Servers : DELL vs HP vs Fujitsu vs IBM

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BinaryLimited

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Topic # 127395 8-Aug-2013 18:52

Have tried searching for a topic similar to this but couldn't find anything....

Looking to get some servers for my new office and not sure what brand to get. As one buys a car, its reflected on the Brand name, reliability, service and most importantly value for money.
We can apply those same values to Servers...

Being said... With all you server admins out there....what would be your views :

* * * DELL vs HP vs Fujitsu vs IBM = ?

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Reply # 874104 8-Aug-2013 19:02

Personally, of that list I would say HP ~ Dell > IBM > Farting in a can > Fujitsu.

People often have mixed opinions on them, Dell in particular, but honestly you get what you pay for. Dell often some very cheap low-end gear, and this is often where bad comments come from. So I guess part of the question is, whats your budget and requirements? This would affect my specific suggestion. But, generically, I'd say compare the offerings of HP & Dell that you are looking at, and either would be just fine.

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networkn

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Reply # 874105 8-Aug-2013 19:03

HP Proliant are the Gold Standard in Servers, they are of Compaq and Before that, DEC quality.

I would then say IBM, they also make reasonable servers and have pretty decent support. Between Dell and Fujitsu, that would be like choosing two different but equally horrible choices for different reasons. In my experience unless you are talking high end, Dell quality is pretty average and support is less than that, and Fujitsu build quality (Though my experience with them is over 10 years old) was the worst I'd seen and support was shockingly bad.

Stick to HP and IBM if you can (In that order).

Not sure your budget or requirements, but the Generation 8 ML350P's are AWESOME.

freitasm

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Reply # 874114 8-Aug-2013 19:16

I have visited HP in Houston and Austin, toured their HP Proliant plant and had talks with the engineers behind the design and development of the platform. Really good stuff...

Check some of my old posts here, here and here.

Disclaimer: HP paid for my trips to these events (and other events including HP Discovery and HP Tech @ Work). But I've used other servers here on Geekzone before settling on HP Proliant DL servers...

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lxsw20

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Reply # 874120 8-Aug-2013 19:26

HP all the way. Got a faulty drive? Ring up with a PN and get a new one. Our IBM SAN on the other hand if you have a faulty drive, ring then and get the worse quality line in the world with people I can hardly understand (and I consider myself OK with accents) then spend time tooing and frowing over fault logs being emailed etc.... no thanks.

tatbaird

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Reply # 874135 8-Aug-2013 19:42

We just got delivered today an IBM BladeCenter E. The boys didn't know whether to stroke it, or themselves. Anyway, I agree with the HP campers. They are reliable for servicing and parts.

BinaryLimited

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Reply # 874136 8-Aug-2013 19:43

Thanks for all the replies!

Interesting how everyone has their own views and experiences ( mostly bad ).
I know Fujitsu is a nightmare, i emailed them a week ago for a quote and had to contact them back today requesting for the quote, customer service on a sales side is bad, which leads me to think support is even worse.

The thing and probably the only thing i like about dell is that the servers look sexy! As with any women, looks aren't everything as most of the hot ones tend to be a bit slow and frustrating...

I did have a look at the Fujitsu SPARC range, but again, non of the sales people could differentiate between the industry standard servers and SPARC range, disturbing.

Seems like i'm moving towards HP Servers, will need to do some investigating!

@networkn: Will have a look at the Generation 8 ML350p's, thanks.

@Inphinity: How did the farting in a can workout? obvisouly better than fujitsu.

@freitasm: very cool pictures on your blog! What do you for a living? Only run Geekzone?

@Lxsw20: Good customer service is very important, find it to be very laid back in NZ with most companies which is very frustrating.

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freitasm

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Reply # 874138 8-Aug-2013 19:44

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Ragnor

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Reply # 874140 8-Aug-2013 19:47

Are you looking for rack server or tower servers?

Assuming rack servers SuperMicro is a great bang for buck option way cheaper than the main brands, there are a couple of NZ resellers or you can buy from US and save even more.

BinaryLimited

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Reply # 874143 8-Aug-2013 19:49

@Ragnor : Definitely rack servers , sorry probably should of mentioned that.

of you just included a whole new equation...
are their support services reliable, including sourcing of parts?

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tatbaird

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Reply # 874160 8-Aug-2013 19:52

How much work/what roles are these servers doing? Have you thought about ESX?

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Reply # 874163 8-Aug-2013 19:54

HP > Dell > IBM (and IBM is only going to get worse if Lenovo do eventually buy it, big blue is trying to shop off everything below mainframe grade to Lenovo)

Haven't had to deal with Fujitsu ones myself.

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BinaryLimited

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Reply # 874165 8-Aug-2013 19:59

@tatbaird : ideally im trying to bring alot of my servers and date back home for safe keeping and redundancy.Iv got a plan in mind but need to figure out which provider i go for first. Once iv established that i can then work on a structerd and efficient plan for the setups. Most of the time i will be using linux as the main OS and some servers will be Windows Server.

Alot of my servers are scattered around the world which is annoying to handle, also found that most providers out there dont have a business continuity plan (acts of god, acts of human) which is frustrating. I have also found that the suppliers also tend to point to their provider/supplier which doesn't leave me with must confidence at the end of the day.

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Inphinity

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Reply # 874168 8-Aug-2013 20:03

BinaryLimited: @Ragnor : Definitely rack servers , sorry probably should of mentioned that.

of you just included a whole new equation...
are their support services reliable, including sourcing of parts?

If support, particularly extended hours and on-site support, is important to you, I wouldn't bother with Supermicro. Yes, they make pretty decent gear, but you're at the mercy of your reseller for support and replacements for the most part. They are *not* your HP/Dell style with a 24/7 4 hour on-site support option etc. They specialise, imo, in supplying to integrators etc who can provide the support themselves.

MikeB4

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Reply # 874176 8-Aug-2013 20:17

Are these required for App Servers, F&P servers etc ?
How many boxes?
Number of staff, Apps to serviced?
Required redundancy?
Reason I ask is horses for courses, it pointless buying over kill or under kill.

Mike
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The views stated in my posts are my personal views and not that of any other organisation.

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networkn

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Reply # 874183 8-Aug-2013 20:25

Binary if you are in Auckland, you are welcome to pop into our office tomorrow or Monday we have a couple going out to clients next week and you can see for yourself.

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