Completely off topic, but I've noticed a couple threads in here with people
talking about hobbyist uses of Sun servers and other gear, so I figured I'd
give folks a crack at it before I send it off to the recycler. I have a
fairly good sized collection of Sun servers and other hardware at work that
needs to go. Nobody has the time or desire to bother selling it, so it'll
just go to a local recycler unless someone wants some of it. I don't mind
shipping it, but you'd have to pay for the shipping, which could be pretty
pricey since most of the gear is fairly heavy. It's all located in the
Pasadena, California area and you could come by and pick it up during normal
business hours if you wanted it.

What I've got are a few Sun E450s, an E250, a pair of Ultra2 workstations,
an Ultra10 workstation, a few generic SCSI disk racks, and several SENA
storage arrays (some are A5200s, some are just generic SENAs). I also have
plenty of SCSI and FC disks for the arrays, and I'm pretty sure I have an
SBUS FC-AL card or two back there as well. Plus plenty of fiber cables in
various lengths, so if you're really itching to put together a big ZFS disk
array to play with, now's your chance. Be warned, though, as some of the
gear is pretty well abused. It should all be functional, and I'll happily
test and verify functionality before letting it go, but cosmetically some
of them are pretty awful.

If you're interested, feel free to post a followup here in the group, or send
an e-mail to bryan at aernovo dot com. I can, to a limited extent, even
deliver the stuff someplace but I'd probably need some convincing. Depends
on the location.

I often have PCs and other assorted cables and junk, so if you're into
scrounging up hardware for some reason, just say so.

The Hurdy Gurdy Man wrote:


I often have PCs and other assorted cables and junk, so if you're into
scrounging up hardware for some reason, just say so.


I haven't seen any posts from him for a while but there was a guy
here that fixed old computers and gave them to veterans.

He could probably use all the PC parts, especially IDE drives and
memory, that you care to ship.

I think I have his email addy, I'll try to contact him.


technomaNge
--
Obama: Half white. Half black. All red.

On 2009-03-31, The Hurdy Gurdy Man wrote:

Completely off topic, but I've noticed a couple threads in here with people
talking about hobbyist uses of Sun servers and other gear, so I figured I'd
give folks a crack at it before I send it off to the recycler. I have a

[ ... ]

I'll answer here because my newsreader runs on a system not
authorized for e-mail sending, so copying to where I could send it as
e-mail is a bit more trouble than I really want to go do here. If
you're reading on a newsreader which is on a mail-capable system, and
feel that you need to reply privately, my e-mail above is valid.

pricey since most of the gear is fairly heavy. It's all located in the
Pasadena, California area and you could come by and pick it up during normal
business hours if you wanted it.

Hmm ... a bit far from the East Coast. Me dropping by is not
likely an option.

What I've got are a few Sun E450s, an E250, a pair of Ultra2 workstations,
an Ultra10 workstation,

Hmm ... I've already retired Ultra-2s and Ultra-60s. The E450
and E250 are probably a bit big for my use. I'm using a Sun Fire 280R
as my main file server.

a few generic SCSI disk racks, and several SENA
storage arrays (some are A5200s, some are just generic SENAs). I also have
plenty of SCSI and FC disks for the arrays,

Hmm ... are the A5200s FC-AL in both the drives and the
interface to the computer? They are a bit newer than anything I had
access to while I was working.

How big are the FC-AL drives? I'm currently using a mix of 36
GB, 72 GB, and 146 GB ones. If they are 72 GB or 146 GB, I could be
interested in the drives, even perhaps without the arrays.

O.K. Looking at the FEH pages for the 5200, it could have come
with as large as 73 GB drives, which would be large enough to be serious
temptation.

And if not -- just the 5200 would be lighter to ship. I can
pick up FC-AL drives locally from time to time. (I lucked into a batch
of 15 of the 73 GB ones at a hamfest last summer -- even though they had
been formatted in a DELL RAID system, and had weird sector sizes which
made it more difficult to format it all -- but they all formatted.

and I'm pretty sure I have an
SBUS FC-AL card or two back there as well.

No need there for me, at least. Both the SB-2000s and the
SF-280R have their own built-in FC-AL interface.

Plus plenty of fiber cables in
various lengths, so if you're really itching to put together a big ZFS disk
array to play with, now's your chance.

Running three "raidz2" ZFS arrays at present -- two with 72 GB
drives, one with 36 GB drives, which I would like to expand to larger
drives. But I think that the A5200 might be a little less heat and
sound level than what I am current running -- some EuroLogic rack-mount
arrays.

Be warned, though, as some of the
gear is pretty well abused. It should all be functional, and I'll happily
test and verify functionality before letting it go, but cosmetically some
of them are pretty awful.

