stokes@udiego.UUCP (12/04/87)
USD is going to be Eathernetting our VMS and UNIX
systems. We're planning on using DELNIs and DEMPERs
in various places. What I need is the following
information (to see how deep of a hole I'm in):
1 Physical size: DEC says these devices are rack size,
(we would place these on shelfs in a rack) but the
local people have no idea just how big they are. Any
clues?
2 Heat. These devices are supposed to have their own cooling
fans but just how bad is the heat build up?. Will palcement
in a rack exaserbate the heat.
3 Any reliability problems? Should I leave plenety of room
for 'future maintenance'?
4 Any gotcha's, i.e. six months down the line am I going
to have to shell out extra bucks for 'maintenance kits',
etc??
Please forgive my paranoia, bad spelling, and dumb questions. I'm
just a poor system manager trying out how to place a VAX 8550, a
Pyramid 9805, and comm gear in one tiny room while keeping an old
780 running until everything is up and debugged.
--
David Stokes "USD where the future is tomorrow
Academic Computing Department and today is slightly behind schedule"
University of San Diego
(619) 260-4810 or {sdcsvax, sdsu, ucsdhub}!udiego!stokestedcrane@batcomputer.UUCP (12/07/87)
In article <707@udiego.UUCP> stokes@udiego.UUCP (David M. Stokes) writes: >We're planning on using DELNIs and DEMPERs >in various places. What I need is the following >information (to see how deep of a hole I'm in): > > 1 Physical size: DEC says these devices are rack size, Yup, you could put them in a rack. I believe they're the standard 19" width by about 6" high (or less). Even if you buy them with the "standard" white case, you can pull off the case and inside, voila, is a rack mount chassis. > 2 Heat. These devices are supposed to have their own cooling > fans but just how bad is the heat build up?. Will palcement > in a rack exaserbate the heat. I can't speak to this from experience, but none of the units I've seen generated enough heat to worry about. Just leave some space between chasses. One DELNI we had was installed in the corner of a shared office, right next to the steam pipes. It was not too cool in that corner (pun intended), but there was no particular problem with the DELNI. > 3 Any reliability problems? Should I leave plenety of room > for 'future maintenance'? In general, no problems. See gotcha's. > 4 Any gotcha's, i.e. six months down the line am I going > to have to shell out extra bucks for 'maintenance kits', Well... we had some problems with putting both heartbeat and non-heartbeat tranceivers on a DELNI (some from DEC, some from H-P). We never tracked it down, but solved the problem by substututing another DELNI (same rev level). The new one worked fine, and the old one worked fine somewhere else....lousy way to fix a problem, but it worked. No maintenance kits. If you like to be safe, keep them on DEC maintenance. It's unlikely they'll ever fail, but if they do, in comes Dr.DEC and out goes the whole failing unit.
mitch@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Mitch Collinsworth) (12/11/87)
In article <707@udiego.UUCP> stokes@udiego.UUCP (David M. Stokes) writes: >USD is going to be Eathernetting our VMS and UNIX >systems. We're planning on using DELNIs and DEMPERs >in various places. What I need is the following >information (to see how deep of a hole I'm in): > 1 Physical size: DEC says these devices are rack size, > (we would place these on shelfs in a rack) but the > local people have no idea just how big they are. Any > clues? DELNI: 3.25" x 7.75" x 19.25" (h x d x w) DEMPR: 4.25" x 7.75" x 19.5" (h x d x w) > 2 Heat. These devices are supposed to have their own cooling > fans but just how bad is the heat build up?. Will palcement > in a rack exaserbate the heat. Most of ours are on shelves in offices (~72 F). I doubt the heat output is very much. DELNIs have cooling slots on both ends and in the back. DEMPRs on the 2 ends. If you're worried about heat, leave the covers off the rack. With that, I wouldn't expect a problem unless your room is very hot. > 3 Any reliability problems? Should I leave plenety of room > for 'future maintenance'? I have never seen a problem with a DELNI in over 2 years use (we have 5) or with the DEMPR (have 1, installed last winter). Still, you should leave plenty of room for cables. Whenever you change/move/add/remove a system, you might have to get to them for recabling. > 4 Any gotcha's, i.e. six months down the line am I going > to have to shell out extra bucks for 'maintenance kits', > etc?? I haven't had to. -Mitch Collinsworth mitch@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu