HPE EC200A Xeon D-1518 'hybrid server' on ebay ~$150

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

CoolNight

New Member
May 9, 2021
8
2
1
So far I’m in to this at $240

EC200a - $150
2x 16GB Samsung 2133 RDIMM - $70
Add-on NIC - $20

I’ll either throw a $10 optane in it for ESXi boot or use a usb stick.

@ $250 I’d be perfect happy with what I ended up with (my x10sdv 1U with a 1518 was almost 3x this price).
Hi, Dark

I searched whole ebay, can't get any compatible NIC, able to advise the source? thanks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Samir

986box

Active Member
Oct 14, 2017
230
41
28
44
Keep coming back to reconsider the box for pfsense. if only I can add a SFP+ port to it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Samir

firworks

Member
May 7, 2021
37
27
18
Keep coming back to reconsider the box for pfsense. if only I can add a SFP+ port to it.
Same. I keep going back and forth between this and a cheap 1U used server. I like how low power this is and it can share a shelf with the fiber modem so the form factor still makes sense to me in a rack. As a newbie trying to learn though I think it might also complicate things. Having only a single LAN port would as far as I can understand require trunking from a managed switch to support VLANs/a more advanced network configuration. Is that setup a bad idea? I've been looking at some managed/smart switches that support 10G on a few ports (for NAS and Workstation) and 1G on the rest. Since the final ISP is only 1G/200 I don't think the LAN and WAN being 1G on the EC200A would be a big problem but again I'm new to this stuff so maybe I'm missing something.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Samir

986box

Active Member
Oct 14, 2017
230
41
28
44
you can check out this link here.

Mikrotik CSS/CRS 326 and TP link T1700G have 2 SFP+ ports.

Brocade L3 switches discussed here has it too.

With only 1 LAN, router on a stick will work.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Samir

firworks

Member
May 7, 2021
37
27
18
Looks like the prices just went up. The previous two listings for 150$ are now 199$.

you can check out this link here.

Mikrotik CSS/CRS 326 and TP link T1700G have 2 SFP+ ports.

Brocade L3 switches discussed here has it too.

With only 1 LAN, router on a stick will work.
Wow those Brocade switches look like an incredible value. Also I'm glad I have the right term now (router on a stick) to research this kind of setup more.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Samir and fohdeesha

onewithforce

New Member
Feb 3, 2021
11
12
3
Does anyone come across issues with M2 PCIe drive issues with this item ?
Got one some weeks ago, but only this week found some time to play a bit with it.

Device come with a 256GB NVMe (Toshiba) with some wear , but working fine.
Once I replace it with Sandisk Extreme Pro (only spare M2 I have) system start to behave strange - can't format the drive, even when a command is reported successful, dmesg is full with messages and actual changes are not applied. Tried to install Proxmox, Debian and even Windows, everytime unsuccessful. Smart of the drive is OK, 0% wear and was working till recently hosting OKD VMs.

When I move the drive to a laptop I can install any OS and it behaves OK.

Tried even latest SPP (2021 04/05) , but it only update the iLO, rest was up to date.
Defaulted system firmware/bios
Reset it via physical 'switch'
Disabled some performance reporting in the bios.

Nothing seems to be working and there is some sort of incompatibility between EC200a and this drive.
Noticed a strange message, which does not seem to be related, but think it was not there when the Toshiba drive was installed. (attached)
I haven't read about vendor lock-in on this particular unit, but information is also not so much.
Would be appreciated if owners will share their experience.
 

Attachments

  • Like
Reactions: Samir

dashpuppy

Member
Dec 16, 2018
48
21
8
I' just came across this box on ebay, and then immediately found this thread. I guess asking the question " Does, pfsense run on this box" irritate anyone ? I was thinking throwing in a spare 16gig stick of ram and 128gig m.2 ssd and then run pfsense.

I do see people saying they are loud ? are they ? Or is it loud when no hard drive installed like most HP - servers..
 
  • Like
Reactions: Samir

compuwizz

Member
Feb 25, 2017
46
45
18
40
I' just came across this box on ebay, and then immediately found this thread. I guess asking the question " Does, pfsense run on this box" irritate anyone ? I was thinking throwing in a spare 16gig stick of ram and 128gig m.2 ssd and then run pfsense.

I do see people saying they are loud ? are they ? Or is it loud when no hard drive installed like most HP - servers..
It should run pfsense just fine. It has two Intel i350 1G NICs in it. Its not very loud at all after its fully booted.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Samir

microserf

New Member
May 20, 2019
20
13
3
The embedded NIC firmware is up to v1.2836.0 and the W2016/2019 Agentless Management Service is at v10.99.0.0.

These run pfSense very well. Fan noise seems dependent on the fan itself - some are near silent, others make a bit of noise. All of them are audible above 33% and scream at >66-70%. Servero had both the EC200a and TM200a at one point and the latter makes for a decent SMB/Branch server when configured with a fair sized NVMe and two NAS drives.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Samir

Evan

Well-Known Member
Jan 6, 2016
3,346
598
113
Probably not supported - the Xeon-D 1000 series are based on the Broadwells, and I don't think the Broadwells can do more than 32GB per DIMM.
I tried just for fun without checking if it should work just in case it may have by using some 64gb 2Rx4 rdimm and no luck.
2 x 32gb is the limit
 
  • Like
Reactions: Samir

WANg

Well-Known Member
Jun 10, 2018
1,302
967
113
46
New York, NY
I tried just for fun without checking if it should work just in case it may have by using some 64gb 2Rx4 rdimm and no luck.
2 x 32gb is the limit
Yeah, i think that 64GB RDIMM route has been attempted with the SuperServer 5028D-TN4T (the Supermicro quadbay minitower with the 8 core Xeon-D 1541 and 4 RAM slots, fairly popular for home ESXi labs within the past 3-4 years), which is a similar server SoC, and they are limited to 32GB RDIMMs as well. That’s why I don’t think it’ll work.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Samir