Xeon D-1541 Quanta storage servers on ebay

[tekmunki]

Thanks for the video!! Still not working for me, see attached pics. I swapped the 3008 for the 3108 card, not sure if that has anything to do with it or not. I tried with and without drives in the system, same error. The debug log is also useless, just says error=45.

This is across 8 systems.

Weird your screens are showing the d51ph-1ulh expander that's a different unit from what we have. On the qct.io site it lists the expander firmware as a different file "12G-EXPANDER_FW-Broadcom_1.0.8.zip" vs. "12G-EXPANDER_1.08.zip" for the sd1q-1ulh. Maybe give the broadcom fw a try and see if you get the same error.

I got 2 more SD1Q-1ULH's in and one doesn't see the expander at all so the seller is sending a replacement. The other unit seem fine with no issues and is serving 60TB fine. The status indicators on trays light up but neither the OS or IPMI tool can communicate with the expander on the one unit. Just shows a N/A for firmware version and expander temp sensors. I've checked all the cables and can't find anything physically wrong with it. I can only imagine the type things you'd see with a full 48U rack of these could probably start your own wiki on how to fix various issues.

 

[YuanyangX]

Thanks for the video!! Still not working for me, see attached pics. I swapped the 3008 for the 3108 card, not sure if that has anything to do with it or not. I tried with and without drives in the system, same error. The debug log is also useless, just says error=45.

This is across 8 systems.

Mine doesn't have SGPIO device listed there so all the HDD LEDs are always off. Maybe my server is a broken one which by chance can take new firmware....

This morning I just found out the two SFP ports from motherboard are not working. Tried 3 different modules (2 different models of Intel E10GSFPSR and a 1Gb copper). None of them worked on those ports. But all of them work well on OCP mezz card. So I believe I have to get a replacement from them...

 

[YuanyangX]

Weird your screens are showing the d51ph-1ulh expander that's a different unit from what we have.

Maybe the warehouse was just swapping broken components which only physically fit to the case and can power on...

 

[tjk]

Weird your screens are showing the d51ph-1ulh expander that's a different unit from what we have. On the qct.io site it lists the expander firmware as a different file "12G-EXPANDER_FW-Broadcom_1.0.8.zip" vs. "12G-EXPANDER_1.08.zip" for the sd1q-1ulh. Maybe give the broadcom fw a try and see if you get the same error.

I got 2 more SD1Q-1ULH's in and one doesn't see the expander at all so the seller is sending a replacement. The other unit seem fine with no issues and is serving 60TB fine. The status indicators on trays light up but neither the OS or IPMI tool can communicate with the expander on the one unit. Just shows a N/A for firmware version and expander temp sensors. I've checked all the cables and can't find anything physically wrong with it. I can only imagine the type things you'd see with a full 48U rack of these could probably start your own wiki on how to fix various issues.

Good catch, I didn't even think of that. The other fw you linked for that expander worked! I guess the 3108 mezz cards I bought came from a different system and have an ID on them listing the system ID.

Now to try the latest system bios and see what happens.

Thanks again, appreciate the attention to details.

 

[Fusion_GTX]

Hey all, caught up on this thread for this particular chassis type. I noticed some chatter regarding the CMOS battery. I have to imagine this is a generic shrink wrapped CMOS and probably a common part where I can order one with the connector. Does anyone by chance know of a source? I don't have an existing CMOS to rip apart and replace with the standard 2032 battery.

 

[tekmunki]

Hey all, caught up on this thread for this particular chassis type. I noticed some chatter regarding the CMOS battery. I have to imagine this is a generic shrink wrapped CMOS and probably a common part where I can order one with the connector. Does anyone by chance know of a source? I don't have an existing CMOS to rip apart and replace with the standard 2032 battery.

Set up the replacement unit today and it's humming along fine no issues so far. I took the top off while replacing it to snap a pic of the battery for you. 3/4 I ordered had voltages under 2.4v so I just cut the shrink wrap and pulled the tabs off the drained batteries and electrical taped them to a new cr2032 reusing the small jst connector.

 

[Fusion_GTX]

Set up the replacement unit today and it's humming along fine no issues so far. I took the top off while replacing it to snap a pic of the battery for you. 3/4 I ordered had voltages under 2.4v so I just cut the shrink wrap and pulled the tabs off the drained batteries and electrical taped them to a new cr2032 reusing the small jst connector.

