Re: Enterprise Hardware support

[Alvin Oga <aoga@ns.Linux-Consulting.com>]

hi ya pedro

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003, Pedro Miguel Ruivo (TRQV-DSI) wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> just a couple of questions.
> 
> i'm looking for a Linux distro to install on Compaq DL380 and DL360 G3
> Servers.
> I'm relatively confortable with Debian but can't find any support on the part
> of hardware manufacturers for Debian.
> 
> - Where can i find some support (ML's, sites,....) about Debian and Compaq
> Servers ?
> 
> - As anyone experienced this kind of difficulty ? what was the solution ?
> changed distro to Red Hat ? choose different hardware ?

what kind of "enterprise support" ??

- i dont know if compaq(hp), dell, gateway, hundreds-of-resellers have
  a specific "debian" support

- i think the hardware support that you care about, is sorta limited to:
	- does debian recognize the nic chipset
	- does debian recognize the svga chipset
	- does debian recognize the ide chipset

	and since your comfy with debian, you dont need to worry about
	driver support

- hardware support might want..
	- dell/compaq has a 2-hr turn around on any part replacements
		- and you pay an arm and leg for "parts replacement"

		- and if they send you the wrong parts... they dont care
		that you paid for 2hr turnaround that took 2 days to
		get the box back up and online again

	- i dont kow if they are any good at it ... 
	  they all failed the disk fail (replacement) simulation tests
 
	- have spare parts on your shelf if you are worried about
	replacement parts 

	- have a spare server if you are worried about getting back online
	asap ... when the main server died for whatever reason

- original (cpu/disk/pc-cards) manufacturers warranty numbers

	http://www.Linux-1U.net/Warranty/

	- "3 yr warranty" usually means you ship the bad part back to the
	manufacturer AFTER you get an rma#, and wait 4-6 weeks for a
	replacement part

- backup your data ... to 3 different places ... daily, weekly, monthly
  and evenly spread out amongs the 3 backup servers
	and test that it works, restore a full working server from bare
	metal
		main: ls -laR /  > /tmp/main.lst
		restored#  ls -laR / > /tmp/restored.lst

		diff  /tmp/main.lst /tmp/restored.lst

		exclude /proc and some /dev/xxxx and some other stuff 


- now you can sleep ..

c ya
alvin