Xeon 2.4GHz 533MHz vs P4 3.2GHz 800MHz

[kinji55]

I am looking to purchase a server that will do profiles and SMS 2003 for 100 computers, do you guys have any opinions which way to go?

i saw dell Poweredge 700 has the P4 chips and then the poweredge 2600 has the xeon chips.. does dual processing really matter that much if it is only file servering?

Any suggestions?

thanks

 

[InlineFive]

Depends on the server load. If they are constantly in use I would consider some HP Opteron servers. Otherwise you could probably go with something lower powered. Keep in mind that I don't know much about business/enterprise networking so don't hold me on this.

-Por

 

[DaFinn]

Originally posted by: kinji55
I am looking to purchase a server that will do profiles and SMS 2003 for 100 computers, do you guys have any opinions which way to go?

i saw dell Poweredge 700 has the P4 chips and then the poweredge 2600 has the xeon chips.. does dual processing really matter that much if it is only file servering?

Any suggestions?

thanks

For fileserving you want lot of RAM and fastest disk subsystem you can afford. Processor power is not so important.
A proper HW SCSI RAID system/ min. 1Gig memory... any P4/ Xeon/ Athlon MP/ Opteron class processor will do. Dual option gives possibility to add more processing power if needed.

 

[AFB]

Opteron all the way!

 

[kinji55]

 

[kinji55]

Great replies guys,

Here is some more info on the setup, lets say the variables are only the processor(s) P4c, Opteron, Xeon..

for just a single processor,
with
Raid 5 SCSI - 4 drives
1 gig of ram
Windows 2003 Server - not 64bit edition

Which processor would the best for that configuration, I guess i am just trying to find out... how the Xeon 533MHz compares to P4c chip.. ?

 

[mrgoblin]

have you seen how badly the 4way and 8way opteron server smash intel servers?

 

[mikecel79]

Originally posted by: kinji55
I am looking to purchase a server that will do profiles and SMS 2003 for 100 computers, do you guys have any opinions which way to go?

i saw dell Poweredge 700 has the P4 chips and then the poweredge 2600 has the xeon chips.. does dual processing really matter that much if it is only file servering?

Any suggestions?

thanks

For file serving the CPU doesn't really mean much. However will this be the primary site in SMS 2003? Will the SQL databaset of SMS be running on here or on another server? Will you be running SMS reports from here? How often will you collect inventory? How many packages do you plan on deploying and how often? Sorry for all the questions but these can drastically change how you spec your server out.

I am just starting our SMS 2003 deployment for some 450 clients spread over 2 locations (well 3 if you count our small Chicago office). We purchased 2 HP Proliant DL360s. The main site server that is running SQL also is a 2.4Ghz Xeon with 2.5GB of RAM and 2 36GB drives in RAID 1. The other server (secondary site server) is a 2.4Ghz Xeon with 1GB of RAM and 2 36GB drives in RAID 1. This should be more than adequate for our needs since our file servers will be our distribution points anyways.

For a file server either one would do but depending on what you want to do with SMS it may be beneficial to go to dual CPUs in the future.

 

[Sunner]

If it's for 100 users, it sounds like it's for serious use, that is to say, corporate use, no?

So, go with whatever name brand you use at your company, Dell, HPaq, etc.
Just about any "real" server will be dual CPU, but you don't need to load it up, so just get an entry level x86 box.
For me, since we're a HPaq/Sun shop, that would most likely mean something like a DL380, 6 hotswap SCA disks, 2-way SMP, integrated RAID controller, redundant PSU's should you want it, etc, the usual, and quite affordable.

Im sure Dell/IBM/whatever has similar boxes.

 

[kinji55]

Great input Guys!
Please do not hesistate to ask me any questions!
To answer Sunner's Questions:
1. We are actually a College support group, Dell's are primary what we purchase just because they seem to give us better deals, but i dont' have any loyalty to them, I like whatever works, but for clients, definelty go with volume purchasing since itis easier to deploy and manage.
2. the Dell 2600 with Dual 2.4 Xeons
4 x 36Gig Hotswappable drives
2 x 512mb memory
redundant PSU
1 x cdrw/dvd drive
for around $3,200.00
3. If i got with SMP chips..i rather get duals right away so i wont' have to reinstall later on..




To answer mikecel79's questions:
1. Currently I plan to only have only the Primary site since most of the computer are all with-in a single building.
2. SQL database of SMS will be running on the Primary site server as-well.
3. Yes, SMS reporst will also be running on the Primary Site
4. I will collect inventory only once a month.

Mikecel79 - I do have a questions for you though:
1. Why did your company decide to go with RAID 1 vs RAID 5 (wouldnt' you want the extra protection and speed?)
2. are the HP Proliant's dual Xeons?

Thanks

 

[dexvx]

Originally posted by: mrgoblin
have you seen how badly the 4way and 8way opteron server smash intel servers?

Have you noticed how irrelevant that is for a 100 person SMS server?

A 1P or 2P is more than enough for this.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: kinji55
Great input Guys!
Please do not hesistate to ask me any questions!
To answer Sunner's Questions:
1. We are actually a College support group, Dell's are primary what we purchase just because they seem to give us better deals, but i dont' have any loyalty to them, I like whatever works, but for clients, definelty go with volume purchasing since itis easier to deploy and manage.
2. the Dell 2600 with Dual 2.4 Xeons
4 x 36Gig Hotswappable drives
2 x 512mb memory
redundant PSU
1 x cdrw/dvd drive
for around $3,200.00
3. If i got with SMP chips..i rather get duals right away so i wont' have to reinstall later on..