As long as it works -- I don't worry about appearance. :-)

If you're interested, feel free to post a followup here in the group, or send
an e-mail to bryan at aernovo dot com.

Posted here, for the reasons given above, but I'll happily
receive an e-mail reply if it is easy for you to switch over at your
end.

I can, to a limited extent, even
deliver the stuff someplace but I'd probably need some convincing. Depends
on the location.

Washington DC area? :-) (Probably not.)

I often have PCs and other assorted cables and junk, so if you're into
scrounging up hardware for some reason, just say so.

Mostly Sun stuff -- but newer than the Ultra-2s these days. I
do run a couple of Ultra-10s as web servers, with OpenBSD as the OS.
Solaris 10 on most of the remaining systems, and a firewall on an
Ultra-5 with the same OS. But both my wife and I are using SB-2000s,
and the SF-280r for the server, plus a SB-1000 for experimentation.

So -- e-mail me with the size of the drives, and the costs for
shipping the A5200 both empty and full (depending on the size of the
drives. 73 GB or larger, yes. 36 GB or smaller, just the empty 5200,
perhaps with spuds included. That's where the cost of shipping vs the
capacity vs heat output tradeoff of the drives folds for me at present.

Oh yes -- and a few copper FC-AL cables would be nice.

Thanks,
DoN.

--
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:29:40 GMT, The Hurdy Gurdy Man
wrote:


Where are you located? California????


Completely off topic, but I've noticed a couple threads in here with people
talking about hobbyist uses of Sun servers and other gear, so I figured I'd
give folks a crack at it before I send it off to the recycler. I have a
fairly good sized collection of Sun servers and other hardware at work that
needs to go. Nobody has the time or desire to bother selling it, so it'll
just go to a local recycler unless someone wants some of it. I don't mind
shipping it, but you'd have to pay for the shipping, which could be pretty
pricey since most of the gear is fairly heavy. It's all located in the
Pasadena, California area and you could come by and pick it up during normal
business hours if you wanted it.

What I've got are a few Sun E450s, an E250, a pair of Ultra2 workstations,
an Ultra10 workstation, a few generic SCSI disk racks, and several SENA
storage arrays (some are A5200s, some are just generic SENAs). I also have
plenty of SCSI and FC disks for the arrays, and I'm pretty sure I have an
SBUS FC-AL card or two back there as well. Plus plenty of fiber cables in
various lengths, so if you're really itching to put together a big ZFS disk
array to play with, now's your chance. Be warned, though, as some of the
gear is pretty well abused. It should all be functional, and I'll happily
test and verify functionality before letting it go, but cosmetically some
of them are pretty awful.

If you're interested, feel free to post a followup here in the group, or send
an e-mail to bryan at aernovo dot com. I can, to a limited extent, even
deliver the stuff someplace but I'd probably need some convincing. Depends
on the location.

I often have PCs and other assorted cables and junk, so if you're into
scrounging up hardware for some reason, just say so.



"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner

Gunner Asch wrote:

Where are you located? California????

Yup, just like I said in the original post. Pasadena, California area. I'm
right off the 210.

DoN. Nichols wrote:

I'll answer here because my newsreader runs on a system not
authorized for e-mail sending, so copying to where I could send it as
e-mail is a bit more trouble than I really want to go do here. If
you're reading on a newsreader which is on a mail-capable system, and
feel that you need to reply privately, my e-mail above is valid.

Followups to the newsgroup is fine. E-mail is really only necessary for
exchanging shipping addresses or something like that.

Hmm ... I've already retired Ultra-2s and Ultra-60s. The E450
and E250 are probably a bit big for my use. I'm using a Sun Fire 280R
as my main file server.

The E250 wouldn't be that bad, but if you already have a 280R there's probably
not much use in the E250. More drive bays, maybe, but that's about it. I
have a 420R I'll probably be retiring soon that might be useful (I think it's
fully loaded with CPUs and memory) but I'm not sure exactly when that's going
to go.

Hmm ... are the A5200s FC-AL in both the drives and the
interface to the computer? They are a bit newer than anything I had
access to while I was working.

They're actual Fibre Channel drives, and the array itself is FC-AL out the
back. You can talk to it with either the Sun FC-AL cards or with a
regular FC card on a point-to-point connection, but the array wasn't too
happy about being in a full fabric environment. Once it's attached to the
server, it presents itself as just a bunch of drives addressable by the WWN
of the drive. Basically, it's a Fibre Channel JBOD. But I think you can
chain the arrays together, so you can access a lot of disk without being
in a full fabric environment.

How big are the FC-AL drives? I'm currently using a mix of 36
GB, 72 GB, and 146 GB ones. If they are 72 GB or 146 GB, I could be
interested in the drives, even perhaps without the arrays.

