cobbling a compute and storage server from a Symatec 5000 with S2600GZ MB

[emanuensis]

i recently got a barebones Symantec 5000 (SYM5000 2U Server Chassis w/ Intel S2600G Dual 2011 Socket Motherboard 2x PSU) just adding 2xE5-2670's and 64GB ram. i managed to get it to boot into Windows 10!

Unfortunately in getting there, i still have a lot of unresolved problems. i see several "vague" gripes about the Intel MBs of the S2600 variety or perhaps more generally that Intel boards have a lot of "special" connectors". i had hoped using a case from a working system would insulate me from such concerns. Alas, not completely.

1)She wails like a Banshee. i tried everything i could find in the BIOS to nice the fans. i tried removing the IPMI board. i tried unplugging all but one of the 5 fans. She still howls just as loud. A lot of the fan noise comes from the power supply(s). i suppose i could remove one to reduce the volume. After a short while the CPU heat sinks do get warm to the touch. Still with the case open air flow is not optimal.

2)It would be nicer to put liquid/fan CPU coolers in but there seem to be a lack of 3 or 4 pit power connectors for CPU fans. The only connectors i see are the 10(!) pin connectors used by the 5 Disk drive fans next to their drive board. i could get power from the drive (SATA power) connectors ... but that would have no hope of being regulated.

3)The Biggie. i can only connect the boot drive through the USB so far. Using one of the 12 slots for drives on the backplane it seems to be read only so, while WX come up, it only gets to the recovery stage. Trying to boot off the MB SATA connectors and the MB 2x2 sockets for power: the drive never spins up, so clearly the boot does not even go so far. A volt meter shows the 2x2 sockets only having 12v and gnd. i think 5V is needed.

4)Next up i have on order cables which MAY fit the 2x3 socket in the back. i may be able to get SATA power that way. A subsequent step may be to get SATA power by having a female SATA connect to the back plane. Kinda Rube Goldbergish but at least Power.

5)There are, even theoretically, only 10 SATA ports on this board and only 2 SAS connectors, so i plan to get an Adaptec S1245 into a riser for RAID use and ignore the boards native RAID capabilities. EXCEPT for booting/system where a single SSD should do it ... IF i can find a way to connect it!

 

[Patrick]

On #3 did you try BIOS settings? Seems like a strange setup to go out of the way to make it non-standard like that.

 

[emanuensis]

@Patrick

Yeah super weirdo. Never heard of a drive being forced read only before. The BIOS has lots of settings ... but so far i have not found any that makes drives RO! i drank Champagne when i finally got WX going, even if only through USB!

 

[emanuensis]

i did go through all the entries in the BIOS.
W10 still gives
"The drive where Windows is stored is locked, unlock it and try again"
when the boot drive is placed in a SATA/SAS bay:-(

Perhaps if anyone else owns a s2600(z/l) board they can say what the entry is to change...?

Still howls as loud as ever too. Is there any way to disable the BMC so the sensors actually give online closed loop control to the fans?

 

[emanuensis]

AFAICT the MB's PSU only produces 12v power

(see http://www.intel.com/content/dam/su...motherboards/server/sb/s2600gzgl_tps_r2_4.pdf p82)

so any 5v or 3v power must come from voltage converters on the MB or whatever board the 12v supply is connected to.

i just received this 6pin (2x3) to 4 pin power connector
https://www.amazon.com/2x3-PCIe-graphics-to-2xmolex-power/dp/B004HTIETY
but it indeed does NOT fit the ODD/SSD 6pin connector on the MB. i measured the MB connector and got 3, 5 & 12v sources. However, comparing many cables on Amazon, most seem to have only 3 pins, leaving off the 5v pin ... so likely the two 2x2 connectors on the s2600gz MB (with only gnd and 12v) Should have worked!

i did order parts to make up a cable for the ODD/SSD connector

(see this Intel forum thread "SSD SATA power cable for S2600GZ")

i will eventually be able to make such a cable HOWEVER power does not seem to be the problem. i have been unable to boot at all off the internal SATA ports (disk does not spin up) or off the any of the twelve attached disk drive slots (a voltmeter shows 3,5&12v power) though Windows (7 & 10) disks are seen: they just will not boot up - saying the disk is "locked".

@Patrick suggested the BIOS ... but so far i have not found a setting which may be the culprit here. Does anyone have experience with this board and can make a recommendation?

 

[emanuensis]

i finished the connector mentioned in this Intel forum thread SSD SATA power cable for S2600GZ (serious smoke test caveat though: reverse the polarities and/or use a voltmeter to know the true value of the MB's socket). With that power, using the one of an internal SATA, i was able to boot WX! So i now have access though other than the extremely slow and awkward USB2 port.

Connection through the 12 SAS bays still do not work with WX though. Looking online for the error message "INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE" suggest it may be a WX problem, and i may well be able to boot from a Linux or indeed earlier Windows OS... which could possibly be bootstrapped into WX.

i also updated the BIOS ... and that largely cured the fan noise issue: it is now tolerable to work beside it! Noisey but perhaps when it is closed up it can reasonably reside in the same room permanently on, maybe.