Awesome, this is great. I appreciate you grabbing these for me. It really looks like a JST 1mm pitch connector. Cheap enough that I might just order one based on the photo and see if it works.

-CR2032 Battery and JST SHR-02V-S-B 1mm Pitch Connector​

If anyone else has already put in an order and found one that works I'll still take a link.

 

[scobar]

I took the old battery out and was able to tape the leads to a 2016 battery which seems to be doing the trick thus far.

 

[lhibou]

Omg. Thanks for reminding me why I've been ignoring STH great deals forum emails lately

These look perfect for ceph cluster nodes.

 

[core4solutions]

Hey guys - ITT there was a desire for better images of these servers - we've added more detailed images to our eBay listing. In case you would like to refer to those, they can be found here : QUANTA SD1Q-1ULH 1U 12X3.5IN D-1541 DUAL PSU SERVER | eBay

 

[scobar]

So I did get a replacement server and was told to scrap the old unit/use for parts. I have one unit which is working and behaving very well whereas the other has a single PSU/not exactly behaving. I note that the only way I can get drives to show up in this unit is to reflash the 3008 firmware, then all drives show up. A reboot, they drop and from a power up they do not re-attach.

If I take the exapnder from one machine to the other, the issue follows the expander. I note the bootup process is also very slow. This expander has a newer firmware than the other expander.

Has anyone attempted to downgrade the expander firmware, or have a spare with older firmware they would be willing to sell?

 

[Jiaxinxi]

Can anybody confirm the power consumption?

I read somewhere in the post, it is about 60W with 4 3.5 drives. That is amazingly low.

Plan to run xpenology on a bare metal.

The price of a Synology DS3617xs with Xeon D-1527 is well above $2000

Yes, it is going to be a lot quieter, but it is also $1600 more and consume about same amount of power.

If this machine can run xpenology, it should be a great alternative to the more expensive DS3617xs

 

[tekmunki]

Can anybody confirm the power consumption?

I read somewhere in the post, it is about 60W with 4 3.5 drives. That is amazingly low.

Plan to run xpenology on a bare metal.

The price of a Synology DS3617xs with Xeon D-1527 is well above $2000

Yes, it is going to be a lot quieter, but it is also $1600 more and consume about same amount of power.

If this machine can run xpenology, it should be a great alternative to the more expensive DS3617xs

I think you're referring to my post when I was testing the SATA drives. I got the ~60W from my UPS screen at the time and that was idle before I put any data or attached any network shares so that's probably the low-end. Right now the IPMI is reporting ~196 watts with 12x 3.5" 7200rpm SAS drives, 3 SATA SSD's, 4x32GB DDR4 ECC 2400MHZ DIMMs, 1xSFP+ in use and a crowded server room that just has an exhaust fan an no AC. I don't spin down my HDDs at all and I'm certain these 7200rpm 3.5" drives are on the high end of power usage, as with any network storage you get the biggest power savings based on the HDD's you fill it up with.


If you should get one of these or the synology is really up to what you're willing to pay for. These quanta servers can do 3x the ram for more caching, handle 12x3.5" + 4x2.5" + 2x2.5" or 16x2.5" + 2x2.5" and they come with 4x10GB SFP+ out the door. But if you need something small enough to fit on a desk or bookshelf or doesn't have 5 1U delta fans (my network switches are significantly louder btw) then a NAS box like the DS3617xs might be what your after. There's always a trade-off between noise/size/cost, I'm sure you could build a white box whisper quiet 2U or 4U for around the same cost as these quntas if you found a deal on every single part.

I'm all in including buying HDDs on these at several hundred dollars under the base cost of one of the DS3617xs but I did snag a pretty decent deal on my RAM locally @$62 for each 32Gb stick, even with out that I think you get a way nicer platform for the money assuming you get a unit without any issues which doesn't seem to really matter as the seller has been better than most 1st party companies when it comes to making an issue right.