They're small. I've got 9GB, 18GB, and maybe some 36GB. Definitely nothing
in the 72GB or larger range. As far as quantity... I stopped counting when
I got to 65. I know there's a whole box of them back there someplace I didn't
include, so I thought "plenty" was a suitable unit of measure at that point.
But again, the bulk of them are 9GB and 18GB.

Running three "raidz2" ZFS arrays at present -- two with 72 GB
drives, one with 36 GB drives, which I would like to expand to larger
drives. But I think that the A5200 might be a little less heat and
sound level than what I am current running -- some EuroLogic rack-mount
arrays.

I don't know, those A5200s crank out some serious heat. They're quiet,
sure, but heatwise they throw off plenty. Mostly it's the fault of the disks,
though.

As long as it works -- I don't worry about appearance. :-)

I feel the same way about the women I date.

So -- e-mail me with the size of the drives, and the costs for
shipping the A5200 both empty and full (depending on the size of the
drives. 73 GB or larger, yes. 36 GB or smaller, just the empty 5200,
perhaps with spuds included.

I'd be shipping it UPS, I'll have to ask the people who handle shipping if
I can borrow a scale from them. An empty A5200 would still be pretty heavy.
Ours came shipped bolted to a wood pallet, so I can't imagine it being the
sort of thing that will be inexpensive when wrapped in bubble wrap and stuffed
in a box. Still, I'll check with them and see what they say.

(Sorry about not e-mailing this reply, but I figured it might answer some
questions others would have.)

Oh yes -- and a few copper FC-AL cables would be nice.

These are all optical fiber devices with SC connectors on them. No copper,
sorry. I should have at least two cables for each unit, and I know I've got
at least one cable that I think is a 60 meter cable with SC connectors I
don't need. So if nothing else, I suppose you could put the drives on the
other side of the house if the heat and noise were a problem.

On Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:59:14 GMT, The Hurdy Gurdy Man
wrote:

Gunner Asch wrote:

Where are you located? California????

Yup, just like I said in the original post. Pasadena, California area. I'm
right off the 210.


I go by there at least 3 times a week.

805-732-5308...cell anytime

Gunner



"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner

technomaNge wrote:

The Hurdy Gurdy Man wrote:


I often have PCs and other assorted cables and junk, so if you're into
scrounging up hardware for some reason, just say so.

I haven't seen any posts from him for a while but there was a guy
here that fixed old computers and gave them to veterans.

He could probably use all the PC parts, especially IDE drives and
memory, that you care to ship.

I think I have his email addy, I'll try to contact him.


Thank you for the email. I am just getting back online. I lost the
motherboard in my office computer Saturday, and had fun recovering my
newsgroups on this system. This group was caught up, and I see 6316
unread messages, even after Newsproxy deleted over half of the new
messages.


technomaNge
--
Obama: Half white. Half black. All red.


I'm still fixing the computers, but had to cut down on my online
time, due to another problem with VA health care. I was ****ing blood
in December, yet the nurse refused to let me see my doctor and insisted
it had to be kidney stones. It was almost a month later when I was able
to get a ride to the VA hospital, where they told me it was a bladder
infection, and should have been treated at the local clinic.

This is the kind of care you all have to look forward to, with
Obama's health care package.

I am still regaining my strength, but haven't stopped working on
computers. I can always use good hard drives, DIMM, DDR, & DDR2
memory. I think I can get you a receipt for donations from my church,
since the provide me with a tiny office where people can drop things
off. Most people were just happy to be rid of old hardware, till the
economy took a crap.


My church runs a program to buy, rehab and resell houses to low
income families, and the project is scheduled to move into a city owned
building next week, I am promised space for a (free) computer lab to
teach people the basics of computer use & basic repairs under their non
profit corporation.


I've only received three complete computers so far this year. I used
to get two or three every week. I am almost caught up, and have put
some spare monitors 'up for adoption' on the local Freecycle group. (The
group is full of free pets. ;-)

The email address is good, if you can help.

--
And another motherboard bites the dust!

DoN. Nichols wrote:

So -- e-mail me with the size of the drives, and the costs for
shipping the A5200 both empty and full (depending on the size of the
drives.

An empty A5200 weighs 85 pounds, and you can probably tack on another pound
or so per disk. I haven't heard from the shipping people here yet as to
what the actual cost would be, but I'm pretty sure it won't be terribly cheap
since it is such a heavy item. I found an online UPS calculator that gives
an estimate of $156, but I had to scale down the measurements to fit their
restrictions so I'm sure it'll be more expensive than that. If that sounds
like something you're willing to work with, let me know.