:09 pm · Filed under DataSynapse, Grid
http://www.datasynapse.com
LONDON, 27 November 2007 – DataSynapse, Inc., the global provider of application virtualisation software, has been recognised by Financial-i as the leader in virtualisation solutions for the financial services industry. The accolade was extended through the magazine’s annual Leaders in Innovation Awards for 2007.
The awards are decided by an industry advisory panel comprised of leading analyst firms and consultants covering the wholesale transaction banking markets, including Celent, TowerGroup and Bloor
They commend those banks and IT vendors that are shaping the delivery of business solutions in the financial services industry.
Judging criteria focused on product innovation over the last 12 to 18 months, cost effectiveness of solutions in terms of implementation and deployment, potential business benefits, ease of implementation and the ability to tackle specific business issues or problems.
Commenting on the award, Alun Baker, managing director and senior vice president, EMEA at DataSynapse said, “We are honoured to be recognised by such an authoritative panel for our commitment to innovation and for delivering business value to our customers. Thirty-five of the top forty European banks have chosen DataSynapse software to standardise their approach to deploying, activating, and managing applications in real-time environments. Awards such as these validate our vision to create more dynamic IT environments that better serve the business.â€
Full coverage of the Leaders in Innovation Awards will be published in the Q4 edition of Financial-i.
Well done to DataSynapse for wining the award. This will not only illustrate how DataSynpase products can be used to be a real business enabler, but also as to how Grid/HPC technologies can be used to be a real enhancement to the finance sector particularly in the risk/analytics areas, the ability to price ‘just in time’ to your client can be the difference between profit and loss on that deal.
November 27, 2007 at 10:56 pm · Filed under Other things
In the IT world you’re typically measured by three main things:
- Server provisioning - how long does it take to install a server for the end user?
- Outage percentages - how many days downtime have we had?
- Service Level Agreement benchmarks - how many calls were answered in the 15 minute response time?
Why the server provisioning, because it can actually become quite an emotional exercise. Let’s take an example, if I today want a server and I work for a large company, I’ll typically fill in the paperwork, get it signed off and then the following chain of events happens:
- IT purchase a server
- The server arrives to the loading bay a few days (even weeks later)
- The data center team allocate space
- The hardware team rack the server
- The network team then allocate a network port and ip address
- The patching team provide a network cable
- The server team (windows/unix) install the operating system
At this point I have a working server from an infrastructure standpoint, it’s got windows, I can ping it, but I can’t log on to it.
- The server is prepared for me - application code loaded, access and shares created
- Monitoring is enabled
The lead time differs from business to business, industry to industry, the longer the ‘delay’ in delivering my server the higher the cost, perceived or real. The main challenges in server deployments are caused by a lack of planning, human error, or often a change in requirements.
- Lack of planning - but you said the application worked on Windows 2003 - “no it’s verified on Windows 2000 SP4 - 2003 isn’t supported” - re-install Windows please
- Human error - that the business team asked for the development network when they meant staging, means new ip address, new network port and network cable
- Change in requirements - that we actually need the servers to be clustered - great, but that means we need SAN storage allocated, and then the Microsoft clustering software installed
With this in mind, some of the banks are switching to a pre-provisioning model to improve their ability to have an on-demand infrastructure, one in which the IT can provision a server in minutes not weeks. IT will buy for example 500 blades, and sell ‘the service’ or ‘the asset’ back to the business on-demand.
This though is where virtualization comes into play, both in terms of the server as well as the storage and the network. The ability to create an instance, allocate it an image and have it working in minutes is where you want to be. Where I log into the site, select:
Windows 2003 with IIS, 1024MB RAM, 2 virtual processors, 20GB for C, 20GB for D, click the submit box, my boss approves the server, the cost, and the build process kicks of the imaging and configuration process, then emails me when complete - on demand in it’s true sense.
