Dave Hitz hitz@netapp.com 02/24 9:32 AM >>>
To open a real can-of-worms, what would people on this list like to see in a low-end product offering? (Sub-$10k chassis).
This hypothetical discussion would be of great interest to me. :-)
I'll take a crack at it:
PC-ish Mini-tower not to exceed 19" high (so it could be rack mounted on its side) Lower-end Alpha or medium Intel processor (whatever's cheaper for NetApp) 256 MB RAM 4-8MB NVRAM Single 10/100 Ethernet Single SCSI Bus Up to 7 9GB (or larger?) disks A couple of PCI slots for other types of network interfaces, and/or SCSI Tape.
Make it one box, disks and all.
Don't worry about hot-swap or hot spare disks. If you're buying at this end of the market, down time probably costs you less than it does the big-boys. Instead, sell a cold-spare disk which sit on the shelf until they need it.
If it saves mfg costs, solder the memory, nvram & ethernet to the motherboard. Ship a single config.
With a max usable of +/- 50GB a box like this could be a departmental fileserver, or a NetCache box for small to medium organizations who don't need/want a big NetApp for the job.
I don't know how close this comes to the $10K figure. It's probably closer to $20K maxed with disks. Still, that's my .$.02 worth
Tony Paolucci System Administrator, Growth Management, Metro, Portland, Oregon
Sounds good to me.
Being one of those 'small' accounts (120 people) what Tony suggests makes more sense than NetApp's current 'low-end' offerings. We've had to move away from NetApp (we have a 4 year old 450) even though we really like the product. The current product lineup gives much more than we need (and the price reflects that).
I guess I'd like an 'upgraded' (and Y2000 compliant) 450!
Regards
Mark Richards
Tony Paolucci wrote:
Dave Hitz hitz@netapp.com 02/24 9:32 AM >>>
To open a real can-of-worms, what would people on this list like to see in a low-end product offering? (Sub-$10k chassis).
This hypothetical discussion would be of great interest to me. :-)
I'll take a crack at it:
PC-ish Mini-tower not to exceed 19" high (so it could be rack mounted on its side) Lower-end Alpha or medium Intel processor (whatever's cheaper for NetApp) 256 MB RAM 4-8MB NVRAM Single 10/100 Ethernet Single SCSI Bus Up to 7 9GB (or larger?) disks A couple of PCI slots for other types of network interfaces, and/or SCSI Tape.
Make it one box, disks and all.
Don't worry about hot-swap or hot spare disks. If you're buying at this end of the market, down time probably costs you less than it does the big-boys. Instead, sell a cold-spare disk which sit on the shelf until they need it.
If it saves mfg costs, solder the memory, nvram & ethernet to the motherboard. Ship a single config.
With a max usable of +/- 50GB a box like this could be a departmental fileserver, or a NetCache box for small to medium organizations who don't need/want a big NetApp for the job.
I don't know how close this comes to the $10K figure. It's probably closer to $20K maxed with disks. Still, that's my .$.02 worth
Tony Paolucci System Administrator, Growth Management, Metro, Portland, Oregon
On Thu, 25 Feb 1999, Tony Paolucci wrote:
| | |>>> Dave Hitz hitz@netapp.com 02/24 9:32 AM >>> | |>> To open a real can-of-worms, what would people on this list like to see in |>> a low-end product offering? (Sub-$10k chassis). | |>This hypothetical discussion would be of great interest to me. :-) | |I'll take a crack at it: | |PC-ish Mini-tower not to exceed 19" high (so it could be rack mounted on its side) |Lower-end Alpha or medium Intel processor (whatever's cheaper for NetApp) |256 MB RAM |4-8MB NVRAM |Single 10/100 Ethernet |Single SCSI Bus |Up to 7 9GB (or larger?) disks |A couple of PCI slots for other types of network interfaces, and/or SCSI Tape. | |Make it one box, disks and all. | |Don't worry about hot-swap or hot spare disks. If you're buying at this end of the market, down time probably costs you less than it does the big-boys. Instead, sell a cold-spare disk which sit on the shelf until they need it. | |If it saves mfg costs, solder the memory, nvram & ethernet to the motherboard. Ship a single config. | |With a max usable of +/- 50GB a box like this could be a departmental fileserver, or a NetCache box for small to medium organizations who don't need/want a big NetApp for the job. | |I don't know how close this comes to the $10K figure. It's probably closer to $20K maxed with disks. |Still, that's my .$.02 worth
Hey Wait! You just described the F220/F210 product line ;)
*ducks*
Jonah
Jonah Barron Yokubaitis http://www.texas.net <--- The ISP http://www.giganews.com <--- News Outsourcing
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Tony Paolucci