[good] Re:Re: [TLUG] CF vs. USB (was: Linux World / Network World 2006)

[ted leslie]

I do sell my customers on the fact that they can swap the CF themselves,
to upgrade or to fix an issue.
This of course is a feature they may never use,
in which case having the usb key in the box is fine.
Have you identified a rock solid mobo that boots from USB reliably
that you would recommend.
I usually use INTEL cause my clients like to hear that cause i am trying to
sway a purchase away from a cisco (or similar)
but i respect asus and to a ever slightly lesser extent gigabyte and tyan.

This whole cheapening out on the capasitor scam that blowup (literal and figuratively)
a while back really gets me paranoid,
cause even thou i have done digital electronis in school,
I was lulled into the claims of many years of life span for a mobo,
and just assumed that the caps where reasonable quality.
But when it came out that to lessen mobo costs the caps that go into some of these mobo
(even to the likes of asus,etc) can be one-year to blow (if 24x7)
and i have had a few mother board ultimate stop because of caps poping,
i really only select mobo with brand name rock solid looking caps on them.
So that got me spooked into going with paying 150$ more for a intel board that is
probably lesser features then a asus, but i know the caps on the intel are good for atleast 10 years
at 24x7 and some of my clients may verywell be running this stuff 10 years from now, as they would
expect from a ciso as well.
I also set up watercooling with front mount dash, and put in really low speed CPU's
so that the box might even survive if the water pump seizes.
Basically i just try to build a box that has an outside chance of 10 years uptime.
I also use a watchdog pci card with termperature sensor so i can give the client
not only the (remote) ability to read the temperatures of their boxes but also 
of the data centers temperature as well, which is really important because data centers
have AC issues, and i know in a few cases have had temperatures hit over 90-degree , so clients
like to be able to have stats to push back in the ISP face :)

-tl

On Fri, 21 Oct 2005 15:16:50 -0400
William Park <opengeometry-FFYn/CNdgSA at public.gmane.org> wrote:

> On Fri, Oct 21, 2005 at 03:03:38PM -0400, ted leslie wrote:
> > 
> > the cf->ide  mean you get a boot from all mobo's
> > and i was doing this awhile ago,
> > i still think only the latest greatest mobo's will usb boot?
> > but mobo's do evolve quick.
> > Just when i started this stuff, a mobo with ucb key boot bios was rare.
> > And to make a rock solid firewall/VPN device for my clients i use an old proven
> > pure INTEL mobo/chip solution. And the intel mobo i use is probably 2-3 years old,
> > however i supose they may have a bios for usb.
> > Also in a data center it might look a wee bit weird having a usb key
> > hanging out of a computer.
> 
> I solved that problem by putting USB key inside the box, connected to
> internal USB head (which normally connects to front USB ports).
> Sometimes, I use short USB extension cord from rear USB port back into
> the box.
> 
> > With the CF/IDE device, it sits nice in the front of the rackmount,
> > and is recessed and fits behind the lockable front grill that most
> 
> > > > with 8 GB usb keys being 100$ in china now,
> > > > and 1GB flash cards for 33$ on ebay (new),
> > > > in a year REALLY SMALL linux distros will be one that occupy a
> > > > Gig.  I produce linux vpn/firewalls on 100$ 1GB CF cards and a 30$
> > > > CF to IDE converter.
> 
> > > What's your rationale for going with CF card, as opposed to straight
> > > USB keys?
> 
> -- 
> William Park <opengeometry-FFYn/CNdgSA at public.gmane.org>, Toronto, Canada
> ThinFlash: Linux thin-client on USB key (flash) drive
> 	   http://home.eol.ca/~parkw/thinflash.html
> BashDiff: Super Bash shell
> 	  http://freshmeat.net/projects/bashdiff/
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