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Async
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IBM Async adapters provide attachment for a concentration of asynchronous lines (up to 128) from a single PCI bus slot. This gives the system the ability to serve a large number of user of EIA-232 or RS-422 devices such as terminals, printers, and modems.
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Cables
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DVD
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Disk
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There was a time when the performance of disk drives was one of the most underrated aspects of overall system performance. Disk was considered only "a place to keep stuff" and little heed given to how they affected the operation of the server as a whole. Over the last few years this has changed dramatically, and disk drive performance issues are now getting the attention they deserve. There are many different issues in how performance is assessed and measured. There are interactions between components with which anyone seeking to really grasp hard disk performance must contend. And the technology changes so rapidly that what is the "fastest" today will probably be "second best" within a few months--or even weeks in many cases!
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Displays
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So is it time for you to trade in your trusty cathode-ray tube (CRT) monitor for a stylish new liquid crystal display (LCD) model? Here's a look at what makes flat-panel LCD monitors appealing. And what might keep one off your desk.
- You'll save some desk real estate.
- You get a better picture.
- They're not cheap (though they save in energy costs).
- They still have some latency issues.
- Know some basic specs before buying.
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Ethernet
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Ethernet was named by Robert Metcalfe, one of its developers, for the passive substance called "luminiferous (light-transmitting) ether" that was once thought to pervade the universe, carrying light throughout. Ethernet was so- named to describe the way that cabling, also a passive medium, could similarly carry data everywhere throughout the network.
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Expansion
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Fibre
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Fibre Channel is a scalable, high-performance interconnect standard that enables fast transfer of data between workstations, shared storage, peripherals and host systems. At up to speeds of 4 Gigabits per second this data transfer technology combines the attributes of a data channel with the attributes of a network. Fibre Channel is capable of supporting multiple protocols and a variety of topologies, making it the most versatile data transfer technology available. Fibre Channel combines storage I/O channels with networking to create a high-bandwidth networking technology suited for today's expanding data needs.
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Graphics
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InfiniBand
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InfiniBand uses switched, point-to-point channels similar to mainframes and also similar to PCI Express, the switched version of the PCI bus. InfiniBand provides a data path from 500 MBytes/sec to 6 GBytes/sec between each pair of nodes and is designed as a true fabric architecture that can extend connections via external networks..
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iSCSI
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iSCSI is Internet SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), an Internet Protocol (IP) -based storage networking standard for linking data storage facilities, developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). By carrying SCSI commands over IP networks, iSCSI is used to facilitate data transfers over intranets and to manage storage over long distances. The iSCSI protocol is among the key technologies expected to help bring about rapid development of the storage area network (SAN) market, by increasing the capabilities and performance of storage data transmission. Because of the ubiquity of IP networks, iSCSI can be used to transmit data over local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), or the Internet and can enable location-independent data storage and retrieval.
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Memory
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It's been proven that adding more memory to a computer system increases its performance. If there isn't enough memory to hold all the information the processor needs, the computer has to set up what's known as a virtual memory file. In so doing, the processor reserves space on the hard disk to simulate additional RAM. This process, referred to as "swapping", slows the system down. In an average computer, it takes the processor approximately 200ns (nanoseconds) to access RAM compared to 12 million nanoseconds to access the hard drive. To put this into perspective, this is equivalent to what's normally a 3 1/2 minute task taking 4 1/2 months to complete!
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Power
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Choose from a variety of Power supplies as listed below:
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600 Watt Supply
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700 Watt Supply
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850 Watt Supply
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1475 Watt Supply
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SAS / SCSI
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SCSI celebrates its 20th anniversary with a bang by moving to the seventh generation of the bus that introduces a maximum data transfer at a staggering 320 MB/sec. Over the course of the past two decades the protocol has evolved from an 8-bit, single-ended interface transferring data at 5 MB/sec to a 16-bit, differential interface transferring data at 160 MB/sec. For the first time SCSI protocol has been revised to reduce the time spent on processing overhead, resulting in increased performance.
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Tape
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Ten performance techniques and tuning methodologies that will improve your backup rates.
- Use Ultra320 SCSI Adapters ~ 320MB/s
- Use Ultra320 Disk Drives ~ 320MB/s
- Use Ultra320 RAID Adapters ~ 320MB/s
- Implement Concurrent or Parallel Backups
- Optimize the Block Size of the Tape Drive
- Defrag and/or Re-org Your Disk Drives
- Install Additional Memory
- Apply PTFs Regularly
- Upgrade Your Network to Gigabit Technology
- Use either AIX or Linux as Your Primary Operating System
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