[GTALUG] Dell servers for cheap

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Stewart C. Russell via talk <talk at gtalug.org>

| via Seneca:

Thanks.  I always like to hear about this kind of thing.

| == Dell PowerEdge 2950 servers
| 
| - quantity available: 22 units
| - some with 2x dual core processors, others with 1x dual core processor
| - 4GB RAM (8x512MB; only a few have more RAM)
| - some have PERC RAID controllers
| - rack mounting rails included
| - a few fibre channel HBAs may be available 
| - limited quantity of sleds for Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) drives are available
| - specs: https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/2950_specs.pdf

I think that the newest processors that these could have were
discontinued 10 years ago.  And they take a lot of power.  For
example, the Xeon X5365 (pure guess at a best case) takes 150W by
itself.

Beware of noise.  Rackmount servers are best kept in server rooms.

4GiB RAM is a little light these days, especially for servers.  Memory
is FBD (not consumer stuff).  There are no free slots.  Replacement
memory might well be cheap on ebay or kijiji since it is well past its
prime -- I haven't looked.

SAS drives are expensive and there's probably not much to recommend
them for our home labs.  Consider: 73GB SAS drive for $20 vs. a 120G
SATA SSD for $24.99 (current Newegg.ca sale; $4.99 shipping).  I think
that these boxes can only support SATA with an added controller.