Wow -- that's some servers

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:31:36 GMT, "Tom Scales"
wrote:

I had an opportunity to tour my company's data center today. What an
incredible facility. They actually measure disk space in petabytes.

Once we've passed the mainframes, the mid-range machines, etc., we get
to the server farm.

Over 2,000 (yes, 2,000) servers -- all rackmounted. The vast majority
are Dell Poweredge servers (easily 1,700+). Most run multiple images
through virtualization. The blade servers are HP or IBM.

Most of the blades are in a single GRID cluster. Something like 250
machines running as a single machine.

Technology is cool

Tom

Wow -- I would love to see that. Maybe a road trip from Madison? I
think you live only a few hours away.

I interned at the Wis Department of Justice a few summers ago as a web
programmer, and what struck me about their data center was that there
was no mainframe.

It was even more surprising when I started programming -- all of the
people around me were programming in Java, using XML, and other
technologies.

Back in what ... mid-to-late 90's there was talk of "The Death of the
Mainframe". Then people realized it wouldn't die. But then it did
(at the DOJ at least) and noone noticed.

I had an opportunity to tour my company's data center today. What an
incredible facility. They actually measure disk space in petabytes.

Once we've passed the mainframes, the mid-range machines, etc., we get
to the server farm.

Over 2,000 (yes, 2,000) servers -- all rackmounted. The vast majority
are Dell Poweredge servers (easily 1,700+). Most run multiple images
through virtualization. The blade servers are HP or IBM.

Most of the blades are in a single GRID cluster. Something like 250
machines running as a single machine.

Technology is cool

Tom

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 06:32:15 -0500, RnR wrote:

I've read that "virtualization" is getting more popular and I think MS
even bought a virtualization company recently. In fact even investors
are taking notice of companies specializing in virtualization and it's
making investor news now.

Tom, have you had your head in the sands?? Your post is old
news now g !!

As with many things in the stock market, by the time something makes
news as a possible investment, it may be too late.

Case in point: VMW (VMWare) was at $125 in November. Now it's around
$50.

The value, from an investment stock, of following something once it
makes news is that it's available as a possible good future
investment. Also by following one stock in a segment one can learn
about the other stocks there as well.

Sandisk (SNDK) is one on my radar screen that's been hit hard. It
could potentially benefit from solid-state drives.

I think Apple (AAPL) is going to be a great stock for the next decade
-- assuming, of course, that our financial house of cards doesn't come
falling down around a disintegrating dollar.

Amazon (AMZN) didn't get hit as hard as I had hoped it would recently.
I think that has long-term potential because it could benefit as a
supplier of digital content such as movies. It has books, audiobooks
(now that it bought Audible (ADBL)), is going into DRM-free music (I
think), and is a place where people go to buy things in general. It
might become the Wal-Mart of Internet shopping. As with Google,
having the mind-share and web presence can mean a lot and that can be
leveraged.

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:45:35 -0500, Journey wrote:

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 06:32:15 -0500, RnR wrote:

I've read that "virtualization" is getting more popular and I think MS
even bought a virtualization company recently. In fact even investors
are taking notice of companies specializing in virtualization and it's
making investor news now.

Tom, have you had your head in the sands?? Your post is old
news now g !!

As with many things in the stock market, by the time something makes
news as a possible investment, it may be too late.

Case in point: VMW (VMWare) was at $125 in November. Now it's around
$50.

I mentioned VMWare because it's a virtualization stock. One of the
best books on stock market investing is "One Up on Wall Street" by
Peter Lynch (former Fidelity Magellan fund manager).

He talks about researching things that one runs across in everday life
as one avenue for investment ideas.

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:31:36 GMT, "Tom Scales"
wrote:

I had an opportunity to tour my company's data center today. What an
incredible facility. They actually measure disk space in petabytes.

Once we've passed the mainframes, the mid-range machines, etc., we get
to the server farm.

