Decommissioned!

[Topcat]

After over 5 years of non-stop service, the big black tower which holds 2 motherboards has been decommissioned indefinitely, pending some drive cycle-outs and a really good cleaning. This machine is ungodly loud, and getting used to the silence is no easy feat. They've sang me to sleep for years, I didn't sleep worth a shit last night since her sweet melody was gone, and she's located in a spare bedroom down the hall, if that gives you an idea how loud it is. There's 4 years of dust in there, and the worst part, my better half burned these big ass candles way over in the living room a few months ago, and they were the dirtiest burning piles of shit I've ever seen. Every PC in my house was filled with this nasty black soot from those candles. They look like they survived a house fire, thats how bad it is. So needless to say, this server will be completely disassembled and every single part cleaned.

I salute Fujitsu SCSI HDD's, as some of the SCSI drives being cycled out are over 6 years old. Of the 8 drives, one failed. That's the glory of RAID, the spare picked up where it left off. The server never even went down.

Anyway, next time you see her, she'll look brand new again, and have some new innards to show off!!!





The smaller black tower on the floor in the background is the big server's "Mini-Me"... It and the white one next to it are sitting in as substitute servers until this one is rebuilt and recommissioned.

[Maxxarcade]

Re: Decommissioned!

What kind of case is that, and where can I get one? That case is so badass

What is the new server again?

[willawake]

Re: Decommissioned!

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1605

[Topcat]

Re: Decommissioned!

Here's a little sneak peek at the internals (something I don't show very often). You'll have to pardon the dust, I know it's nasty in there. That's one of the reasons for the decommissioning (major cleaning).

Each board is an Intel SHG2 w/ a pair of 2GHz Xeon's in it (512k L2), 3gb RAM per board. I won't be upgrading the cores, they have no problem keeping up with the demand. The motherboards have onboard dual channel SCSI320 controllers with zero channel upgrade module to make them full RAID controllers, so I'm going to stay with SCSI, I just can't bring myself to dump it. SCSI320 will still beat the snot out of SATA/EIDE in server applications. I just need to get some larger and newer drives... I found some 150gb Fujitsu 10k RPM U320's at a good price. Those will rip in a RAID, and they're my favorite SCSI HDD brand, Fujitsu!!

The case is a 1620R, purchased from Casedepot.com about 5 years ago.... They no longer carry it, but we did find anohter outlet for them a while back, there's a thread on it here on the forum, somewhere.... You'll love the case in person. It weighs 80lbs EMPTY, and there's not a single piece of plastic on it, it's solid steel, everywhere. It'll also fit full EATX (extended ATX) boards, which are commonplace amongst IT-grade boards. My most favorite thing about it, the PSU backplates come fitted for Zippy redundant PSU's, nothing had to be fabbed or modded to make those nice PSU's work.

[Maxxarcade]

Re: Decommissioned!

What are those two 64 bit PCI cards? SCSI? They look like multiple input video capture cards.

That case is so big... Though I still like my server rack, it's slowly growing.

Top server is my Firewall/VPN/Router, A Compaq Proliant DL360 w/dual PIII 1.13's, 2GB ram, and dual 9.1GB SCSI in RAID 1. I have yet to kill the thing, and it's over 10 years old I think.

Next one down is my DVR for my cameras, an old recapped Gigabyte board with a Duron 1200.

Bottom one is my media server with a PIII 1.13 and 512MB ram, and 3x 320GB hard drives, running NASLite 2.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Decommissioned!

Maxxarcade; Looks like 4-port NIC's

[Tom41]

Re: Decommissioned!

That server looks like two ATX minitower PCs inside a giant server case. Is that what it essentially is?

As some of you will already know, I have a Compaq Proliant server that's currently acting as an SQL database server and web server. The machine has 4 fans, and they're all quite loud. Add to that the noise of the two HDDs spinning away in there, and you've got one heck of a noisy server. I think the server at work was noisier still, though.

