Using off-the-shelf hardware for brand-name servers; Possible? Good idea?

Posted by threecheeseopera on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by threecheeseopera
Published on 2010-04-12T16:14:12Z Indexed on 2010/04/12 16:23 UTC
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cost

Is it possible or advisable to use 'regular' not-sanctioned-by-the-server-manufacturer hardware in high end servers? Often these manufacturer-supplied parts have a very high price markup, and I wonder if it's always necessary (understanding that they probably apply more rigorous requirements to this hardware).

For example, Dell sells 300GB 15,000rpm serial-attached scsi drives for a certain server family for almost $600 each, while newegg sells a drive with the same specs for almost half the price http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822116059.

Do we really need to pay these high markups, especially for disks that are likely RAID-ed and so guarded against catastrophic failure?

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