[rescue] Identifying SGI in picture for interests sake

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Tue, 10 Sep 2002, Joshua D Boyd wrote:

> Hmm.  Is the origin 300 smaller than a Origin 200 then?

It's about half the size, and just as capable, except that it has no
useful internal XIO slots--just PCI.  However, it makes up for that by
scaling up to 32 CPUs across multiple chassies and having a decent
amount of PCI slots.

> Or is the origin 300 the box on the bottom.  If not, what is the box
> on the bottom.  For that matter, what is the box on the top?

I don't recognize the black thing on top, but it looks like some sort of
scan-converter.  The thing under it is a rackmount video monitor.  Under
the monitor is the O300.  Under the O300 is a TP900 storage module (a
JBOD).  Under the storage module are either two unspecified expansion
modules and a rack-spacer or three rack-spacers.

The O300 is a really nifty server platform, and I like the way that SGI
is using it.  They're selling it as a standalone entry-level IRIX
server, but they're also selling it bundled with other hardware,
preconfigured to do specific tasks.  For example, the SGI SAN Server 100
is an O300 with some number of T900 or T9100 storage modules configured
to act as the core of a SAN.  A scaled-down version of that (the SGI
File Server is configured to act as a NAS.  Now, if they could nudge
their price point down a bit, they would have some really attractive
solutions to the problems caused by using PCs as NAS and SAN gateways,
and CXFS just makes the deal that much sweeter.

However, for the time being, my NAS is just an Octane with as much disc
as I can afford crammed into it.

> According to a page on their site (but not the article that the picture
> came from), the software running on that machine uses a remote Java
> console.  So, the flat panel display probably would be connected to some
> SGI-NT machine.

Possibly, or VNC-viewer.  However, I'm still sticking with the Photoshop
explanation.

-- 
Jonathan Patschke
   > Can you SysAdmins tell me what might go on in a typical day?
   Hours of endless frustration punctuated by moments of sheer terror.
                                 --Saul Tannenbaum (in the Monastery)