Anyone try this server? IBM-7158-x3630-M4

[dturner71.dt]

Anyone have any luck with IBM servers?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/123084381187

This IBM X3630 M4 comes with 2 x E5-2450 processors and 64GB (8x 8GB) of RAM.

Specifications
Manufacturer : IBM
Model : X3630 M4
Processor Type : Xeon E5-2450
Speed : 2.10GHz Processor(s)
Processors Installed : 2
Installed Ram 64GB (8x 8GB)
Maximum Ram 384GB
Number of Memory Slots 12
M5110 1GB Raid Card ( Raid level 0,1,10, 5, 6)
Hard Drive Trays 8 Drive Bays 8 x 3.5"
Power Supply 550W Hot-Swap
Form Factor 2U Rackmountable
Rack rails included
Operating System N/A
Software Software Media or Licenses Not Included

Thanks.

 

[MatthewSteinhoff]

That seems more than fair for $300.

It looks like the M5110 card is RAID only and not optimal for ZFS. You'll need to buy an HBA ($100, give or take) and you can resell the M5110.

You're way over-powered for FreeNAS given dual 2450s. If you're going to run a lot of VMs and applications on the server, maybe you need that extra horsepower?

Otherwise, seems suitable.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Inxsible]

That's a great system to have and for the price too. All you need to do is get a decent HBA and replace the RAID card as @MatthewSteinhoff mentioned. You can get a Dell H310 and you don't even have to pay $100. 1 card would be able to handle all 8 of your drive-bays in the server and you can use the onboard SATA for a decent SSD for the boot-pool.

Here's one for $35 but it does not mention whether it's flashed to IT mode or not. But that is trivial to do. : https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Perc-...530463&hash=item3b0773c82e:g:wH4AAOSwytJZ8MIR

Another one for $59.55 -- this one's already flashed to IT mode P20 if you have qualms about flashing : https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-H310-...955695&hash=item25e9b3e610:g:nrcAAOSwPAxZ9iOt

 

[Chris Moore]

I am a bit late on this but my favorite SAS HBA right now is this one because it is PCIe 3.0:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-H220-6G...0-IT-Mode-for-ZFS-FreeNAS-unRAID/162862201664

The ones that @Inxsible pointed out would do the job also and are essentially the same as each other except that the first one is not stated to be flashed to the IT mode firmware and that is a multi-step pain to do. I just did three cards over the weekend and have another to do when I get some spare time. I like the idea of buying them already flashed if you can, but it is documented here if you want to do the flashing yourself:

Detailed newcomers' guide to crossflashing LSI 9211 HBA and variants
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...o-crossflashing-lsi-9211-hba-and-variants.54/

 

[Chris Moore]

Manufacturer : IBM
Model : X3630 M4
Processor Type : Xeon E5-2450
Speed : 2.10GHz Processor(s)

You might want to check if that server is able to use the E5 v2 processors because you can get those pretty cheap if you wanted a little speed upgrade, which would be nice.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon...-s-Hex-Core-Server-CPU-Processor/382393160646

It doesn't sound like much but going from 2.1 GHz to 2.6 GHz makes a noticeable improvement in the responsiveness. I guess it is subjective, but that is how it felt to me.
My bad. This isn't a possibility with this system board.

 

[MatthewSteinhoff]

You might want to check if that server is able to use the E5 v2 processors

The Xeon E5-23450 uses the FCLGA1356 socket while the Xeon E5-2630 v2 is FCLGA2011. I'd be surprised if the server could use the 2630. In any case, the Passmark difference is 10186 versus 10391 so I'm not sure how much real-world speed difference you're going to see. There's a 15-watt per CPU power savings going with the 2630 but the CPU cache is smaller (15 vs 20).

All things considered, if one of those CPU's meet your needs, either will work. No need to move from one to another.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Chris Moore]

The Xeon E5-23450 uses the FCLGA1356 socket while the Xeon E5-2630 v2 is FCLGA2011. I'd be surprised if the server could use the 2630. In any case, the Passmark difference is 10186 versus 10391 so I'm not sure how much real-world speed difference you're going to see. There's a 15-watt per CPU power savings going with the 2630 but the CPU cache is smaller 15 vs 20.

All things considered, if one of those will work, either will work.

Cheers,
Matt

Obviously I didn't look up the Xeon E5-2450. No, two different sockets, my suggestion is definitely isn't an option.
Actually, I did, I just didn't pay attention to the socket type.

Thanks for the info.