Got a G5 Xserv.....Now what???

[bluemonkey]

My company bought a G5 Xserve, and it arrived last Thursday. Since I'm the graphics guy, everyone asks me "What is that thing anyway?" I told them it was a place to store all of our data, so everyone has access to it at once, and no hard drives are chock full, and there are no archive DVD's - at least not many. I was trying to tell them how much it will streamline our operation, but the persisited. I finally said, "It's what we all got instead of a raise". Dead silence. They apparantly don't think I'm as funny as I do.

Anyway, what else can I tell these people so they will stop questioning me/

-Jason
<><

 

[wordmunger]

Do you have a server at all now?

If not:

Back when I owned a business, we installed a server to make it easier for people to work together on projects. Each project "lived" in a central location, and there was never any question as to which was the "official" version. It took some getting used to (and some hard thinking making policies about how work was done), but after we made the transition we never looked back.

If you are replacing an older server:

This is the fastest, most energy efficient server for the money. It's a safer, more reliable way to serve data and store our work.

 

[bluemonkey]

Thanks for your help. We have an old mac lying around that we use for an FTP server, but it's mainly for our outside clients. This Xserve will be our new FTP, as well as a home for our commercial data, and possibly a mail server and a server for our website (which hasn't been updated since Moses was a baby). I explain all that to them, and I get nothing. Just blank stares. I guess they'll just have to se it to believe it, huh?

Well anyway, it's very shiny, and they like that. They also like the different colored lights on the front, and the fact that the motherboard is blue as opposed to the ugly green color.

See, Xserves appeal to everyone!

-Jason
<><

 

[varmit]

Selling a Solution

Sell it to your other employees as a central spot where everyone knows where to get information. No need to walk around, page or call some one for something anymore, look for the document on the server.

I don't know how you guys work or what your company does, but you need to set up a system of doing things. If you pass stuff off to eachother. An email to say a file is ready on the server for the next person to change.

Or do you work separately on the same client information / project, guessing you are possibly advertising, and someone does the write up and you do the pictures. Best if there is a folder there and when everything is finished it can go in there, email to boss or who ever has to approve that its ready, and they just have to go to that folder and no where else.

Pluses: Save space on your PCs/Macs, and space sending files though emails, and no need for DVD disks anymore to send files around, Whatever applies to havn't all the work stay in one spot.

If you tell me what your company does, some things that get done on a project / people involved, I can give you an idea of how to set it up and what procedures you can do, and how you can get employee buy in for using it. But as of right now, all you can say is it will consolitate everything into one spot, so people know where to go to get something.

 

[macridah]

My company bought a G5 Xserve, and it arrived last Thursday. Since I'm the graphics guy, everyone asks me "What is that thing anyway?" I told them it was a place to store all of our data, so everyone has access to it at once, and no hard drives are chock full, and there are no archive DVD's - at least not many. I was trying to tell them how much it will streamline our operation, but the persisited. I finally said, "It's what we all got instead of a raise". Dead silence. They apparantly don't think I'm as funny as I do.

Anyway, what else can I tell these people so they will stop questioning me/

-Jason
<><

Is the xServe G5 loud or is it pretty quiet. I was thinking of buying one myself, and the only place I could place it is in my room.

Thanks in advance.

 

[rdowns]

My company bought a G5 Xserve, and it arrived last Thursday. Since I'm the graphics guy, everyone asks me "What is that thing anyway?" I told them it was a place to store all of our data, so everyone has access to it at once, and no hard drives are chock full, and there are no archive DVD's - at least not many. I was trying to tell them how much it will streamline our operation, but the persisited. I finally said, "It's what we all got instead of a raise". Dead silence. They apparantly don't think I'm as funny as I do.

Anyway, what else can I tell these people so they will stop questioning me/

-Jason
<><

Tell them it's the Mac users equivalent to buying a Corvette when you hit 40.

 

[blue&whiteman]

if I had an extra say... 1 or 2 hundred thousand I could get me my own xserve rack system! your own super computer! just one rack with about 10 xserves interconnected.

a G4 450 and up is technically a super computer (because thats the muscle needed to hit 1 gigaflop) but a G5 xserve rack system.... oh man!

*takes a nap and dreams of an xserve rack*

 

[visor]

now what? that's kind of a slly question, really.
You can, for a start, store all your files on it. ok, and use it as webserver, ftp, whatever.
You can use it as netinfo server, and every mac in house can be connected to it as dumb client - mean to say, administered from the server, without having to walk around and install everything to every mac.
Anyone can then login to any mac and have his workspace setup the same as his 'own' computer.
You can setup ldap to centrally manage your contacts, for example. you can have it calculate visual effects in photoshop about 15 times faster than on G4 Powermac.... it comes wth its own administative software to monitor its functionality, blah blah blah.

 

[Rocketman]

Well anyway, it's very shiny, and they like that. They also like the different colored lights on the front, and the fact that the motherboard is blue as opposed to the ugly green color.

I always find it funny what people fixate on. If it is that cool you need 2 or 3 right?

Rocketman

 

[Thirteenva]

I have to ask the stupid question...


Why did you buy an xServe if you were unsure of what to do with it after it arrived?

 

[titaniumducky]

I have to ask the stupid question...


Why did you buy an xServe if you were unsure of what to do with it after it arrived?

HE'S not unsure - the OTHER PEOPLE in his company are. He's trying to find a way to "sell it to them" (convince them of how great it is).

 

[gbojim]

Is the xServe G5 loud or is it pretty quiet. I was thinking of buying one myself, and the only place I could place it is in my room.

Thanks in advance.

From a noise perspective, you do not want an XServe in your room.

 

[cubist]

Well, I'll tell you what I'd like you to do.

Please get screenshots of the Apple System Profiler screens of the machine. Memory, CPU, busses in particular.

Is this a single-CPU machine? I have a suspicion that Apple is shipping single-CPU versions with the 130nm 970 chip. I'm not sure whether there's any way to check this, however.

 

[flyfish29]

Thanks for your help. We have an old mac lying around that we use for an FTP server, but it's mainly for our outside clients. This Xserve will be our new FTP, as well as a home for our commercial data, and possibly a mail server and a server for our website (which hasn't been updated since Moses was a baby).

-Jason
<><

Make sure you use lots of folders to organize things logically on the server for documents which are shared.

As far as web sites go, there is a new way of doing web sites which can be set up where they can easily be updated by simply sending an email. I don't know much about it but once someone sets it up text, pictures etc can easily be updated by way of email. You might look into this as a way to easily keep up a web site with current info...more upfront cost I would assume, but once it is setup you can update almost everything yourself. I don't know much about it but sure someone here does.

Just tell them they donated their raises to the apple employee Cancun vacation fund...I am sure that will convince them.

 

[3-22]

Thanks for your help. We have an old mac lying around that we use for an FTP server, but it's mainly for our outside clients. This Xserve will be our new FTP, as well as a home for our commercial data, and possibly a mail server and a server for our website (which hasn't been updated since Moses was a baby). I explain all that to them, and I get nothing. Just blank stares. I guess they'll just have to se it to believe it, huh?
....

Why do you care what they think? Do they sign the purchase order? If there your the typical "non-IT user" they don't care and just expect email, etc. to work. It's like the dial tone, they don't care how it gets there as long as it's there when they pickup the phone.

Setup some file shares (on RAID drives), internal web server, etc. and just tell them to use it or they're SOL when they lose a hard drive. I would recommend keeping your old FTP server for just that, and not mixing internal data with access to the internet you would just be asking for trouble. Host your website externally it's cheaper and more cost effective then setting up a DMZ for a small shop.

If you expect users to do back-flips over some gee-whiz hardware good luck. Most of our users wouldn't know a NAS device from a router, and wouldn't care too either.

 

[bluemonkey]

Thanks for all your useful input, guys. To clarify a few things (should've done this earlier), we are a quick print/copy company with a grand total of 9 employees. I am the entire graphics/design department, and the majority of the people nagging me about what an Xserve will do are the production people downstairs and the sales people. I know how great it is, and they will too once they begin to use it. I just thought you guys would have a little fun with this topic, and I see that you have.

The owner of my company's brother is an IT guy w/ a master's degree and what not, and this purchase was his bright idea. Once he suggests something, there really isn't too much question about it...

Anyway, thanks again

Jason
<><

by the way, it isn't terribly loud to me.

 

[5300cs]

From a noise perspective, you do not want an XServe in your room.

I'll second that. Mine's in my room and the coolness wore off quite a long time ago. The multi-colored lights on the front are one of the reasons I bought it though.. that and it was cheap (1Ghz G4 though, no G5 here.)

You could take it and say, "It'll speed up productivity, I'm just hook it up at my house. Really, it's faster that way." They'll never notice the difference.

Are you setting the whole thing up yourself?

 

[blue&whiteman]

From a noise perspective, you do not want an XServe in your room.

I love computer noise for some reason. my power mac is in my bedroom and the sound of its fan helps me sleep. sounds odd I know but I love it.