Archive:ServerHardwareAuction

From London Hackspace Wiki

About the Project

We received a large hardware donation from a local Internet company and are slowly auctioning it off, with all proceeds going to the Hackspace. It started with about 15 flat screen monitors, 60 servers of varying kinds and sizes, two network switches, and upwards of 200 hard drives; and we're already receiving hardware offers from other organisations.

Hardware gets auctioned off via our LondonHackspace eBay account, or sold to Hackspace members at a 20% discount (though usually we first establish a price range via auctions.)

Our work requires a combination of diverse technical skills, a lot of organisation and coordination, and eBay fu; but mostly patience, persistence, and a willingness to do basic repetitive tasks for no pay :D

In return we get a warm fuzzy feeling from making a major contribution to the financial health of the London Hackspace, we gain experience in hardware diagnostics and maintenance, networking and automation systems, the psychology of online auctions, and a chance to meet enthusiasts from all walks of life.

Project members, in no particular order (please add yourselves):

  • martind
  • Jasperw
  • roberthl
  • dsikar
  • ... and many more volunteers helping out in countless small and big ways.

For more context see User:Martind/LfmHardwareAuction.

Help Needed

(last updated Sun 13 Mar)

If you would like to help out with any of the below contact martind, roberthl or Jasperw. Most of these tasks don't really require any particular skills, we can show you how it's done.

  • Coordinate eBay auctions
    • Robert/martind/Russss have access to the Ebay account, and TurboLister
  • Prep more servers for auction
    • Inventory of machine disk types (so we know how many disks to hold back. Plan: sell machines with 2 disks each)
    • Install disks, caddies, rack mounts; make sure machine description (wiki page) is complete
    • Take photos
  • Assess the box of "maybe dead" hard drives (smart status, stress test etc.)
  • Almost done: Review servers that didn't boot, fix where possible

Switches

  • 2 x HP Procurve 2824 (J4904A) running firmware version I.10.32

Current firmware version is I.10.77:

http://h10146.www1.hp.com/customercare/support/software/switches.htm#2800

http://h10146.www1.hp.com/customercare/support/software/summarypages/i-j4903-c.htm

9600 8N1 for the serial

The one that I (User:JasperWallace) am using for netbooting stuff will have 'hackspace' as every password.

It will be on network range 10.192.38.0/24, it will be 10.192.38.1, it has unrestricted snmp access on the public community.

NetBoot Server

It's 'C1'.

running debian 5.0.6

  • eth0 - unused (single socket)
  • eth1 is on the hackspace lan and is 172.31.24.164 (assumes dhcp is stable!) (right hand of double socket when viewed from the back)
  • eth2 is on the netboot lan, 10.192.38.2 (left hand, yellow cable atm).


  • 9600 8N1 on both serial ports.
  • password is hackspace

See Project:ServerHardwareAuction/NetBootServer for more details

Drives

All drives need to be cleared with dban before we do anything else. This is almost done.

Internal drives

Make Capacity Interface RPM Quantity Model
Hitachi 73 SCA 10000 67 HUS103073FL3800
Hitachi 36 SCA 10000 2
Seagate 35 SCA 5 ST336607LC
Maxtor 35 SCA 10000 4 Atlas 10k IV
Fujitsu 70 SCA 28 MAW3073NC
HP 9.1 SCA 1 D489-600002
HP 4.2 SCA 1 D3583C
Maxtor 160 SATA 6 6L160MO
Western Digital 400 SATA 12 DiamondMax10
Seagate 750 SATA 2 Baracuda ES
Seagate 400 SATA 25 Baracuda ES
Seagate 80 SATA 1 Baracuda 7200.1
Hitachi 164.7 SATA 4 Deskstar
Hitachi 82.3 SATA 3 Deskstar
Hitachi 250 SATA 10 Deskstar
Maxtor 250 SATA 6 DiamondMax10
Maxtor 80 SATA 1 diamondMax plus 9
Maxtor 500 SATA 1 diamondMax 22

External Drives

artag has 3 at home (having arrived at a price from the ebayed drives, I'm now buying these - artag).

All now been dban'd. All also formatted as single ntfs volumes.

In the large brown cardboard box that contained the smaller white boxes that the drives came in, I've refilled the smaller white cardboard boxes with all the parts they origonally came with (usb cable, esata bracket esata cable, psu, manul, cd, case stand).