 

[Jiaxinxi]

I think you're referring to my post when I was testing the SATA drives. I got the ~60W from my UPS screen at the time and that was idle before I put any data or attached any network shares so that's probably the low-end. Right now the IPMI is reporting ~196 watts with 12x 3.5" 7200rpm SAS drives, 3 SATA SSD's, 4x32GB DDR4 ECC 2400MHZ DIMMs, 1xSFP+ in use and a crowded server room that just has an exhaust fan an no AC. I don't spin down my HDDs at all and I'm certain these 7200rpm 3.5" drives are on the high end of power usage, as with any network storage you get the biggest power savings based on the HDD's you fill it up with.

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If you should get one of these or the synology is really up to what you're willing to pay for. These quanta servers can do 3x the ram for more caching, handle 12x3.5" + 4x2.5" + 2x2.5" or 16x2.5" + 2x2.5" and they come with 4x10GB SFP+ out the door. But if you need something small enough to fit on a desk or bookshelf or doesn't have 5 1U delta fans (my network switches are significantly louder btw) then a NAS box like the DS3617xs might be what your after. There's always a trade-off between noise/size/cost, I'm sure you could build a white box whisper quiet 2U or 4U for around the same cost as these quntas if you found a deal on every single part.

I'm all in including buying HDDs on these at several hundred dollars under the base cost of one of the DS3617xs but I did snag a pretty decent deal on my RAM locally @$62 for each 32Gb stick, even with out that I think you get a way nicer platform for the money assuming you get a unit without any issues which doesn't seem to really matter as the seller has been better than most 1st party companies when it comes to making an issue right.

Thanks for you reply!

Great information!

I seriously doubt if anyone can build a machine with these configurations around $400. Most of time, the CPU and motherboard alone will cost this much.

The only challenge will be noise. If you can put behind a closed door or garage, then noise will not be an issue.

I have the Synology box DS1517+. It works great, but it is struggling to run multiple VMs on that little box. It just doesn't have enough juice.

I could run VM using ESXi/Proxmox/Hyper-V but want to consolidate under Synology system.

 

[Navy_BOFH]

Anyone have theirs come in damaged? The server was in a proper box but no decent padding between it and the rails. So - somehow - the motherboard access panel opened up and it came in with the CPU cooling shroud crooked, fans and retainers everywhere, and the front HDD access panel bent up. On top of that - the motherboard access panel won't fully seat and lock into place - so I think the entire chassis is bent. Thanks, FedEx!

I have never dealt with Core 4 Solutions before but I am hoping for an exchange at this point. Just bummed out that my project is on hold already.

 

[Scott Laird]

Anyone have theirs come in damaged? The server was in a proper box but no decent padding between it and the rails. So - somehow - the motherboard access panel opened up and it came in with the CPU cooling shroud crooked, fans and retainers everywhere, and the front HDD access panel bent up. On top of that - the motherboard access panel won't fully seat and lock into place - so I think the entire chassis is bent. Thanks, FedEx!

I have never dealt with Core 4 Solutions before but I am hoping for an exchange at this point. Just bummed out that my project is on hold already.

I bought 3, and they were all reasonably packed and seem to work well enough.

 

[Navy_BOFH]

I bought 3, and they were all reasonably packed and seem to work well enough.

I'm hoping it was a fluke between FedEx and the seller... FedEx doesn't seem gentle around here at ALL around here with deliveries - almost everything I get from them is banged up.

I would just hate to send this back - they're surprisingly stout for a 1U.

 

[Navy_BOFH]

Core 4 is amazing and sent me a new server with better packing (hopefully they're all packed like my replacement was from this point forward) and the old one I scrapped for some spare parts. Overall I am very happy with the seller!

 

[Scott Laird]

Out of curiosity, does anyone know if there's a way to get a Java-free iKVM setup on with Quanta's BMC? I updated to firmware 3.33 and it seems to work slightly better than the default, but it still wants Java.

Alternately, I don't suppose there's an easy way to flash OpenBMC onto these and actually expect them to work, right?

 

[tuatara]

I think mine is dead. Can anyone help confirm?
- Nothing on the VGA output. Cable and monitor are known good.
- No DHCP request from the BMC.
- PSU and chassis fans ramp up and then settle down.
- System seems to reboot itself after a few minutes.
- CMOS battery was dead; swapped that for a fresh one. Added some RAM too.
- There are many LEDs on the board. The group near the BMC controller alternate between a sorta L shape then a single LED in the missing part of the L.
- Front alert indicator flashes.

Anything obviously I'm missing or should I contact @core4solutions for a replacement?