View Full Version : Sun Cobalt RaQ
Did not really know where to put this thread... so decided to do this in dedicated hosting...
Anyone in SGWHT has experience with Cobalt RaQ ?
Apparent in SG, people are still using RaQ4i - the RaQ550 has yet to hit our shores yet ... is this true ?
Heng Chai
03-08-2002, 01:12
Condemmed.
polarbear
03-08-2002, 07:26
Did not really know where to put this thread... so decided to do this in dedicated hosting...
Anyone in SGWHT has experience with Cobalt RaQ ?
Apparent in SG, people are still using RaQ4i - the RaQ550 has yet to hit our shores yet ... is this true ?
If it is on Sun's website, it should be available in Singapore.
apparently a 4 to 6 weeks waiting period !
polarbear
03-08-2002, 11:04
apparently a 4 to 6 weeks waiting period !
The Cobalt Raq is not as popular in Singapore, compared to in the US. I think the 4 to 6 weeks waiting period is for the latest shipment to come in.
The RaQ3 was buggy, unstable, and easily breakable with Cobalt-issued patches. There were many a time we had to perform factory restore to machines messed up by customers. RaQ4 is way better and stable, less trouble. We were glad to see the 3 series go. I don't know if Webvisions will offer RaQ550 soon or not.
Cobalt is a good hassle-free (almost) server appliance for those who want quick deployment and little configuration/management headaches. Of course that only means your "scope" of functions is largely limited to what the web interface offers. If you want some advanced sutff you have to telnet in and do your usual system administrator work like regular Linux systems.
I see this one actually offers ASP! Should be ChilliSoft.
Heng Chai
04-08-2002, 12:27
The RaQ3 was buggy, unstable, and easily breakable with Cobalt-issued patches. There were many a time we had to perform factory restore to machines messed up by customers. RaQ4 is way better and stable, less trouble. We were glad to see the 3 series go. I don't know if Webvisions will offer RaQ550 soon or not.
Cobalt is a good hassle-free (almost) server appliance for those who want quick deployment and little configuration/management headaches. Of course that only means your "scope" of functions is largely limited to what the web interface offers. If you want some advanced sutff you have to telnet in and do your usual system administrator work like regular Linux systems.
I see this one actually offers ASP! Should be ChilliSoft.
Seems that Sun finally made improvements after 2 series of very lousy server appliances.
polarbear
04-08-2002, 12:38
The RaQ3 was buggy, unstable, and easily breakable with Cobalt-issued patches. There were many a time we had to perform factory restore to machines messed up by customers. RaQ4 is way better and stable, less trouble. We were glad to see the 3 series go. I don't know if Webvisions will offer RaQ550 soon or not.
Cobalt is a good hassle-free (almost) server appliance for those who want quick deployment and little configuration/management headaches. Of course that only means your "scope" of functions is largely limited to what the web interface offers. If you want some advanced sutff you have to telnet in and do your usual system administrator work like regular Linux systems.
I see this one actually offers ASP! Should be ChilliSoft.
Seems that Sun finally made improvements after 2 series of very lousy server appliances.
In fact, I think Sun made it better. Cobalt Raq was bought over by Sun if I am not wrong during Raq 3 era, with which they launched Raq 4, which was less problematic.
I started this thread coz my company has officially dropped the idea of getting a dedicated server... instead we are now looking into the possibility of getting a RaQ instead.
Why ? Simply because after so much discussion - we finally realised that we are not able to find :
(a) A IDC that would provide us with a FULLY mangaged solution at an affordable price
(b) We do not have the *nix skills to carry out the maintenance on our own - We are a small company with a head count of less than 15 and our core focus has always been in the order of (1) Micrsoft (2) Lotus Notes (3) Novell Netware - *nix was never on the list but with it gaining popularity, management decided to START embracing *nix - hence the little foray in webhosting and email hosting for some of our existing customers.
The RaQ seems a very niffty little thing - had been going thru the specs and the demo all of Saturday morning while at work and I must say I'm impressed ... however the pricing is a bit hefty
RaQ4I -> about S$1,400
RaQ550 -> about S$3,200
Which means .... with the price I'm paying for a RaQ550 - I could end up with 2 RaQ4i....
So, which should be the choice RaQ4i or RaQ550 ?
Heng Chai
05-08-2002, 08:17
I started this thread coz my company has officially dropped the idea of getting a dedicated server... instead we are now looking into the possibility of getting a RaQ instead.
Why ? Simply because after so much discussion - we finally realised that we are not able to find :
(a) A IDC that would provide us with a FULLY mangaged solution at an affordable price
(b) We do not have the *nix skills to carry out the maintenance on our own - We are a small company with a head count of less than 15 and our core focus has always been in the order of (1) Micrsoft (2) Lotus Notes (3) Novell Netware - *nix was never on the list but with it gaining popularity, management decided to START embracing *nix - hence the little foray in webhosting and email hosting for some of our existing customers.
The RaQ seems a very niffty little thing - had been going thru the specs and the demo all of Saturday morning while at work and I must say I'm impressed ... however the pricing is a bit hefty
RaQ4I -> about S$1,400
RaQ550 -> about S$3,200
Which means .... with the price I'm paying for a RaQ550 - I could end up with 2 RaQ4i....