To answer mikecel79's questions:
1. Currently I plan to only have only the Primary site since most of the computer are all with-in a single building.
2. SQL database of SMS will be running on the Primary site server as-well.
3. Yes, SMS reporst will also be running on the Primary Site
4. I will collect inventory only once a month.

Mikecel79 - I do have a questions for you though:
1. Why did your company decide to go with RAID 1 vs RAID 5 (wouldnt' you want the extra protection and speed?)
2. are the HP Proliant's dual Xeons?

Thanks

The 380 G3 is a dual Xeon box.
Specs here.

Im guessing the Dell 2650 would be the closest box Dell has.

 

[Acanthus]

CPU is not important for what you are using it for, you could prolly get away with a single pentium 3 xeon

Memory and HD subsystem are going to be the big ones.

Id recommend single opteron, single P4, single xeon, with as much mem and Raid5 as you can toss in there.

 

[mikecel79]

To answer mikecel79's questions:
1. Currently I plan to only have only the Primary site since most of the computer are all with-in a single building.
2. SQL database of SMS will be running on the Primary site server as-well.
3. Yes, SMS reporst will also be running on the Primary Site
4. I will collect inventory only once a month.

Mikecel79 - I do have a questions for you though:
1. Why did your company decide to go with RAID 1 vs RAID 5 (wouldnt' you want the extra protection and speed?)
2. are the HP Proliant's dual Xeons?

For that amount of load I would definitely put in more RAM then. SQL loves memory. Even with a small database it will want to use 1GB of RAM easily. I also assume that all the SMS roles will be on this one machine (DP, MP, CAP, etc). You may want to look into collecting inventory more than once a month. Inventory is needed to push out updates using the SUS Feature Pack so the sooner you collect inventory the sooner they are up to date. I can point you to a GREAT SMS list, just IM me and I'll send the information over to you.

Now to answer your questions:
1. I chose RAID 1 because we didn't need the extra speed and RAID 1 offers us sufficient redundancy for this task. Since there's only 2 drives in this machine we would have to lose them both for it to die. Even with a RAID 5 array if we lose 2 disks it goes down.
2. They can be expanded to dual but we only purchased with single Xeon CPUs now. I have money in the budget still to expand them if need be.

If you don't get the SMP chips now you won't have to reinstall Windows 2k or 2k3. You can switch it to the SMP HAL after you put the 2nd CPU in. We've done this to a number of servers as long as they were installed with an ACPI HAL.

 

[mikecel79]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
CPU is not important for what you are using it for, you could prolly get away with a single pentium 3 xeon

Memory and HD subsystem are going to be the big ones.

Id recommend single opteron, single P4, single xeon, with as much mem and Raid5 as you can toss in there.

Depending on how often SMS is used and how complex his SQL queries are and how often he runs reports the CPU can be very important.

 

[kinji55]

Originally posted by: mikecel79

For that amount of load I would definitely put in more RAM then. SQL loves memory. Even with a small database it will want to use 1GB of RAM easily. I also assume that all the SMS roles will be on this one machine (DP, MP, CAP, etc). You may want to look into collecting inventory more than once a month. Inventory is needed to push out updates using the SUS Feature Pack so the sooner you collect inventory the sooner they are up to date. I can point you to a GREAT SMS list, just IM me and I'll send the information over to you.

Now to answer your questions:
1. I chose RAID 1 because we didn't need the extra speed and RAID 1 offers us sufficient redundancy for this task. Since there's only 2 drives in this machine we would have to lose them both for it to die. Even with a RAID 5 array if we lose 2 disks it goes down.
2. They can be expanded to dual but we only purchased with single Xeon CPUs now. I have money in the budget still to expand them if need be.

If you don't get the SMP chips now you won't have to reinstall Windows 2k or 2k3. You can switch it to the SMP HAL after you put the 2nd CPU in. We've done this to a number of servers as long as they were installed with an ACPI HAL.

Hmmm, if you don't even need Dual for all ur clients I guess i will just get hte single and get more ram, I have never tried to get single processor to become multi-processor yet.. but it would be nice ot have the options. Therefore I think I will get the Dell 2600 Poweredge Server with:

Intel® Xeon? processor, 2.4GHz, 512K Cache, 533MHz Front Side Bus
Single Processor Only

Memory:
2GB DDR SDRAM (4X512MB)

1st Hard Drive:
73GB 10K RPM Ultra 320 SCSI Hard Drive
7310320 - [ 340-6864 ]

Primary Controller:
PERC4/Di 128MB (2 Internal Channels) - Embedded RAID
ROMB128 - [ 340-6467 ]

Floppy:
3.5 in, 1.44MB, Floppy Drive
FD - [ 340-3640 ]

Network Adapters:
Intel Pro 100S w/ IPSEC Network Adapter
IN100S - [ 430-0369 ]

CD-ROM:
24X IDE CD-RW/DVD ROM Drive for PowerEdge Servers, All OS
COMB24B - [ 313-1999 ]

BackPlanes:
1X6 Hot-Pluggable Backplane,PE2600
1X6BKPL - [ 311-1839 ]

2nd Hard Drive:
73GB 10K RPM Ultra 320 SCSI Hard Drive
7310320 - [ 340-6864 ]

Factory Configurations:
Drives attached to embedded PERC4/Di, RAID 1, 2 drives required
MR1N - [ 340-6471 ]

Chassis Style:
Tower Chassis Orientation,P2600
TOWER - [ 310-1720 ]

Power Supplies:
Redundant Power Supply with Y-cord
REDPWY - [ 310-1726 ]

 

[mikecel79]

Looks like a good config to me. I don't know much about Dell servers. We use only HP machines where I work. That server is pretty expandable so you can always upgrade to more disk and memory if needed.

Switching from 1 CPU to 2 in Win2k and up is a breeze.