IBM eServer 325 Dual Opteron 2.0GHz 1GB 120GB Server w/VID (Refurb) $197

MixManSC said:
Maybe this thread should get moved to the discussion part.... anyhow I got mine in this morning. Looks nice - I've not yet had a chance to plug it in or anything. The specific model is 8835-Y11. The IBM Support page for it is http://www-304.ibm.com/jct01004c/systems/support/supportsite.wss/selectproduct?familyind=5151170&typeind=5151232&modelind=5166413&osind=0&brandind=5000008&oldfamily=5151170&taskind=2&continue.x=48&continue.y=13

Also IBM does have a doc specifically about setting this machine up as a VMWare ESX Server at the link above on the Install/Use tab. I did open the cover on it and yes it does have onboard SCSI - you would just need a SCSI cable and 2 68 pin SCSI drives to switch it to pure SCSI. It does not allow for hot plug drives and I dont see how you could fit an adaptor on the end of a drive so 80 pin SCA drives are not going to work. The ram it came with is 2 dimms and there are 4 more dimm slots open plus two PCI-X slots. It could be converted to use SCA drives but you would need the little backplane board and a new front bezel. On the plus side the rails for installing a second hard drive internally are taped in the second drive bay. I only wish it would support a pair of dual core processors. Probably would not work but I should just try sticking a pair in.... I just dont happen to have a pair of dual core opterons laying around so for now thats out.
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Rather than looking at IBMs docs, you should look at the VMWare docs about ESX. We DO have a full compatibility grid, after all :)
 
i got one with 2GB ram off ebay for $135 + $45 shipping so $180 shipped, i will post a plethora of screenshots and all the info i can once i get it, might be about a week or so.
 
MixManSC said:
Maybe this thread should get moved to the discussion part.... anyhow I got mine in this morning. Looks nice - I've not yet had a chance to plug it in or anything. The specific model is 8835-Y11. The IBM Support page for it is http://www-304.ibm.com/jct01004c/systems/support/supportsite.wss/selectproduct?familyind=5151170&typeind=5151232&modelind=5166413&osind=0&brandind=5000008&oldfamily=5151170&taskind=2&continue.x=48&continue.y=13

Also IBM does have a doc specifically about setting this machine up as a VMWare ESX Server at the link above on the Install/Use tab. I did open the cover on it and yes it does have onboard SCSI - you would just need a SCSI cable and 2 68 pin SCSI drives to switch it to pure SCSI. It does not allow for hot plug drives and I dont see how you could fit an adaptor on the end of a drive so 80 pin SCA drives are not going to work. The ram it came with is 2 dimms and there are 4 more dimm slots open plus two PCI-X slots. It could be converted to use SCA drives but you would need the little backplane board and a new front bezel. On the plus side the rails for installing a second hard drive internally are taped in the second drive bay. I only wish it would support a pair of dual core processors. Probably would not work but I should just try sticking a pair in.... I just dont happen to have a pair of dual core opterons laying around so for now thats out.
Click to expand...

the scsi is suppose to support hot swap?
 
MixManSC said:
Maybe this thread should get moved to the discussion part.... anyhow I got mine in this morning. Looks nice - I've not yet had a chance to plug it in or anything. The specific model is 8835-Y11. The IBM Support page for it is http://www-304.ibm.com/jct01004c/systems/support/supportsite.wss/selectproduct?familyind=5151170&typeind=5151232&modelind=5166413&osind=0&brandind=5000008&oldfamily=5151170&taskind=2&continue.x=48&continue.y=13

Also IBM does have a doc specifically about setting this machine up as a VMWare ESX Server at the link above on the Install/Use tab. I did open the cover on it and yes it does have onboard SCSI - you would just need a SCSI cable and 2 68 pin SCSI drives to switch it to pure SCSI. It does not allow for hot plug drives and I dont see how you could fit an adaptor on the end of a drive so 80 pin SCA drives are not going to work. The ram it came with is 2 dimms and there are 4 more dimm slots open plus two PCI-X slots. It could be converted to use SCA drives but you would need the little backplane board and a new front bezel. On the plus side the rails for installing a second hard drive internally are taped in the second drive bay. I only wish it would support a pair of dual core processors. Probably would not work but I should just try sticking a pair in.... I just dont happen to have a pair of dual core opterons laying around so for now thats out.
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does anyone know where i could get some really cheap scsi drives or what kind i should look for on ebay or elsewhere, i have never worked with scsi drives before.
 
AMD_Gamer said:
does anyone know where i could get some really cheap scsi drives or what kind i should look for on ebay or elsewhere, i have never worked with scsi drives before.
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just match the controller type to the drive. Cheap and SCSI don't really equate a whole log, unless you're going very small.
 