I have to keep the server running in a spare room downstairs; far away from the bedrooms - otherwise the noise would keep everybody awake! I'm certain you could get used to it after a while like Topcat did, but I'm sure I couldn't sleep if this server was in the same bedroom as me (or even in the computer room upstairs; it's so loud)

TC, how long did it take you to get used to sleeping with the server 'roaring' constantly?

[Maxxarcade]

Re: Decommissioned!

I use a fan at night to HELP me sleep I would sleep like a baby next to the server rack.

I'd leave my PC on in my bedroom at night for the fans, but the Fuhkkyu caps in the power supply already have 5 years on them That and I don't want to wear out everything else in the system.

[pentium]

Re: Decommissioned!

This machine is ungodly loud, and getting used to the silence is no easy feat. They've sang me to sleep for years, I didn't sleep worth a shit last night since her sweet melody was gone, and she's located in a spare bedroom down the hall, if that gives you an idea how loud it is.

I have the same problem.
After my proliant 1600 went down with a failed boot drive it took me at least half a week to get used to the silence. Someday when I get the cast I will replace the drive and install a second PIII but the scary part was my parents also needed to take time to get used to the quietness and they sleep further away from the system than I do.

[Topcat]

Re: Decommissioned!

I used to have these servers stuffed in my bedroom closet until I moved into this house. When that server gets hot, the fans get REALLY loud, as they spin faster. They spin slower now that they have a room of their own, but the machine was still loud, I could hear it easily from down the hall. It took a couple days to get used to the noise, and now I can't sleep now that it's off....

[AKBessy]

Re: Decommissioned!

Topcat, put a couple of fans out in the hallway or in another bedroom - you'll feel at home again. LOL

[pentium]

Re: Decommissioned!

and now I can't sleep now that it's off....

just find a way to power the fans and you will be sleeping like a baby in no time!

[Topcat]

Re: Decommissioned!

Just a little update....

It's been torn down and cleaning has begun...... I washed all the filters, and the soot from the candles plus the regular house dust mixed with simple green had the texture of black melted chocolate.... It was f'ing nasty!!

[Maxxarcade]

Re: Decommissioned!

Did I spot some SuperRed Fans? Those mofos are loud...

Those chassis look almost like modified 4U rackmount cases.

[kc8adu]

Re: Decommissioned!

those cables look like something from a smokers machine.

[Topcat]

Re: Decommissioned!

Those actually came like that, nobody has ever smoked around that machine, and never will.

Kinda ironic though, I hotwash people's nasty boards all the time. Even with all my experience, I still get an uneasy feeling when I dunk 800 bucks worth of my own power supplies in a sink full of water.... The rest of the hardware will get hotwashed tomorrow (mobo's, RAM, and so on).

[Topcat]

Re: Decommissioned!

She's back up and running. Interesting thing happened as I was reassembling her.... I get a call from a friend of mine, who knows a small business needing a good server setup. Before I know it, I was made an offer I couldn't refuse for the entire server array. So now she's gone....... I get to start from the ground up, and thanks to Will's preaching, my first purchase will be a 24U enclosed rack...

[willawake]

Re: Decommissioned!

woah...racks......the worlds most expensive meccano sets.

24U? what are you a dwarf or something?

my experience says : side doors are essential. glass door is no good for cooling, better mesh. need to figure out what depth you will need (deep servers and short servers with short rails - better to have two sets of rear rails).

check out the chenbro server cases, intel too

[Topcat]

Re: Decommissioned!

48u is too big (almost 7ft tall). I can pack everything I need in a 24u. The one I'm eyeballing is all mesh, has front and rear doors (no side doors). It's 40" deep.

[willawake]

Re: Decommissioned!

you can fit anything in 40".

the one we have in the office is 37u and 35" deep. HP server is 25.5" but then i had problems with the 4u cases cos their slide rails werent deep enough so i used a second set of rear vertical rails (easier to obtain than new rails for the 4u cases)

but yeah theres no point to have big empty space in a rack.