Is the Cisco C240-M3 worth it?

Cisco C240-M3 a good RELIABLE server at the current pricing (Feb 2019)?


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zane

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Aug 22, 2013
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I would like to hear your opinion, is the Cisco C240-M3 24 bay worth the used/refurbished price point (2-2.5k)and are they reliable? The purpose of this machine would be to have a reliable 2U hypervisor that has storage flexibility. I would expect 2x Xeons 10c and 192+gb mem sound about right at this price point (not including disks or maybe a couple few)?

Ive been using the c6100's for almost 5 yrs and the lack of storage flexibility and blade reliability are my biggest problem that keep me going back to the datacenter replacing blades due to MB failures. I replace almost 2 blades per year on a single c6100.
 

jmck

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Apr 4, 2013
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I have 4 C240 M3S's and have had very good luck with them. In my first 6 months with a C6100, I had a blade die and about 1 a year after that. So far I haven't had a C240 go bad yet and I've been running a few for going on 2 years.

I picked another one up a while ago from the seller linked below. It came packaged very well and even had a bit of extra memory and a 2nd SD card in it.

You could probably put together a M3S with dual 2670v2's, 192GB and 24x 600GB spinners for under your price point. Would need to get lucky on the disks but doable. Keep an eye out for 2.5" drives in the Lenovo caddies. I just caught some brand new 600GB's for $15/each and resold the caddies quickly for $10/each.

Cisco UCSC-C240-M3S C240 server, 2x E5-2609, 32GB, 16G SD, Dual Power | eBay
 
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zane

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Aug 22, 2013
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@jmck thanks, I cant find a model comparison sheet for the M3. What is the difference between the M3 and M3S? Also do you have an old ebay purchase link or what type of Lenovo caddies I should look for or is it just any of them in general?

Edit: So Im guessing the "S" is small form factor for the 2.5 in drives. :rolleyes:
 
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WANg

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Jun 10, 2018
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@jmck thanks, I cant find a model comparison sheet for the M3. What is the difference between the M3 and M3S? Also do you have an old ebay purchase link or what type of Lenovo caddies I should look for and are the caddies by any chance compatible with the M3S?

Edit: So Im guessing the "S" is for the 2.5 in drives.
No. The standard M3 (aka M3S2) is a 16 bay server without the SAS expander. The M3S is a 24 bay server with an SAS expander (page 26 of the manual). So if you have 24 drives you are already on an M3S.