ChrisJohnson00TA said:
You guys have balls (or are deaf) if you are running 1U servers in your house.

I tried with a PE1850 and 2 HP 360 G5's.... couldn't do it.
Click to expand...

I have 2 1u's, and Intel 510T, and a SM-8800 all in my office.

And in the end i still have things come through here that make more noise.
 
Hot swap is for 80 pin SCA drives - mine does not support that as it came. You would need to get a SCSI backplane, a new front bezel, and drive sleds to use how swap drives on this. All of which are very specifc parts that are made just for a 1U IBM server and possibly specific to this model - so hot swap SCSI will be hard to do. To answer your question - yes SCSI supports hot swap, but that in itself does not mean a machine with SCSI is ready for it. Your best option for this machine will be to get a 3 ended 68 pin SCSI cable with a terminator on it. Then get 2 68 pin SCSI hard drives - U320 drives would be ideal if you are after maximizing the speed but most any 68 pin single ended 3.5" SCSI drives should work fine in it.

A rounded cable like this one is ideal but you dont really have much space for trying to coil up a 6 foot cable in a 1U server. http://cgi.ebay.com/SCSI-ULTRA-320-...ryZ39969QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem You could probably get away with a flat cable but you will most likely need to do some neat origami to the cable to keep things tidy with any sort of airflow. You might also be able to carefully use a razor and cut a couple of extra ends off of a longer cable.
 
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How hard would it be to put a pair of sata drives in the hot swap bays, not after hot swap, just want to maximize its storage:D
 
MixManSC said:
Hot swap is for 80 pin SCA drives - mine does not support that as it came. You would need to get a SCSI backplane, a new front bezel, and drive sleds to use how swap drives on this. All of which are very specifc parts that are made just for a 1U IBM server and possibly specific to this model - so hot swap SCSI will be hard to do. To answer your question - yes SCSI supports hot swap, but that in itself does not mean a machine with SCSI is ready for it. Your best option for this machine will be to get a 3 ended 68 pin SCSI cable with a terminator on it. Then get 2 68 pin SCSI hard drives - U320 drives would be ideal if you are after maximizing the speed but most any 68 pin single ended 3.5" SCSI drives should work fine in it.

A rounded cable like this one is ideal but you dont really have much space for trying to coil up a 6 foot cable in a 1U server. http://cgi.ebay.com/SCSI-ULTRA-320-...ryZ39969QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem You could probably get away with a flat cable but you will most likely need to do some neat origami to the cable to keep things tidy with any sort of airflow. You might also be able to carefully use a razor and cut a couple of extra ends off of a longer cable.
Click to expand...

but the scsi drives go in the hotswap drive bays right? and ide drive has a place inside?
 
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I got one of these last week for $108 plus 45 shipping. It has 2 hd bays in the front, both ide. Has 2 pci-x slots and uses usb (1.1) for keyboard and mouse (has 2 usb in back and 2 in front). Hot swap? Not these, at least not for me, you have to remove front plate and also open top up to install / remove drives. Came with 1 120 gig drive but I put 2 160's in for storage. Have it down in the garage now as it is a little loud HaHa Reminds me of when I use to overclock AMD's in the early 2000's with those little hight speed hsf's.

Hey, it's got 2 Opty's and plenty of RAM now (4 gigs presently) so for my needs it works perfectly. Now to teach wife how to transfer music and files to it.

For the price I paid it is worth it to me.
 
AMD_Gamer said:
but the scsi drives go in the hotswap drive bays right? and ide drive has a place inside?
Click to expand...

It has 2 hard drive bays - hot swap or IDE but to convert to hotswap you need what I posted above and it's one or the other. The IDE drive is not in a 3rd location.

sc0tty8 said:
How hard would it be to put a pair of sata drives in the hot swap bays, not after hot swap, just want to maximize its storage:D
Click to expand...

A 3.5" hard drive is a 3.5" hard drive so yeah it will physically mount in there just fine. However this machine has no SATA connections for power or data so you would need to use power connector adapters and install a PCI SATA controller in one of the PCI-X slots.
 
Has anyone tried putting a pci video card in to improve the video? I see in the BIOS something about the video but don't want to make any changes until I know I can get back in and correct anything that might not work.
 
RonB said:
Has anyone tried putting a pci video card in to improve the video? I see in the BIOS something about the video but don't want to make any changes until I know I can get back in and correct anything that might not work.
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you wold need a PCI-X video card do they have those? and if you messed something up why not just reset bios?
 
I saw an option for disabling EEC, could one disable it, and use non-eec ram to save some $$$?
 
the pci slots are backward compatible. I've got a 5 port USB 2.0 card in one slot and I did have a sound blaster in the other but I went usb for the sound freeing up the one slot. I have a pci 128 video card and checked out the bios, only thing I found about video was video agp abled/disable. Guess I'll give it a try later and just be prepared to reset bios if need be.

