Head beating against wall - Xserve vs. Win NT
All right geniuses (I mean that sincerely), I have worked for a month to build a case for the installation of an Xserve instead of any MS product. I work for a small British company here in the US and, somehow, ended up as the resident geek due to my ability to speak cross platform. What that actually means is that I know how to reinstall software when one of the 5 PCs stops working (about one or twice a week). I drive a 17" PB here at work and 4 Macs at home, having completely converted from the darkside three years ago.
Here's the rub and where I need help. We need a server over here to tie in to the two servers over there (VPN, secure file sharing, etc.). They run NT. When our CFO went to their local tech consultant for guidance, with my proposal in hand, the guy stated in no uncertain terms that an Xserve would not work with the NT machines. I am not ready to drop this since I'll be responsible for dealing with an NT machine and the consultant we will need over here to keep that da#n NT box running.
Where can I find layman's information on using Xserve in a (mainly) Win environment..and the bonus question...anyone heard of a cost comparison (taking into account downtime, upgrades, license fees, security, etc.). Seems Win NT tech folks are in the business of staying in business which is why the MS platform feeds them so much revenue...help.
Humbly appreciative of the wealth of information laying dormant in your skulls...
cog
Here's the rub and where I need help. We need a server over here to tie in to the two servers over there (VPN, secure file sharing, etc.). They run NT. When our CFO went to their local tech consultant for guidance, with my proposal in hand, the guy stated in no uncertain terms that an Xserve would not work with the NT machines. I am not ready to drop this since I'll be responsible for dealing with an NT machine and the consultant we will need over here to keep that da#n NT box running.
Where can I find layman's information on using Xserve in a (mainly) Win environment..and the bonus question...anyone heard of a cost comparison (taking into account downtime, upgrades, license fees, security, etc.). Seems Win NT tech folks are in the business of staying in business which is why the MS platform feeds them so much revenue...help.
Humbly appreciative of the wealth of information laying dormant in your skulls...
cog
Comments
Originally posted by dfiler
I Sorry, can't remember the details but this tends to tip the cost analysis favorably towards the Xserve.
Gotcha...I suppose the PITA factor (Pain In The A*#) is too subjective! The PITA factor is my greatest issue..not to mention hardware problems that have plagued every MS running box I have ever owned.
cog
I just finished setting up our Xserve.
In an environment of 260 PCs and 4 macs. :-)
We could talk about it for hours... but inn short
ONCE (and that's not an easy task) you get it going and work around all the bugs and lack of GUI settings, these things rock.
if you want find me on iChat (piwozniak), i can answer your questions better than posting here i think.
As far as VPN is concerned, DO NOT USE XSERVE to manage your vpn between branch offices. Get VPN appliances and manage the connection that way. You can use Panther VPN server to allow clients, but for permanent links use vpn appliances. You will be 100 times better off.
HFS+ from what I have read, is more intellegent, and defrags itself on-the-fly.
Here is one such discussion on Slashdot
In the long term, it seems that HFS+ would reduce system administration by eliminating the need to defrag.