Guild Companies

Three of the dominant vendors in the Wintel and Lintel server markets--Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Sun Microsystems--have recently tweaked their offerings in the entry server category. All three vendors are chasing the same customers with these products--companies who want to install inexpensive and easy-to-use infrastructure and application servers. The new HP and Dell machines can run either Windows or Linux, while the Sun machine is an updated Cobalt appliance server that uses Intel processors and a custom implementation of Linux made by Sun's Cobalt subsidiary.

The new HP machines were launched under the Compaq ProLiant brand name, the Intel-based server brand from Compaq that has survived the acquisition of the company by HP. HP has enhanced two existing ProLiant machines--the ML330 and ML350--and two new machines--the ML530 and the DL580.

The ML330 G2 and ML350 G2 servers have been updated with Intel's latest 1.4 GHz and 1.26 GHz Pentium III processors, and can support up to two processors. Prior generations of the ML330 and ML350 line used the 800 MHz, 933 MHz, and 1 GHz Pentium III chips and were only available in uniprocessor configurations. The ML330 G2 comes with 128 MB of base main memory (expandable to 4 GB) with an 18 GB disk drive (expandable to a maximum disk storage capacity of 255 GB). It uses the ServerWorks 3.0 LE chipset from Broadcom. It also has an integrated ATA RAID controller on the motherboard. The base ML330 with a single processor and a plain SCSI disk controller costs $2,171. A base ML330 with a RAID disk controller sells for $2,688. Machines using the 1.26 GHz processor cost $200 less. The ML350 comes in a slightly larger 5U tower and has more expansion slots and room for storage and other devices. The ML350 is based on the same ServerWorks 3.0 LE chipset and comes with 256 MB of base memory (expandable to 4 GB) and 18 GB of disk capacity (expandable to 4 GB). The rack version of the ML350 costs $2,868 in a base configuration, and the tower version costs $2,618. These prices include PCI-based RAID disk controllers; the ML350 does not have the integrated ATA RAID controller on the motherboard.

The ProLiant updated ML530 G2 from HP is the first Intel-based server that comes with mirrored main memory, which increases the reliability of the machine. Like the ML330 and ML350 G2 machines, the ML530 G2 is a dual-processor capable server; however, this one is based on Intel's "Prestonia" Pentium 4 Xeon processors running at 2.4 GHz and equipped with 512 KB of L2 cache memory. This machine uses the ServerWorks Grand Champion HE chipset, and supports a 400 MHz system bus and 200 MHz DDR SDRAM memory. The memory on this machine is equipped with chipkill memory protection and can be expanded from the base 1 GB to 16 GB of capacity. The mirrored memory, which is hot-pluggable, effectively cuts the usable memory capacity in the ML530 in half. The machine has seven 64-bit 100 MHz PCI-X slots and a dozen hot-plug drive bays capable of housing 1 TB of capacity in the 7U form factor tower. Sources at HP say that this machine will be capable of handling about 34,000 transactions per minute (TPM) on the TPC-C OLTP test. Pricing information for the new ML530 G2 machine was not available as we went to press. The prior generation of ML530 machines use the 1 GHz Pentium III Xeon processor from Intel.

The DL580 G2 server is a four-way capable machine that is based on the ServerWorks Grand Champion chipset and the initial configurations use the 1.6 GHz "Foster" Pentium 4 Xeon processor equipped with 1 MB of integrated L2/L3 cache. HP will soon offer 1.4 GHz Foster chips with 512 KB of L2/L3 cache in this machine. The 4U rack-mounted machine can support up to 32 GB of hot plug memory with mirroring an option and up to 291 GB of disk capacity; a base machine comes with 1 GB of memory and 18 GB of disk capacity. A DL580 G2 server with a single 1.4 GHz Foster chip sells for $8,499. A DL580 G2 with two 1.4 GHz Fosters, 2 GB of memory, and a whole slew of other things, sells for $12,999. The same machine with two 1.6 GHz Fosters sells for a whopping $22,999--that's a hefty premium for an extra 400MHz of clock speed and double the cache. However, HP says that this machine will crank out about 50,000 TPM on the TPC-C test.

Dell also rolled out a rack-mounted, two-way Prestonia server, the PowerEdge 2650. It uses the ServerWorks Grand Champion LE chipset, which supports three PCI-X slots on a 400 MHz front side bus. The PowerEdge 2650 is being offered with Prestonia Xeon processors running at 1.8 GHz, 2 GHz, 2.2 GHz, and 2.4 GHz with 512 KB of L2 cache; memory ranges from 256 MB to 6 GB in the box. The 2U form factor chassis that the PowerEdge 2650 is housed in has five drive bays, which means the machine has a maximum storage capacity of 365 GB using 73 GB disk drives. The list price of the base machine with 256 MB of memory, 18 GB of disk, and a 1.8 GHz processor was $2,399, but Dell is shaving $200 off under special promotions and also throwing in a second hard disk for free.

The Sun Cobalt RaQ 550 is a 1U appliance server that uses the 1 GHz or 1.26 GHz Pentium III processor from Intel and the ServerWorks ServerSet-III LC 3.0 chipset. Minimum memory on the RaQ 550 is 256 MB, expandable to 2 GB. The device uses an ATA RAID controller and has room for two 40 GB or 80 GB disk drives. The RaQ 550 appliance server has two serial ports and two integrated Ethernet cards, and comes with a boatload of Web infrastructure applications all configured from the get-go, including Web servers, email servers, SQL databases, Java, Chili!Soft ASP emulation, and a journaling file system. The RaQ 550 uses a Cobalt Linux implementation based on the Linux 2.4 kernel; all of the other Cobalt appliances are still using the Linux 2.2 kernel. Prices for the RaQ 550 range from $1,699 to $2,899, depending on hardware configuration.

Sponsored By

ASNA

Why Iredell Memorial Hospital Uses ASNA Visual RPG for Web Development

In an effort to help the most patients, doctors are always looking for the quickest and easiest way to get things done. At Iredell Memorial Hospital in Statesville, NC, the green screen application that accessed patient records and information was just not good enough. Scott Philemon was charged with the task of bringing this valuable information to a browser-based system and he found that AVR was the best way for him to do that. He has created a simple point-and-click system that is intuitive rather than the cumbersome green-screen system with which most doctors were uncomfortable. The most important feature of this new application is that doctors will be able to connect, via a modem, to this application and not have to make the trip into the hospital to check on the status of patient blood tests and other medical procedures.

"I was given this project and told to just find the best way to get it done. I heard java, java, java all the time so I took a couple of introductory classes and realized that I would spend a year just learning it before I would even be able to start on this project. With AVR I can really use my RPG skills to create browser-based applications. The transition was so easy and I'm so pleased with the results that I'm recommending that we do ONLY Web applications in the future."

—Scott Philemon, Iredell Memorial Hospital

ASNA Visual RPG (AVR) for Web, Windows and .NET Development

ASNA Visual RPG (AVR) is an integrated development environment for creating enterprise Web, Windows and .NET applications. Transparent database access; an integrated editor, compiler and debugger; support for emerging standards such as XML and SOAP; and equally powerful Web or Windows deployment possibilities make ASNA Visual RPG the one application development environment you can't afford to ignore! Use your RPG skills to develop Web, Windows and .NET applications today.

Download your FREE trial of AVR today!

http://www.asna.com/downloads.asp