Using an i7 Rig as a terminal server...

Guru

Guru

Guru

Soldato
Joined
8 Jun 2005
Posts
5,272
Hi all,

I've found out that one of our clients is using an i7 rig as a terminal server.

It is an i7 930 @ 2.8GHz and is running 12GB of ram on an Asus P6T SE motherboard.

They are running server 2008 R2 and this server is used to service around 15-20 clients.

I was just wondering what people thought about this set up?

I would never sell them something like this, I would always put in a "server" usually HP, but given that this is a fairly powerful PC should it be up to the task or not?

Thanks,

G
 
Depending on their use, if it's a simple file server for small transactions then it shouldn't be an issue, probably over powerful.

Personally if it was a friendly client I would do this. Otherwise server all the way, just so I wouldn't have to provide hardware support.
 
It's fine for what they're doing - just ensure that they know the risks of using consumer grade hardware (higher failure rate, no\little support from manufacturers) and ensure they have good backups of the system and it'll be right as rain.
 
The reason it's come to light is that the onboard NIC has failed and the Mobo is out of warranty.

I'm sending someone out there with a PCI-E NIC this afternoon to get everything back up and running, but it's completely crippled their business right now as no-one can access the terminal server so no-one can do any work.

They are wondering if they should go back to their old IT company to complain that they never should have installed this solution in the first place as it's not a "server" so to speak so they are questioning if it is fit for purpose.

The main thing that's annoyed me about it is that if it was a server they would have longer warranty and HP would have already been out with a new Mobo.

But as it's already in there is't very difficult to just tell them it's not what they need.
 
It depends what was sold to them. Using desktop grade components smacks of doing things on the cheap IMHO but then I don't know what the budget was and what the requirements were when it was installed. Even a base server like the HP ML110 G7 has a pair of network ports.

If it's crippled their business, which says they are losing money, they need to re-asses their needs and if required, replace the box with something that can deliver the uptime they need.
 
If money is involved then it should be seen as a percentage of the income it brings in.

It must be little to nothing if an i7 is there best choice.
 
Out of interest, if they end up buying a server from us instead and want rid of this out of warranty machine, how much should I offer them to take it off their hands bearing in mind they all use laptops.

Cheers,

G
 
Guru said:
Out of interest, if they end up buying a server from us instead and want rid of this out of warranty machine, how much should I offer them to take it off their hands bearing in mind they all use laptops.

Cheers,

G
Click to expand...

Charge them £12 to environmentally dispose/recycle it.
 
£50, and I'll buy it from you for £100.... win win!!


Seriously though, if it's worth something to you then make them an offer.
 
PistolPete said:
£50, and I'll buy it from you for £100.... win win!!


Seriously though, if it's worth something to you then make them an offer.
Click to expand...

If there's no clear ownership, i.e. it's a company asset then I would seriously recommend charging THEM to dispose of it - or include in the contract you will dispose of it for them.

Edit:


MasterPlan1 said:
When selling it to them, say "we'll take the old server in and put the data onto the new one." and then just keep it.
Click to expand...

This, but with writing to back it up
 
Thinking purely selfishly, it would be a huge upgrade over my Q6000 rig :p

Will see if they want to buy a new server as their MD has already mentioned it without prompting.
 
A single TS server is always asking for trouble regardless of the hardware if it serves mission critical applications.

Hell, even 4 hour SLAs are only so good; by the time you have diagnosed a fault, called an engineer (ie HP/DELL/IBM) and done all the pre-checks to confirm what is failed (normally jumping through hoops of fire about firmware / driver configurations etc...) suddenly the 4hour SLA on fixing hardware is at least 1 business day and then that's good going.
 
They skimped on buying a proper server and are now whinging about it? :D

Apply liberal amounts of FUD, sell them something proper and 'dispose' of the old kit.

Don't mention any sort of part ex or offer to buy as it will imply there is still value in the old kit; there is of course but not what they are using it for.
 
They should've had a backup plan. To answer your question, I can't see too many things wrong with using an i7 rig for a terminal server, although as stated by others, a 'proper' server would be ideal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom