My Silicon Mechanics R-207C Server

Server Drool

At Linux Fest Northwest 2007, many of the vendors donated software, hardware, books and other promotional items to be used in a raffle.

Although I’m not much of a gambler, I bought two tickets to support the FLOSS cause and, amazingly, won the grand prize: a Silicon Mechanics R-207C rackmounted server.

Before the raffle, I’d talked to some of the nice Silicon Mechanics Reps and was really impressed with their offerings and nearly drooled on a demo server.

Silicon Mechanics is a Value Added Reseller of sorts. They don’t manufacture all of their equipment, but they do tailor-make server systems, usually based on SuperMicro components.

Support

From what I can tell, their biggest selling features is their excellent service. They also work closely with customers to find the best hardware solutions for their needs.

Silicon Mechanics has an excellent support policy including return/exchange and are much easier to deal with than actual equipment manufacturers.

They have a host of impressive clientèle including:

• Second Life
• LiveJournal
• WikiMedia
• many big universities
• hosting companies.

Open Source

What impressed me most about Silicon Mechanics is their commitment to the Open Source community.

They’ve made impressive donations of time, equipment and money to several things Open Source including MythTV and Linux Fest Northwest. And, they employ several developers that create code for Linux and Open Source projects as well.

So, I’m really happy with the server, although I have yet to put it to good use. But I’m doing my best to clean up the drool.