If the white box has '750' written on it in green highlighter then it's got a known working, wiped and formatted 750Gb external drive with all the bits in it.

There is one 400Gb one thats missing a usb cable.

We don't have any more white boxes or extra bits so there are a few 400gb external drives sitting on the other box.

So all 8 750gb drives are ready to sell.


label = does it have a lastfm sticker/label on the spine of then case

capacity = 4 = 400gb, 7 = 750gb.

num label? works? capacity dban?
1 y y 4
1 n y 7
2 y y 4
2 n y 7
3 n y 7
4 n y 7
5 y y 4
5 n y 7
6 y y 7
6 n y 7
7 y y 4
8 y y 4
8 n y 7

Sale Status

Cf. Project:ServerHardwareAuction/ExternalDisksCopy

Drive ID Description Auction Status
1A 2 x Vantec NexStar 3 External Hard Disk 400GB NST-360SU 250787862086 Sold, picked up.
1B Vantec NexStar 3 External Hard Disk 400GB x 2 250787863594 Sold, dispatched.
1C Vantec NexStar 3 External Hard Disk 750GB x 1, 400GB x1 250787866991 Sold, dispatched.
1D Vantec NexStar 3 External Hard Disk 750GB 250787868723 Sold, paid (cash) and picked up.
1E Vantec NexStar 3 External Hard Disk 750GB 250787868435 Sold, paid (cash) and picked up.
1F Vantec NexStar 3 External Hard Disk 750GB 250787870487 Sold, paid (cash) and picked up.
1G Vantec NexStar 3 External Hard Disk 750GB 250787868109 Sold, dispatched.
1H Vantec NexStar 3 External Hard Disk 750GB 250787869648 Sold, dispatched.
1I Vantec NexStar 3 External Hard Disk 750GB 250787870040 Sold, dispatched.
1J Vantec NexStar 3 External Hard Disk 750GB 250787869236 Sold, dispatched.

Todo

  • remove cases from drives and insert cases into servers
  • get sector counts for drives
  • sell drives and servers!

Howto

Better descriptions to follow. 

 <Jasperw>	go to desk
 <Jasperw>	look at monitor
 <Jasperw>	trace monitor cable
 <Jasperw>	switch attached machine off
 <Jasperw>	remove all drives from machine
 <Jasperw>	put drives in one of the 'done' boxes. NOT the dead drive box (unless the drives are dead)
 <Jasperw>	if drives have long thin connector (SCA SCSI) then leave machine off and go back to whatever you where doing (We're pretty much done with the SCa ones).
 <Jasperw>	of they have a sata connector then find some more sata drives on the shelves (not in the boxes).
 <Jasperw>	plug 4 x drives into machine.

<SpikeUK>	Jasperw - I've found three drives kicking about on shelf - can you direct me to another likely source please?
<Jasperw>	SCA or SATA?
 <Jasperw>	there should be more drives on the shelves, you just have to look around.
 <SpikeUK>	S
 <SpikeUK>	Jasperw - sorry SATA
 <Jasperw>	you might need to remove them from one of the other types of caddy.
 <SpikeUK>	Jasperw - OK
 <Jasperw>	and put them into whatever is the right caddy type for the machine thats free for wipeing.#

<SpikeUK>	Jasperw - machine is now fitted with four new drives (in same slots that others came from)
<Jasperw>	ok, power it on and, depending on what machine type it is, you'll need to work out how to get into the raid controller setup and configure the drives as single disks or JBOD.
 <martind>	SpikeUK: is it a machine in the left or right-hand rack?
 <SpikeUK>	martind - right hand rack
 <martind>	alt+3 to start RAID setup during boot
 <martind>	then clear all 
 <martind>	(select all disks, then "clear")
 <martind>	then set up new ones
 <martind>	one by one
 <martind>	select spare disk, "create", which takes you to an "accept" screen
 <martind>	four times
 <martind>	then f8 to finish & reboot 

<SpikeUK>	martind - ok machine rebooting. Only 3 o4 4 drives was recognised. What do I want to boot into?
 <martind>	SpikeUK: may be worth investigating the dead drive
 <martind>	e.g. check the LEDs
 <Jasperw>	dban autonuke on the netboot menu

Etc

On IRC: 

Olfin>	Are there any plans to harvest the rare earth metal magnets from the dead drives? THey're rather useful!