So, which should be the choice RaQ4i or RaQ550 ?
Since you guys are MS supporters, why not go for a MS server instead? Makes more sense right? All you need to get in addition is just the email server.
Anyway, for the RaQ, its better to get the 550. Mainly because its newer, hence technical support and updates will be much less a hassle. Furthermore the specs are better, so you won't be rushing for an upgrade anytime soon.
But well, if you're going to host < 100 high visitor rate sites, then go for the RaQ4. Should be enough to sustain that amount yet make it easy on your pockets. But updates... well, you get what you pay for.. :roll:
DoorKeeper
07-08-2002, 21:14
Roy,
RaQ boxes work but not for everyone, especially for experienced users who want a little more this and a little of that. That goes for most appliance-type hosts. You can always start with Caldera's distribution of Linux if you want a little more user-friendliness in installation and admin aspects.
I started this thread coz my company has officially dropped the idea of getting a dedicated server... instead we are now looking into the possibility of getting a RaQ instead.
Why ? Simply because after so much discussion - we finally realised that we are not able to find :
(a) A IDC that would provide us with a FULLY mangaged solution at an affordable price
(b) We do not have the *nix skills to carry out the maintenance on our own - We are a small company with a head count of less than 15 and our core focus has always been in the order of (1) Micrsoft (2) Lotus Notes (3) Novell Netware - *nix was never on the list but with it gaining popularity, management decided to START embracing *nix - hence the little foray in webhosting and email hosting for some of our existing customers.
The RaQ seems a very niffty little thing - had been going thru the specs and the demo all of Saturday morning while at work and I must say I'm impressed ... however the pricing is a bit hefty
RaQ4I -> about S$1,400
RaQ550 -> about S$3,200
Which means .... with the price I'm paying for a RaQ550 - I could end up with 2 RaQ4i....
So, which should be the choice RaQ4i or RaQ550 ?
Do you require JSP? Raq550 has JSP support out of the box, although you could add JSP to Raq4 with a little work.
For less then 200 domains a Raq4 shoud be suffcient just remember to upgrade to 512MB ram , and if possible get the "r" version.
Be warned though a brand new raq4 requires tons of patches to bring it up to date. and some of those patches requires modifications at the root level to get everything working rite.
Cobalt Raq4s has some quirks as well, you can't specifically create a forwarding only account, you have to use either the mailling list or a actual account to forward mails. Log files are counted towards the quota etc...
Here's a few things that you can do easily , requires very little *nix knowhow.
1) Install Gossamer FileManager (Cobalt PKG available)
2) Install Mailscanner - Antivirus (Very detailed guide on the net)
3) Install MySQL (Cobalt PKG available)
4) Install SSH (Cobalt PKG avaiable)
5) Install OpenWebMail (Cobalt PKG available) - a very decent webmail
6) Install Mod_gzip to speed up browsing (Very detailed guide on the net)
The latest patches for Cobalt raq4s has Port scan detection (autoblock and buffer overrun protection as well.
OR
you may want to consider a DIY box + ENSIM appliance (which cost about $199 US)
Hey hey hey.... looks as if we found a RaQ Guru ...
CCMHEOA - thanks for the inside look into the RaQ4
I know that if I purchase the RaQ4, I will have to do some work before it gets up to par with all the latest patches etc.
The RaQ 550 is naturally a better choice in terms of hardware and up-to-date software .. but the 4 to 6 weeks wait will KILL all our enthausim. Anyhow, I have been actively finding out prices for 1U servers, co-lo, rack prices ... everything... alot of work but I think I get a clearer picture of what is going on in Singapore's webhosting scene. Along the way, I might have caused alot of trouble for all the sales people, asking all my queries but ultimately, I know which ones are "good" "not so good" and "avoid at all costs" - so I guess it has been a good learning experience.
I have come out with a cost / benefit analysis of the situtation covering all options like
(a) Hardware
A OEM 1U server or a RaQ 4 or a RaQ 550
(b) Co-lo
With whom and at which IDC
(c) Bandwidth
How much is sufficient
(d) Control Panel
Sun Cobalt RaQ Control or Ensim or Cpanel
There are so many comparisons and so many different considerations. Like for a the price of a RaQ 550 - one could actually buy an OEM P4 2GHz 1GB Ram 80 GB HDD Raid1 1U server loaded with EnSim.
The P4 will outperform the RaQ 550 but what's the trade-off ? Ease of administration, security patches, updates etc which are important to me and my company coz we have close to zero *nix skills..... I have actually just loaded RedHat 7.3 and Mandrake on a old PIII I have in office - playing around and see what I can find out.
I will be putting up my presentation to the company this coming Saturday and barring any unforesen circumstances, I hope to be up and running soon - except for the fact that the RaQ 550 will take 4 to 6 weeks. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed ...............
OEM Server VS RaQ550 VS RaQ4 ,...... MMMM mmmm this is a TOUGH call. But I will have to make a call by Thursday ... Need Friday to prepare the presentation materials .... Comments any one ?
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