Buying a Cheap Play-Around server
In my quest to learn more about HPC systems, I quickly realized I need a server that is ipmi compatible. Why? A large majority of handling HPC systems is their administration. I don’t have any large simulations, or research to run, so the requirements of my server is kind of unique.
For my purposes, here’s what I need:
- IPMI, for remote access, power managements and some out of band sensors
- Minimal CPU power, as running heavly jobs isn’t really the purpose of this machine
- 8Gb RAM for Pxe booting
- No Hard drives required, although I might want them later
- Cheap, it can be old, it can be used, it just has to work
Finding a server
So where do you start? How to find that perfect, cheap, server? I started my search on google, and quickly found Server Monkey, a seller of refurbished servers. This is a great way to get a cheap, garenteed to work server. You can get a pretty decient setup there for about $100.
However, you can go even cheaper. Look through Server Monkey, find what they sell for cheap, then head over to Ebay. You’ll often find various configurations of these servers on e-bay for (sometimes) a fraction of the cost.
What I got, what I paid
After looking around Server Monkey I found that the Dell PowerEdge 2950 was cheap and IPMI compliant. With a little E-bay searching I found a seller willing to sell me one for $40+$21.99 shipping. The shipping prices are steep for these servers. Because the seller was local, I was able to get them to drop the shipping charges and allow me to pick it up locally. Here’s the specs:
- Dell PowerEdge 2950
- Dual Xeon 5160 3.0Ghz
- 16GB Ram
- 6x 3.5” 300GB SAS (at 15k)
- PERC5i Raid controller
- 1 PSU (The box has room for two)
The Dell PowerEdge 2950 is old, its not a powerhouse either, but it checks all the boxes for requirements I need.