Dude, you’re getting a Dell!
My biggest job as a freelancer started today. The customer ordered the equipment and it’s starting to trickle in. The best thing about being a computer consultant is being paid to play with expensive high tech toys that I can’t afford to buy myself. (OK, so it’s actually work and they’re tools - not toys, but I love my job!)
The LTO4 autochanger arrived, but the server to drive it isn’t here yet. The tape drive is so cool! Each tape can hold 800 gig native and 1.6 TB compressed! Un-freaking-believable! It’s a Dell TL2000. I got it rack mounted tonight, but that’s as far as I could go. I’m anxiously awaiting the rest of the order.
This project is a complete network refresh and involves 5 new servers, 9 new workstations, the new tape drive, all new Backup Exec 11D, new UPS’s, network management software from Level Platforms and upgrading a few existing servers to Server 2003. I’ll also be replacing an aging Linux box that runs external DNS services with a new Dell and installing 64-bit servers so we can run Exchange 2007.
Whew! What a project. It’s about 100 hours to be completed over the next 2 months. I’ll have to use subcontractors for a few small bits and probably hire some teenagers to help with the heavy lifting, too.