Now i can begin OS work. The plan generally is to fill all 12 slots with two terabyte drives (with two indexes and two spares). Hence the internal 2 SAS ports will not do it. So i await the Adaptec S1245 to arrive from China.

i am rather inexperienced in RAID though, and would welcome advice on the proper virtualized host and software to run it. i hope also to utilise this beast for "machine learning"/compute possibly fitting some Titans in the risers so the system need to have the flexibilty to handle storage AND a separate compute.

 

[Dawg10]

I recently acquired a Symantec NetBackup 5230, aka Intel S2600GZ, although it is a unique configuration of Intel part numbers. Rather than start a new thread I thought it prudent to tack on here, as this is the only thread dealing with this (Symantec) model.

My notes: (I intend to edit/ update this as I learn more about this machine)

Symantec NetBackup 5230 (Intel S2600GZ)

(This combination not listed in the Intel Config_Guide Product Order Codes Summary Chart.)

3.5", 12 bay 2U chassis
S2600GZ4 motherboard
BLUE C600 option key RKSATA8, enables 8 mobo SATA ports
RMM4 - Remote KVM upgrade key & dedicated NIC
Backplane: F2U12X35HSBP, (ports 0-3: mobo SATA2), (ports 4-12: LSI SAS/SATA3)
2x 750W power supplies

Supports dual E5-26xx & v2, C-600 chipset
24x DDR3 slots
8x SATA2, 2x SATA3 ports
4x integrated 1Gbe & 1x management ports
2x SFP+ ports, 10Gbe (Intel 82599)

Integrated RAID Module RMS25CB080, 1GB memory, 8 ports SAS/SATA3 (LSI MegaRAID SAS Fusion Controller, lsi_mr3 driver)
RAID Backup Unit AXXRMFBU2 (supercapacitor module, NAND flash module)

2x risers, options: (only 1x 3-slot came with this ebay special, second riser is in the mail)
3 slot - 16/16/8m, all x8e, 2xFHFL, 1xFHHL
2 slot - 16/8m, x16/8e
3 slot - 2x PCI-X and 1x x8e/m
1 slot - x16e/m

Presently configured with 2x E5-2620 6c@2.0GHz, 128 GB DDR3L, 2x 1TB SATA hard drives (ports 0/1), up and running ESXi 6.7 with 2x 1TB datastores.

Resources:
S2600GZ_Config_Guide_2.8.pdf - Configuration Guide
S2600gzgl_tps_r2_4.pdf - Technical Product Specifications

As received the server would boot to the Symantec splash screen and freeze, unresponsive to keyboard; diagnostic LEDs showed ‘waiting on option ROM’. Pressing F2 repeatedly during boot brings up the BIOS setup page. After adjusting the BIOS settings to allow verbose startup it was found the server was attempting to PXE boot prior to executing the BIOS and bootlooping until timeout.

After much (~3 hours) trial and error, disabling BIOS> Advanced> PCIe> "PCIe Port 2a OpROM control" allows the server to boot normally (Intel docs I read relate this option to CPU1 performance, not Legacy Option ROM).

For $120Canuckian, $85US, I now have a 12 bay, 12 core, 24 DIMM, 10Gbe server with NAND backed RAID and up to 6 PCIe slots, 2 of which can be FHFL x16e/m.

The 2x SATA3 onboard ports are available for internal SSD along with Intel documentation on how to install/ power them.

Scenario Options: x16e GPU (1 or 2), multiple NVMe combinations, replace/ upgrade onboard RAID controller to SAS3 (9300-4i)

As far as I can tell, the RKSATA8 Option Key to enable 8 mobo SATA ports is not required; 4 ports is the default. The second 4-port mobo SATA connector is empty.

 

[gregsachs]

I have a 1U machine that is very similar, EMC Recoverypoint Gen5 Appliance. It used the 16 Dimm variant however, will need to look for one of these at a good price....I was able to flash regular Intel Bios to mine, FWIW.

 

[Dawg10]

Original BIOS was 2.04.003; first thing I did was to go to 2.06.006 then 2.06.007 as per the installation instructions. No issues. Btw, Intel’s update instructions are a bit long... I load the update into the root of a usb stick, insert it, boot to the EFI shell and it auto runs.

We traded comments while I was running up my RecoverPoint S2600GL. That experience prepared me for this gem; it was sold as parts, I was prepared to replace the motherboard if necessary.

 

[gregsachs]

Original BIOS was 2.04.003; first thing I did was to go to 2.06.006 then 2.06.007 as per the installation instructions. No issues. Btw, Intel’s update instructions are a bit long... I load the update into the root of a usb stick, insert it, boot to the EFI shell and it auto runs.

We traded comments while I was running up my RecoverPoint S2600GL. That experience prepared me for this gem; it was sold as parts, I was prepared to replace the motherboard if necessary.

Thats a hell of a score for <$100. I avoid the lack of LFF drive bays by using xyratex 12x3.5 sas shelf.