Compaq Proliant 2500 Server - General Queries Options

[MadTiger]

Hi all...


I've been given an old Compaq ProLiant 2500 server with several drives/spare etc. I've been told that it should all work when powered up!

I've brought the server home, and basically taken it all to bits to give it a good clean.

Now, I'm totally new to servers such as this, although I'm fairly experienced with 'normal' desktops etc. Therefore, alot of the 'wide ultra-scsi' and hop-pluggable devices are alien to me... so far!

Anyway, here's my query:

I have just converted an old desktop tower into a NAS device running XP, which I can access via Remote Desktop Connection from my office PC (Athlon XP 3000+ Socket A, 1Gb RAM, Win XP Pro).

The converted 'NAS' tower (mentioned above) will ultimately provide access to all my shared media, as well as being used as a basic print server. It will allow access from 2x desktop PCs, 2x laptops, an original XBOX (XBMC incorporated), and maybe a PS2 (when I get round to it!).

Would/could this Compaq ProLiant contraption likely help me in anyway with the correct setup or whatever?

Alternatively, if the answer to the above question is 'No', then what else could it be used for? Any ideas?!


Cheers.

MT

[Steve R Jones]

Which of the two is the better machines are far as the specs go?

[MadTiger]

Hi Steve.

As far as I've researched, the ProLiant monster has 2x200Mhz Socket8 CPU's, and can host a whole load of fancy SCSI / hot-pluggable / gigantic-sized fans, along with slidey-in servery-type components.

Taken from a users manual I found on the net ( http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/s...1/c01129991.pdf ), I found the following:

Standard Features
The following features are standard on Compaq ProLiant 2500 models, unless
otherwise noted:
Server Models with Compaq Processor Board
and Intel Pentium Pro Processor
o Standard with one 200-MHz Intel Pentium Pro Processor and integrated
256-KB Level 2 Cache
o Support for two 200-MHz Intel Pentium Pro Processors
o Upgradable to future Intel processors and OverDrive processors
Pentium Pro Processor System Memory
o Error Checking and Correcting Memory uses an encoding scheme for
memory error detection and correction. Specifically, this feature detects
and corrects for single-bit memory errors.
o 32-MB, EDO-buffered, 64-bit system memory expandable to 1 GB
o Supports 60-ns or faster EDO- or FASTPAGE-buffered, 32-, 64-, 128-,
or 256-MB, 4-K refreshed DIMMs.
Expansion Slots
o Six expansion slots: two dedicated PCI slots and four shared
PCI/EISA slots
o The Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus provides an
open 32-bit extension to support 32-bit EISA expansion boards,
including full compatibility with Industry Standard Architecture (ISA)
expansion boards.
o The PCI bus provides peripheral transactions at a system clock speed of
up to 33 MHz.

Disk Controller
o Integrated Wide-Ultra SCSI Controller on the PCI local bus. Controller
provides high-performance options for up to five devices without using
an expansion slot. This controller performs at a maximum data transfer
rate of 40 megabytes per second (MB/s).
o Optional controller board available for controller duplexing or
expanding storage capacity beyond five drives.
o For information concerning the SCSI hard drive installation, refer to
the Systems Reference Library CD included in the Reference
Information pack.
Network Controller
o Integrated 10/100 TX UTP controller on the PCI local bus. Features of
the controller include the RJ-45 connector for 10BaseT or 100TX
Ethernet and the AUI connector for 10Base2 Ethernet.
o For information concerning the integrated network controller, refer to
the Systems Reference Library CD included in the Reference
Information pack.
Mass Storage for Hot-Pluggable Models
o Maximum of nine drive bays (four non-hot pluggable in removable
media drive area and five hot-pluggable in drive cage)
o One-third height dedicated removable media drive bay occupied by
1.44 MB diskette drive
o One-third height removable media drive bay occupied by IDE
CD-ROM drive
o Two half-height vacant 5.25” removable media drive bays
o Supports two hot-pluggable drive configurations in the front drive
cage, five 1” hot-pluggable drives or two 1.6” and one 1” hotpluggable
drives

Mass Storage for Non-Hot-Pluggable Models
n Maximum of eight non-hot-pluggable drive bays (four in removable
media drive area and four in drive cage)
o One-third height dedicated removable media drive bay occupied by
1.44 MB diskette drive
o One-third height removable media drive bay occupied by IDE
CD-ROM drive
o Two half-height vacant 5.25” removable media drive bays
o Supports up to four 1.6” non-hot-pluggable drives in the front
drive cage
Standard Interfaces
> Wide-Ultra SCSI
> Serial (2)
> Video
> Parallel
> Keyboard
> Mouse
> Ethernet - 10BaseT or 100TX (RJ-45) and 10Base2 (AUI)
Video
> Integrated Video Controller provides maximum resolution of
1024 x 768 non-interlaced resolution.
> 16 to 256 colors, depending on graphics mode
> Supports SVGA, VGA, and EGA graphics resolution

The current NAS which I have built, is basically a desktop tower, which houses upto 9x HDDs (IDE/SATA), and has the following basic features:

> AMD Duron 900 CPU
> Standalone configuration (doesnt need keyboard/mouse/display) - operates via Remote Desktop if required.
> Windows XP Pro OS
> Onboard LAN (10/100) via AsRock K6### motherboard.


***

I think the desktop system is way more powerful, but the ProLiant 'looks the part' and would be quite 'retro-cool' to make use of a purpose-built server. However, I think I'm going to get told it's not worth the trouble and that it is no good anywhere aprt from in the trash! However, like I mentioned in the first post, if there any other possible uses for the ProLiant, please fire them at me!


Thanks again for your time.

MT