Over 2,000 (yes, 2,000) servers -- all rackmounted. The vast majority
are Dell Poweredge servers (easily 1,700+). Most run multiple images
through virtualization. The blade servers are HP or IBM.

Most of the blades are in a single GRID cluster. Something like 250
machines running as a single machine.

Technology is cool

Tom


I've read that "virtualization" is getting more popular and I think MS
even bought a virtualization company recently. In fact even investors
are taking notice of companies specializing in virtualization and it's
making investor news now.

Tom, have you had your head in the sands?? Your post is old
news now g !!

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:49:12 -0500, Journey wrote:

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:45:35 -0500, Journey wrote:

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 06:32:15 -0500, RnR wrote:

I've read that "virtualization" is getting more popular and I think MS
even bought a virtualization company recently. In fact even investors
are taking notice of companies specializing in virtualization and it's
making investor news now.

Tom, have you had your head in the sands?? Your post is old
news now g !!

As with many things in the stock market, by the time something makes
news as a possible investment, it may be too late.

Case in point: VMW (VMWare) was at $125 in November. Now it's around
$50.

I mentioned VMWare because it's a virtualization stock. One of the
best books on stock market investing is "One Up on Wall Street" by
Peter Lynch (former Fidelity Magellan fund manager).

He talks about researching things that one runs across in everday life
as one avenue for investment ideas.


Yes, I think my wife read that book. You seem to know your stocks.
My wife and I invested a lot in Magellan many years ago (my wife's
advice) and it rewarded us very nicely. Usually I let the wife pick
the stocks and I do the real estate investments. It has worked well
for us.

-----Original Message-----
From: RnR ]
Posted At: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 6:32 AM
Posted To: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
Conversation: Wow -- that's some servers
Subject: Wow -- that's some servers

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:31:36 GMT, "Tom Scales"
wrote:

I had an opportunity to tour my company's data center today. What an
incredible facility. They actually measure disk space in petabytes.

Once we've passed the mainframes, the mid-range machines, etc., we
get
to the server farm.

Over 2,000 (yes, 2,000) servers -- all rackmounted. The vast
majority
are Dell Poweredge servers (easily 1,700+). Most run multiple images
through virtualization. The blade servers are HP or IBM.

Most of the blades are in a single GRID cluster. Something like 250
machines running as a single machine.

Technology is cool

Tom


I've read that "virtualization" is getting more popular and I think MS
even bought a virtualization company recently. In fact even investors
are taking notice of companies specializing in virtualization and it's
making investor news now.

Tom, have you had your head in the sands?? Your post is old
news now g !!


I'm confused. The paragraph "I've read" wasn't something I wrote. I
already know virtualization is common. Heck I run it at home and have
for years.

Don't know who wrote that paragraph.

You know about your evil twin? ... Ben

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:42:59 GMT, "Tom Scales" wrote:



-----Original Message-----
From: RnR ]
Posted At: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 6:32 AM
Posted To: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
Conversation: Wow -- that's some servers
Subject: Wow -- that's some servers

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:31:36 GMT, "Tom Scales"
wrote:

I had an opportunity to tour my company's data center today. What an
incredible facility. They actually measure disk space in petabytes.

Once we've passed the mainframes, the mid-range machines, etc., we
get
to the server farm.

Over 2,000 (yes, 2,000) servers -- all rackmounted. The vast
majority
are Dell Poweredge servers (easily 1,700+). Most run multiple images
through virtualization. The blade servers are HP or IBM.

Most of the blades are in a single GRID cluster. Something like 250
machines running as a single machine.

Technology is cool

Tom


I've read that "virtualization" is getting more popular and I think MS
even bought a virtualization company recently. In fact even investors
are taking notice of companies specializing in virtualization and it's
making investor news now.

Tom, have you had your head in the sands?? Your post is old
news now g !!


I'm confused. The paragraph "I've read" wasn't something I wrote. I
already know virtualization is common. Heck I run it at home and have
for years.

Don't know who wrote that paragraph.