[Arm-netbook] EOMA server standard

[luke.leighton]

On Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 9:40 AM, Gordan Bobic <gordan at bobich.net> wrote:
> On 10/24/2012 06:46 PM, luke.leighton wrote:
>> On Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 2:50 PM, Gordan Bobic<gordan at bobich.net>  wrote:
>>> On 10/24/2012 02:14 PM, luke.leighton wrote:
>>>> On Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 1:23 PM, Gordan Bobic<gordan at bobich.net>   wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Possibly the best option might be a single 10G fibre port with
>>>>> additional 4-5 copper gigabit ports for people who aren't set up for fibre.
>>>>
>>>>    my only concern is: standards *have* to be based around
>>>> "non-optional-itis".  or, that whatever you put down it can have
>>>> auto-negotiation.
>>>
>>> Why does the number of external ports on the chassis have to be
>>> standardised? What is there to be gained from this?
>>
>>   vendor-independent upgradeability.
>>
>>> Normal servers don't have a "standard" number of network ports.
>>
>>   good point.
>>
>>   ok, the thought-patterns for standardising on the ports stems from
>> the ease with which it was possible to choose the ports for the "non"
>> server EOMA standard.  i say "ease" but you know what i mean.  8 wires
>> for 1000 Eth, 4 for SATA, 8 for USB3, that's hardly rocket science,
>> and it's more than adequate.
>
> Hmm... OK, I think I see where this is going. There are 2 sides of the
> problem for a server chassis, at least in the case of a "blade" server
> with potentially many EOMA cards in it (is there really a point in
> having a single EOMA card server?).

 sold as a decent high-performance NAS Storage box or a home server?
yes, absolutely i think that would be a desirable product.

> First part is how the interconnect works internally - every EOMA card
> connects to the switch inside the server. That could be 1G, or it could
> be 10, if the internals can be made to fit inside the power envelope
> (bear in mind that if it takes 5W per 10G port, and you have 50-ish EOMA
> cards in a 1U chassis, the power dissipation is going to be a serious
> issue).

 yeah.

> The _external_ interconnect is a separate issue, as this wouldn't be
> connected to any one EOMA card, it'd be connected to the same switch
> fabric that the cards would be connected to.

 absolutely.  here you can have different chassis designs, on the
other side of the interface.

ok, here's my thoughts on this, since yesterday.  the whole point of
having a server standard - the whole premise - is that units bought in
1s and 2s would be upgradeable in mass-volume.  many customers buy 1
or 2 units.

 however, the purchasing patterns for servers is radically different.
i heard of one client who *regularly* buys 500,000 servers *a month*.
financially it would be worthwhile doing an entire customised server
standard, just for that one customer.

 in other words, i believe the market's completely different, making
it someone unnecessary to even contemplate a server "standard".

 yet, we have IBM selling "Blade" Servers with no difficulties, so i
am slightly at a loss as to what to do here :)

l.