Re: Dell vs. SuperMicro: Reliabilty and parts availability

If you want a box built to your specs then build one yourself and using the
SuperMicro whitebox servers that just need CPU's and RAM (ok hd's too) is a
good choice in my book. I use to use only Intel Server cages and boards or
even the Intel pre-assembled systems however the price is very high and
overall I cannot see any quality difference between them and SuperMicro
which is sad to say actually. I have actually had major issues with some
Intel servers that took weeks working with Intel to fix but that said I've
also got some Intel servers that have been running 24x7 for 7 years with no
issues or failed HD issues which would nto be an Intel problem.

Everytime I hear about Dell servers and "always get Gold support" I just
laugh. First off in other words these folks are saying hey get a server that
you know your going to need support for which is going to suck unless you
pay extra for it. Second off I've used Gold support which is suppose to have
a replacement part on site in 4 hours I think it was well there is something
they don't say about that. Before they will send a replacement you have to
get Dell to agree the part is broken and in my case I was on the phone with
them for 6 hours about a two week old server going thru this and that all
the while an entire plant is down waiting on the server to come back up.
After 6 hours they said, "well we don't think it's a hardware issue but to
test we want you to reload the OS from scratch and then if it fails again we
will replace it." What a freaking joke! The error code clearly pointed to an
issue with hardware not to mention it was an out of box solution with no
changes made except for joining a domain and network so if the OS load was
screwed then they did it. So here sat my customer, 12 hours down, 6 hours of
billable time on my part telling him Dell wants me to reload the OS and
start all over just to test things so that's another 4-6 hours so what good
was buying Gold Support?

So key points I look at and present to customers when I look to buy servers:

1. Dell: Big name, good support cost extra, decent hardware, you'll still
pay me to fix it no matter what you pay for support to Dell. Replacement
parts are usually stocked and onsite the next day.

2. Intel: Biggest name, certified parts means Intel will back it up that
everything works together but they will push you off to other vendors if you
have problems with say a tape drive connected to the onboard SCSI, next day
replacement if bought from an Intel Product Dealer.

3. Supermicro: Solid parts, nice package plus extras, good price, support is
good however I've never had to get replacement parts.

4. Complete whitebox solution: generic parts so replacement is usually not
an issue however this does not mean each part is meant to work with another
so thermal considerations and such can become a problem. No single source
for support and maybe not any support if it's an integration issue.

BTW anyone that would sell a $499, Celeron 2.0Ghz, 256MB ram, single HD, no
OS "server" is not a company I would want to buy a real server from.


"David F" <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23AQuiideFHA.2420@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Anyone have experience with these mfg for servers? Comments?
>
> I'm tired of dealing with Dell's way of delivering parts--sometimes
> slow, sometimes unreliable, often poor communication via India.
>
> If SuperMicro any better?
>
> Thanks, David
>
>


.

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