SUMMARY: SunFire V880

Hi  Folks, Thanks for the following pple who takes time giving their
feedback :

Nelson.T.Caparroso
JC
Kevin Van Der Hart
Kanchan
Jed
Jon Jackson
Tim Chipman
Hichael Morton

The consensus is that V880 is the recommended model in terms of
scalability, reliability, durability and price cost.  The problem I've
mentioned about the "power supply" issue is already history, its already
been fixed for quite sometime (and to correct myself, the prob is actually
on  DC/DC  converter  and not the power supply).

Once again, Thanks for your contribution,

Ador Sunga
Information System Officer
IESingapore


Original Question:

Hello Fellow Admin,

I'd just like to know your experience on  this Sunfire V880 model in terms
of scalability .  We are about to purchase this unit but one of my
colleaque commented that modular processor/memory is not that good based on
his experience with his previous company. So I was tasked to make a
research before I can go ahead.

So far, I understant  that Sun makes a recall for their V880 because of the
power supply issue.  Aside from this, any good/bad experience that you can
share with me.

Thanks for your time, I'll summarise.
***************************************************************************

Ador,

   We have, at last count 6 V880's in house, and at least 2 more on order,
   and I
   must say that we've had nothing but excellent results. the modular CPU
   boards
   makes maintenance easier and faster in the event of a CPU replacement or
   install.
   The "recall"
   you mentioned was actually a mandatory field fix for a DC to DC
   converter,
   which is now really old news.  Our original two V800's where affected by
   this.
    It took the technician less than 10 minutes for each system to replace
   the
   affected component. All new V880's do not have this problem.

   For the price the V880's are a great bargain. From my experience they're
   fast,
   reliable and scalable.  You can replace I/O boards with the system
   running.
   They come with several lights out options and internal gigabit Ethernet.
   We
   obviously like them and will continue to purchase them.  In fact the
   next 2
   (and possibly four) will be clustered with Sun Cluster 3.0. (We also
   have a
   large range of other Sun systems from Netras to E10K's and 6800's.)

   JC

   ******************************************************************************

   Hello,

   We installed 2 V880's in February to run our ERP system and house all of
   our
   Oracle databases. They replaced an E4500 and an E5500 which cost 3 times
   as
   much as the V880. The V880 outperforms the older servers in every
   aspect.
   Sun did have the power supply recall and they have replaced ours.
   Actually
   it wasn't a power supply but a DC/DC converter that was installed on the
   CPU/Memory cards. The odds of having one of the early converters fail
   was
   only 1 in 1000 though. The only actual problem we have had was a DIMM
   that
   would give us correctable errors. Fortunately they were correctable and
   the
   server never crashed or rebooted. Other than that they have been working
   flawlessly for 3 months now. Hope this helps.

   ------
   Kevin Van Der Hart
   -----

   *******************************************************************************

   I recently evaluated one of the V880 and end up buying
   one, due to its scalability. Power supply issue has
   been fixed long back.

   Kanchan

   *******************************************************************************
   DC/DC convertor, you will not get one with a bad one since all inventory
   was replaced. The V880 is rock solid!

   Right now it supports 32G total memory, very soon 64G, after that 128G.
   The 900MHz Cheetah+ Cu processors are due in June. Great I/O, 9 PCI
   slots,
   redundant power (3 units/cords). 8 Processors now, with USIV you will be
   able to have 16 processors. This is a beast, a great machine. Buy two :)

   -jed

   ****************************************************************************

   I have a 6 way here that I'm pretty happy with... it's pretty much
   unloaded though, other then the occasional simulation from Cadence...

   ***************************************************************************

   We have 2 and love them....great performers.
   <jon.jackson>

   ***************************************************************************

   From what I can tell, the 880 is the most inexpensive 8-way-capable
   system
   that sun has produced.  I think previously, the "entry level" for 8-CPU
   system
   from sun was the e3500 (maxes out with 8 x 464mhz CPUs) and based on the
   price
   for the "bare box" and CPU,memory,expansion boards to upgrade to an
   8-cpu
   format, the curve comes out MUCH in favour for 880 over 3500 system.
   This is
   especially true since the 880 is using faster Ultra-3 CPUs yet the price
   point
   is better.

   In the long term, it is quite likely the 880 will accommodate 8 x
   1000mhz
   CPUs, and probably even a bit beyond that. (current standard format
   these days
   is with 750mhz CPUs I think).

   some rough comparison from purely a price perspective (*List prices*
   pulled
   from store.sun.com, info I previously had prepared ...)

   e3500 Server , 4 x 464mhz CPUs, 2 gigs Ram -> $104,850 USD

   V880 Server , 4 x 750 mhz Ultra-III Sparc CPUs, 8 gigs RAM, -> $49,995
   USD

   Upgrade costs:

   $15,000 USD list price  per 464mhz Ultra2 CPU for the e3500
           (plus extra for system boards and memory...)

   $23,000 USD list price for Dual-750mhz Ultra3 with 4 gig ram "Module"
   for v880

   (ie, includes system board, 2 CPUs, ram)


   Anyhow. Just some numbers to drive home the fact that the price-curve
   for the
   880 is more "in keeping" with 450 type "workgroup" servers rather than
   the
   "enterprise" (aka more expensive :-) hardware.


   If you are really concerned about scalability of a platform, it will
   involve
   some consideration of software, usage, "scaling model" overall, and
   certainly
   not just the "scalability" of a single given piece of hardware.


   Hope this is of slight use / interest,

   Tim Chipman

   **************************************************************************

   ador,

   The V880 must be ordered with 2 or 4 CPUs.
   You cannot add just CPUs; you must add the CPU & board.  This would
   apply to changing to higher speed CPUs also.


   Hope this helps,

   HM
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