Thanks
 
i got mine in today it looks brand new no dust or anything i am going to be doing some testing and installing stuff on it tomorrow i will do a full review of it here pretty soon.

i see how you would not be able to do the scsi hotswap but it looks like you can get some kind of special card you can put it so it has a stable connector, im not really sure what this is called, so instead of connecting it right to the scsi cable you push it against a connector on a board and the cable is connected to the other side of it? i dont see anything about it on the ibm web site?
 
That would be called the SCA backplane - on the inside of the case it will have a power connector, SCSI connector, and probably a smaller monitoring cable. On the drive side two SCA connectors. Card will probably be an inch and a half tall x 6 to 8 inches long. You would also need a different bezel for the right front.

The options installation guide shows the hot swap parts ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/systems/support/system_x_pdf/88p9311.pdf

This page shows the parts you would need to find to convert it to hot swap. Specifically

The backplane - IBM Part # 32P1932
The Front Bezel - # 74P4949

then of course drives on original IBM SCA drive sleds.

A quick peek on eBay found one seller with everything you need but the drives and sleds. http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-32P1932-SCS...ryZ56095QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

for $46.50 shipped - not too bad and it even includes the correct cables you would need. Just search the part number on eBay. Then find the SCA SCSI drives with sleds or find drives without and find bare sleds.
 
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Anything extra needed to mount these into a standard 19" round holed rack? Drive rails on the sides wouldn't really need, just would need to mount it up the rack.
 
MixManSC said:
That would be called the SCA backplane - on the inside of the case it will have a power connector, SCSI connector, and probably a smaller monitoring cable. On the drive side two SCA connectors. Card will probably be an inch and a half tall x 6 to 8 inches long. You would also need a different bezel for the right front.

The options installation guide shows the hot swap parts ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/systems/support/system_x_pdf/88p9311.pdf

This page shows the parts you would need to find to convert it to hot swap. Specifically

The backplane - IBM Part # 32P1932
The Front Bezel - # 74P4949

then of course drives on original IBM SCA drive sleds.

A quick peek on eBay found one seller with everything you need but the drives and sleds. http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-32P1932-SCS...ryZ56095QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

for $46.50 shipped - not too bad and it even includes the correct cables you would need. Just search the part number on eBay. Then find the SCA SCSI drives with sleds or find drives without and find bare sleds.
Click to expand...

thanks that is exactly what i was looking for new, i new it was something like that, i have that pdf and the other guides for the eserver 325 i just overlooked it because it does not mention it other than in that diagram in the first few pages.

i would also need those drive sleds :(
 
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Anyone else have one of these servers that randomly powers off? Before I put mine down in the rafters, it worked fine, then, it started power down on its own:confused: I am running it with windows home server with the drive and ram out of the box.
 
Hmmm.... mines has been running 24x7 for a week now at 100% load. I'd double check that none of the internal fans have not gotten disconnected and maybe double check the cpu heatsinks. Sounds like it's overheating.
 
Can anyone tell me how loud these are? In comparison to say a Zalman 9700 at full speed? or anything else? I just bought one from eBay for 160.00 with 2 gig ram. Also are these things really long?

P.S.
Please post some pics. 4 pages and no pics?
 
sderden said:
Can anyone tell me how loud these are? In comparison to say a Zalman 9700 at full speed? or anything else? I just bought one from eBay for 160.00 with 2 gig ram. Also are these things really long?

P.S.
Please post some pics. 4 pages and no pics?
Click to expand...


yes they are that long.... its a frikken 1U Server designed to be in a server rack in a server room... they got length babay......

loud usually depends on how hot it is.... these things can SCREAM when they are trying to cool themselves down
 
I havent been on HF in probably 3 years but this thread caught my eye.
Anyone notice that they are back in stock but the shipping is a bit higher and the 10% of coupons (both) no longer work :(
After thinking about my needs for such a server i decided to hit ebay.
 
What's the ebayer's id? Hey what kind of Opterons are these again? Can someone link me to specs or reviews? Thanks.
 
Yeah, I got the eServer 325 also, picked up 4 gigs of RAM here at Hardocp and then installed a 5 port usb 2.0 card and a pci video card. Also using a usb Creative Labs sound card. Not too bad of a deal. Is a bit louder than I'd like, but I plan on moving it down into my garage and using it for data/music/video storage. I pulled the 120 gig H/D and installed 2 160 gig drives.

Like the idea of dual Opterons. Using Windows XP Home on it myself. I paid $108.00 plus the $45.00 shipping.
 
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