Hi Gembuds,
We are getting ready to update our box on which our LDM and Gempak software
reside. I wanted to drop a line to see if anyone had any hardware
suggestions... I found this thread (below) from 2005, and some of the
suggestions still ring true, but wanted to get some updated advice. Just a
little more info:
• This machine also serves as as web server (http://twister.sbs.ohio-state.edu)
(we provide basic model, text, and graphical products to the general public --
but have been held back by hardware limitations)
• We have about 8 to 10K worth of funding for this project..
• We have used and would like to continue to use (if at all possible) Redhat
Enterprise OS unless someone has other suggestions...
Thanks in advance for any suggestions...
- Phil
--- QUOTED FROM THREAD IN 2005 ----
> Nancy,
>
> You can get several nicely configured machines for $5K. We are
> running RedHat Fedora Core 3 here, which supports 64 bit
> processors in the 2.6 kernel. Redhat Fedora is free. Depending on
> your campus, you could go the supported RedHat Enterprise OS route.
>
> We generally recommend that you probably want to consider 64 bit
> processors for the future, such as the Xeon or Opteron64. Dual
> processor systems are quite affordable, and in the case of
> an LDM server that is also doing decoding/filing, and product
> generation, you will get the use out of a dual CPU machine.
> User desktop systems can go either way. For running models,
> the dual CPU systems are definitely going to be the way to go-
> and memory should be as much as possible in your budget.
>
> For an LDM server, it is a good idea to have as much RAM as the size of
> your product queue, and your queue should be able to hold an hours
> worth of data. If you were getting all IDD feeds, that would be
> up to 3GB an hour at present rates. Since you are receiving a smaller
> subset of data at this point, 2GB is OK for now.
>
> For a robust LDM server, just surfing the web, a Dell dual Xeon 2.8GHz
> Power Edge SC1425 with 2GB of RAM is running $1377
> (my link was following the small business rack server links
>
> http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=sc1425&s=bsd#bottom_anchor
>
> That link may not get you the same page if it was using cookies etc, but
> it gets you in the ballpark.
>
> >From starting around $1377, you can ad a couple of 250GB disks for about
> $400. For desktop systems where you'd need a graphics card and display,
> you'll probably add $750 for a 19" flat panel and graphics card, but be
> looking at tower cases, and smaller hard disks, maybe 36 or 72GB if the
> data is primarily on the server. You could probably get a couple
> of desktop systems with nice monitors etc for $1500.
>
> GEMPAK will run on 128MB, but You'd probably never want to
> get a new workstation with less than 512MB. You'd be happiest
> planning for the future with 1GB for a desktop system. If you
> plan on using the Java based IDV, I'd suggest 1GB.
>
> If you have a specific plan for number of seats in a lab, let us know
> and we may be able to get more specific, or if you are generally looking
> at remote access to the server that is doing LDM and modelling, then
> rack machines are a good use of space.
>
> Steve Chiswell
> Unidata User Support
>
-- Phil Birnie --
http://www.birnies.com
