Selling &/or using used server's. What would you suggest?

[tankman1989]

I apologize if some of these questions are obvious but I don't have a lot of experience with true rackmount servers - a lot of the servers I've worked on have been upgraded workstations or even laptops converted. So...

I came across a great deal yesterday and bought 5 Dell PowerEdge 1950's and 1 2950. These look like they were never used and just came out of the box. They were administered/maintained meticulously so I feel very confident in them.

My original idea was to buy them, clean them up, verify hardware install/setup OS and resell them but I started thinking of other ways to use them and I was wondering if anyone had any other idea for them. The 1950's are 1U and the 2950 is 2U for a total of 7U.

I would think if I was to start offering online services (locate servers at local ISP that offers colocation space) these machines would be a decent start until I have enough customers to justify upgrading to newer hardware. To me, these servers seem pretty decent and are a good start but I'm curious as to the power consumption and wonder if this is part of the reason these machines were sold. Would I be able to replace these servers with one newer server running VM's and use much less energy?

So here were some ideas I had
-Sell them to business that would benefit from a true server like restaurants, insurance offices, doctors offices, etc. Places that have server based software.

Use them for my business to offer:
-Online Backup
-Web hosting, FTP
-Proxy server hosting
-VPN hosting
-Email Hosting
-VoIP server
-Anything else?

-Instead of selling these I would rather lease them to a business for a reasonable price as long as they buy a service contract to accompany them.

The following are the specs from Dell's website. All machines have 16GB ram and SAS drives (2 73GB 15krpm in the 1950's and 6 146GB 15krpm in the 2950), All have 4 channels of 1G Fiber connections on a PCIex4 card as well as 4 (2 on-board, 2 on add-on card) 1Gbps RJ45 connections - the 1950's have a dual core 3Ghz cpu and th3 2950 has 2 dual core 2.66Ghz cpu.

I have 5 1950's with specs:
1 Intel® Xeon® Processor 5160 (4M Cache, 3.00 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB)
16GB Dual In-line Memory Module, 2G 667M, 256X72, 8, 240, 2RX4
9W657 8 Dual In-line Memory Module, 2G 667M, 256X72, 8, 240, 2RX4
WJ560 1 Processor, 80556K, Xeon Woodcrest, 5160, LGA771, Burn 1
WJ560 1 Processor, 80556K, Xeon Woodcrest, 5160, LGA771, Burn 2
H8799 2 Hard Drive, 73G, Serial AttachedScsi, 3, 15K, 3.5, FJT, AL9LX
RP272 1 Assembly, Card, PERC5I, Serial Attached Scsi, 1950, 2950
D9761 2 Power Supply, 670W, Redundant ASTEC
X3959 1 Card, Network, PERIPHERAL COMPONENT INTERCONNECT EXPRESS ..., COPPER, DUAL PORT
G8593 1 Printed Wiring Assy Controller, DRAC5, PE
JJ379 1 Kit, Cable, Dell Remote Assistant Card, P29/1950
0R215 1 Cord, Power, 15A, 125V, 10, 5-15/C13
DF976 1 Card, Controller, Factory InstalFC4, QLE2462, Qlogic
FG027 1 Card, Backplane, Key, TOE, 2PORT Enterprise Systems Group
PD438 1 Assembly, COMPACT DISK READ WRITE/DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE COMBO..., 650M Hitachi LG Data Storage, Black

Poweredge 2950

Parts Number Quantity Description
XM459 2 Processor, 80563K, Xeon Clovertown, X5355, LGA771, Burn3
UW729 8 Dual In-line Memory Module, 2G 533M, 256X72, 8, 240, 2RX4
M8034 6 HARD DRIVE..., 146G, SERIAL ATTACHED SCSI..., 03, 15K, 8, FJT, AL9LX
X3959 2 Card, Network, PERIPHERAL COMPONENT INTERCONNECT EXPRESS ..., COPPER, DUAL PORT
JX399 2 POWER SUPPLY..., 750W, REDUNDANT..., ARTESYN
FG027 1 Card, Backplane, Key, TOE, 2PORT Enterprise Systems Group
G8593 1 Printed Wiring Assy Controller, DRAC5, PE
JJ379 1 Kit, Cable, Dell Remote Assistant Card, P29/1950
DF976 1 Card, Controller, Factory InstalFC4, QLE2462, Qlogic
UD458 1 Assembly, Compact Disk Drive 24X, 12.7MM, Teac, Black
UT564 1 Kit, Rack Rail, Rapid/versa Rail, 2U, Slide, P2950, V2


Any ideas for what these could do or handle would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

 

[Paul Rodgers]

You could donate one to me

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Did they come with rails?
Their general purpose can be found on Dells website...what they're primarily designed for. Certainly you can run nearly anything on them...but the key is if they'll have the capacity for the purpose you hope to put them in. Example...a 1U server with a pair of drives may be fine for an e-mail server for a small company, but not for a large company. Because of limited disk arrangement, expansion, RAID setup, etc.

Do they still have any warranty left? (they may have been purchased with an additional warranty..check Dells site via the service tag). I'd not put these into service at a clients without warranty left. A server is the most important device on a business network...it should be under warranty.

 

[tankman1989]

Did they come with rails?
Their general purpose can be found on Dells website...what they're primarily designed for. Certainly you can run nearly anything on them...but the key is if they'll have the capacity for the purpose you hope to put them in. Example...a 1U server with a pair of drives may be fine for an e-mail server for a small company, but not for a large company. Because of limited disk arrangement, expansion, RAID setup, etc.

Do they still have any warranty left? (they may have been purchased with an additional warranty..check Dells site via the service tag). I'd not put these into service at a clients without warranty left. A server is the most important device on a business network...it should be under warranty.

Yes, they have very nice new rails, never used I think as they used what was already there.

There is no warranty for the servers but as I said before they are in factory new condition, not a speck of dust, lint or dirt anywhere inside or outside the machine.

As for the warranty my opinion is that these machines have a redundancy at every level. Should we run into a catastrophic situation I can always swap it out with one of my spares which I am saving for this purpose.

 

[edtech]

I'm running a pair of 2950's now as VMWare hosts with no issues. Sure you could get a new R710 and use less power but the 2950 runs just fine as a virtual server.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Yes, they have very nice new rails, never used I think as they used what was already there.

There is no warranty for the servers but as I said before they are in factory new condition, not a speck of dust, lint or dirt anywhere inside or outside the machine.

As for the warranty my opinion is that these machines have a redundancy at every level. Should we run into a catastrophic situation I can always swap it out with one of my spares which I am saving for this purpose.

My point for the warranty isn't so much for the cost of replacing hardware. If a hard drive blows up...no biggie, warranty or not you can quickly get a replacement drive and slap it in there. But the important thing about the warranty is support...when something BIG happens. You're having big issues with the RAID controller, or there's something causing major issues like sudden reboots several times a week...stuff like that. You...as the IT guy that sold/installed/supports these servers, want to have FAST access to "the fix" if something goes wrong with these servers which are in production for your clients. These are "servers"...one of the most ..no...THE most important part of your clients network. When something goes wrong, they will be hanging over your shoulder anxiously until it's fixed. Having support on the servers nearly guarantees that they will be back up and running quickly.