RE: Microsoft thwarted again

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: Walden H. Leverich
> 
> Additionally, you're fighting the wrong fight. You're looking at the
> uptime of a single server, and saying that it's up 99.999 percent of
the
> time (doubtful BTW) and comparing it to the uptime of a single windows
> box.

Well, that's one way to look at it.  Since you're constantly comparing
the price of a single iSeries to a Windows box.  The number of Windows
boxes it takes to even APPROACH the reliability of an iSeries quickly
turns that into a losing proposition.  Compare the TCO numbers Walden.


> That's an invalid comparison, and shows a lack of understanding of
> the role of clustering technology in running an enterprise-class
windows
> installation.

Shows a "lack of understanding"?  No, I think it's you who fails to see
the point: that an iSeries is BY ITSELF an enterprise-class
installation.  We don't need redundancy to get reliability.


> You shouldn't rollout a single windows server if you want
> that level of stability, you rollout a cluster. And when you do you'll
> get closer to 100% uptime than a single iSeries ever could.

Yeah, the favorite answer of Windows apologists the world round: "Add
more hardware!"  Now your cost argument is gone.  And that's BEFORE you
add the hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in support staff.  And
with two iSeries, you'll beat the uptime of ANY CONFIGURATION OF
WINDOWS.  And you need maybe five operators, high-school diplomas
preferred but not required.


> And before you dispute that, let me ask you this. With a single
iSeries
> how do you upgrade your OS?

If you're talking pure 24x7 uptime (which few people need from their
enterprise server, but let's do it for sake of argument), you need a
grand total of TWO iSeries boxes - and one can be significantly smaller
and cheaper than the other.

How many Windows boxes do you need before you actually have a network
capable of handling a few thousand users safely and securely?  Don't
bother, it's a trick question, especially if you're running IIS.

Joe