November 27, 2007 at 10:41 pm · Filed under How IT works, Other things
Was having a chat with Chris, he’s been having problems with one of the application servers where he works. The problem he’s currently having is that the server fails overnight, the Windows engineer was called, rebooted the server and the application team restarted the application. The next morning the application team suggested that there is a fault with the server, that it had to be rebooted and obviously therefore windows/the server is at fault. “How do I respond to this?” he asked
First then let’s rule out the hardware:
- Upgrade to the lastest disk/array/system and ILO firmware
- Upgrade the driver pack to the latest version you use in production
- Run a full set of diagnostics to see if any obvious errors are thrown - you might have to do this over the weekend/out of hours
Then we rule out the software:
- Get a system report: operating system version, service pack levels, hot fixes etc and uptime
- Perform a health check (what I call it anyway): check the event logs, check disk space, memory and processor utilization, also do check fragmentation - that can make your file server very slow
- Verify the anti virus software configuration: don’t scan the file twice, either inbound or outbound, read or write - if your file system has many files this can make a big difference to performance
- Verify the configuration - could we adjust anything to improve performance/stability
Thirdly we create an action plan:
- Analyze the results and be open with the findings - we need to upgrade drivers and log a call with Microsoft
- Agree the next steps - what the IT team and the application team are doing - it might just be the application team checking their logs, and the server team checking the server, with networks checking the network port/route
In Chris’ situation it’s getting emotional, one of the things that we can always suggest is the swing box - we feel it’s the server. Fine, there is a server of similar specification, base build it (install windows and layered components only), have the business line/application team test their application
November 27, 2007 at 10:23 pm · Filed under blades, rackmounts
I got an email from Mike about obtaining the serial number for his Compaq/HP DL360 running Windows 2000. You can do this easily but you will need the HP driver pack which you can get from here: http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/locate/20_1123.html.
You can use either:
- HP Survey utility - this was a small downloadable application which creates a text file with complete system information, comprising serial number, components, firmware and operating system information. This was phased out in the newer drivers and therefore is not recommended for new servers.
- HP Insight diagnostic online utility - this in effect replaced the survey, it provides the same information in an XML file, but also allowed you to carry out online diagnostics.
- HP Insight Management agents - this is the web agent component of the driver pack which allows you to view the system health and all the firmware/configuration information, it’s accessed typically by typing http://servername:2301 - this re-directs you to the secure version of the url. In the later driver packs the login name is tied into active directory - otherwise the login information is controlled by an acl file on your system drive.
You should typically be using the latest driver pack for the specified operating system as that will contain the bug fixes/enhancements that you require - but do ensure that your firmware is up to date, particularly when you’re upgrading legacy systems (the Proliant R ranges), the firmware can affect the operating system and the drivers. I remember upgrading the driver pack on a Compaq 2500R running NT 4 to something like 5.5 or 6.1, and the server blue screening, and found after a few minutes testing that it was because the system firmware was ancient and needed to be upgraded.
November 27, 2007 at 6:39 pm · Filed under Apple type things, Other things
http://www.smstextnews.com/2007/11/72_of_uk_consumers_will_never_buy_an_apple_iphone.html
I’ve been wavering on the iPhone in the UK. Really wavering. I wonder if I’ve over estimated the appeal of the device versus the UK public’s pinpoint knowledge of phone price plan norms.
£270 for the device followed by £35 a month — that gives you 200 minutes and 200 texts — is a patently useless basic price plan. Yes you get unlimited data, but for your chap on the street, it’s the minutes and texts together with the cost of the handset that actually influences the purchase.
Interesting comments an analysis from smstextnews.com. The main issue is the line rental package, £35 a month gets you a lot of minutes these days and most networks will give you ‘unlimited’ data for £5 a month extra. The issue here I hear O2 say is that it includes wi-fi access to all these places - but isn’t the because of the lack of 3G and the Internet being EDGE or defaulting to 3G? Don’t get me wrong, Apple continue to make great devices, but by going in at £270 for the handset and restricting the phone to a set network, you’re limiting the revenue and sales Apple can achieve. Do check out the post!
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