Project: Rackmount Overkill

Still amazed by the amount of knowledge in this thread

You made me want to learn more about it thideras

warning you now it gets addicting once you get a rack! but its fun! i should be getting my first ups soon ~crosses fingers

Just had three of the four VR drives arrive.

That means, .

fornoob said:

Still amazed by the amount of knowledge in this thread

You made me want to learn more about it thideras

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Welcome to the sect of the green dragon followers!
It won't be long until you get your first server and start tinkering with virtual machines!

I forgot to take my aperture off of wide open and I'm too lazy to re-take the picture.

Just sent payment for two servers, a Dell R510 and a Dell R710. This means I'm going to be selling my x3650 M1 systems.

Not sure what I'll do with my dual Opteron server. I could take the 256 GB RAM out and distribute it among the new servers, put the old memory back in and either sell it, or use it as my FC/iSCSI target.

thideras said:

Just sent payment for two servers, a Dell R510 and a Dell R710. This means I'm going to be selling my x3650 M1 systems.

Not sure what I'll do with my dual Opteron server. I could take the 256 GB RAM out and distribute it among the new servers, put the old memory back in and either sell it, or use it as my FC/iSCSI target.

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Wouldn't that be massively overkill?

I guess you could use one of the X3650 for that, sell the dual Opteron with the previous sticks if you didn't sell them, and keep the 256GBs for the R710 or the R510.

I'd keep one of the IBMs, but I don't have an easy way to expand. If I get one of those SAS disk trays, they would take the single port on the server. The HP SAS expander also only has one external SAS port. You can chain the trays together, but I'd really rather not do that.

Here is the exact server that I'll be getting. The shipper sent me a picture before packaging it up:

And the R510.

Aren't you missing a heatsink there?

The servers don't have processors, disks, or memory, so that is ok if they are missing heatsinks.

If it turns out he didn't include two, then I'll have to order one. No problem.

I'm migrating virtual machines over to the IBM servers and I'm working on 2012 at the moment. I ran into an issue where it wouldn't start up (5D error), and found that IBM helpfully has "Execute Disable Bit" disabled by default in the BIOS, which causes this error. Thanks guys.

The OS is installed and it is checking for updates now. Even running on these older 2.5" 10k SAS drives, this is much more responsive and quicker. I hit restart and it is restarted in seconds. Can't wait to get these VR drives in.

Thid,

I currently support a couple x3650s and a few of the Dell R series at work.

They each have good and bad points. I equate the X3x50 series to older Ford trucks. Short of a bullet, fire or flood they just wont die. I equate the R series to a Hot rod. Fast and powerful but a little problem quickly becomes overwhelming if you dont catch it in time.


One 3650 has an "issue" that is simply it refuses to acknowledge a running fan in one port. The fan IS functional and running but it is not being seen by the system as such so it gives a constant error. That system is running a separate Disk array via a Fiber switch.

The X3x50s were one of the few that refused to admit defeat when we had cooling issues (110+F ambient). Those fans were audible from inside the elevator through 3 other doors but the system was still online and I was able to perform clean shutdowns!

The Dell R series were all silent or screaming alerts due to thermal issues. The Dells arent bad either but they are MUCH more finicky from what I have seen. Drives randomly just die with no warning and by simply refusing to read. RAM issues are also not uncommon if they have issues with power/cooling. They ARE powerhouses, but they are also not as overbuilt as the X series. Power or cooling not what the Dells like? Screaming fans, silence or orange flashing lights is their response.

Thanks for the input. I haven't heard that comparison before, so it is something I'll keep in mind. I'll certainly be able to see how they do.

For disks/memory, I'm not using any of the Dell branded hardware. Disk is all going to be Velociraptor drives. I'll also be using the M1015 card in these, as long as it plays nice.

the 1TB VR drives are on special at Newegg right now

$199 expires tomorrow

That is substantially more than I'm willing to pay for a single disk, but I appreciate you posting the offer. I have three 300 GB VR drives sitting next to me right now, with a fourth coming once the seller finishes the RMA.

It has begun.

Servers are here.

R510











R710

Delta fans me likey

Glad to see my minions got them packaged and delivered to you in one piece unbent.

The Dell R series were all silent or screaming alerts due to thermal issues. The Dells arent bad either but they are MUCH more finicky from what I have seen. Drives randomly just die with no warning and by simply refusing to read. RAM issues are also not uncommon if they have issues with power/cooling. They ARE powerhouses, but they are also not as overbuilt as the X series. Power or cooling not what the Dells like? Screaming fans, silence or orange flashing lights is their response.

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We have almost 250 dell R series server from ranging from R310,410,510,610,710,720

Never have I see any issues like you describe. It sounds like you are running the servers in a poorly cooled environment with bad hot isle cold isle management.

Our fans all run at low speeds, the data center is mostly quiet.