[Discuss] NAS: buy vs. build

[F. O. Ozbek]

On 07/03/2015 08:26 PM, Richard Pieri wrote:
> Last year I specced out some high-end compute servers (2 by Xeon 10-core, 384GB) with a pile of storage (80TB) from Dell and IBM. The compute portions were essentially identical
> prices. The Dell storage was 2 x 12-bay SAS storage arrays with SATA (NL-SAS) drives; the IBM storage was 2 x 12-bay SAS storage arrays with SAS drives. Both sets of storage arrays
> cost about the same.
>
> The Dell SATA drives cost ~$14K *MORE* than the IBM SAS drives. You read that right. SATA drives on the order of twice the cost of SAS drives. Our Dell rep refused to budge on the
> price even after we showed him the IBM quote.
>
> Dell did not get the sale.

Didn't IBM leave the hardware business entirely (including the servers last year)?
You probably purchased Lenovo servers labeled as "IBM servers".
Much better option would have been to purchase SuperMicro servers instead.

-- F. Ozbek.