Yes, and keeping the aluminium shells for melting and casting purposes would be good as well.

Servers

Howto

All servers have been assigned a hardware class, based on their type. (Double-check when you process a machine.) That way we only have to document the basic hardware once.

  1. open machine, check that is has
    • ram
    • sata cables (some machines have had the sata cables removed)
    • and that all (or at least some) of the drive bays connected (some machines have had their controller card removed so they won't talk to any drives!)
  2. if all is ok connect up the machine and boot it.

Test that it all works

  1. Run dban with drives in all slots to ensure they're connected and functional
  2. Run a ram test (how? need to find good software)
  3. Test all ports (VGA, USB, PS/2, Ethernet, ...)
  4. Test the CD drive, if applicable

To determine hardware spec:

  1. Plug in monitor & keyboard
  2. Boot up, ensure it netboots into "DISKLESS Debian" (the default option) and wait until it shows a prompt
  3. Make a note of server ID (the label we put on each server) and MAC address (shown just above the login prompt) and put them both in the Hardware List below

All hardware info files are automatically collected at http://hack.rs/~martind/records/?C=M;O=D (aka http://172.31.24.164/records/?C=M;O=D), one set of files per MAC address (this link shows newest first)

Server classes

Template: ServerClassTemplate

Hardware List

Template: ServerTemplate (mostly for manual comments, since hardware info can now be gathered automatically.)

Under review

Server ID Hardware Info Photo link
A2 00:30:48:55:65:d8
B3 DEAD no ram or psu.
C1 00:e0:81:32:77:e5 netbootyboxxy
D1 00:30:48:87:ec:a8
E1 00:30:48:56:8c:e0 (no RAM)
F2 00:e0:81:2f:15:cb slim chance this is the wrong mac
G1 00:e0:81:31:39:b6
G2 00:e0:81:30:e8:e5
G3 00:e0:81:47:b1:31JasperWallace wants this one
H1 DEAD no CPU, RAM, PSU, etc
I1 00:e0:81:2b:a5:a0
I2 00:e0:81:2f:14:04
I3 00:e0:81:2f:c1:bd
J3 00:e0:81:32:2b:b4
J7 00:e0:81:2f:e7:9b
J8 00:e0:81:61:93:e2
K1 00:30:48:88:11:6e
L1 00:e0:81:28:c6:a8
M1 00:e0:81:40:40:80
M2 00:e0:81:40:41:62
N2 00:e0:81:34:76:3b
N5 FAILED
N6 FAILED
N7 FAILED
O1 00:30:48:56:08:7c (no RAM)
O2 00:30:48:56:16:ca (no RAM)
P1 00:30:48:5d:0c:66
P2 00:30:48:5d:0c:b4
P3 00:30:48:61:04:24
P4 00:30:48:8e:28:4c
P5 00:30:48:5d:0c:12

Ready to be photographed

Server ID Hardware Info Photo link
 

Processed

Server ID Hardware Info Photo link Status
N8 00:e0:81:34:6b:c9 of
B5 00:e0:81:2b:02:c8 an

For sale

Server ID Hardware Info Photo link Auction
J4 00:e0:81:31:cb:39 250794659089
F3 00:e0:81:41:1b:92 250794660803
F4 00:e0:81:40:4b:06 250794663239

Sold

Server ID Hardware Info Photo link Auction Status
B2 00:e0:81:2e:75:52 was [1] Sold to Terry (ye-olde-shoppe) for £38.68. Not paid yet. Arranging pickup atm.
M3 00:e0:81:34:1e:12 from [2] Sold to Vashisth (itstuffz) for £62.00. Paid via PayPal. He hasn't yet replied to my message.
R1 00:e0:81:34:14:03 250794638476 Sold to p.corlett (London), not paid yet.
H2 00:e0:81:40:da:a9 250794648218 Sold to loneghost, paid; can be shipped.
A1 00:30:48:55:65:dc 250794651347 Sold to vevvy21, not paid yet.
Q1 00:e0:81:41:15:00 250794655615 Sold to uploadmedia (London), not paid yet.
J1 00:e0:81:2f:c1:b6 250794657552 Sold to vevvy21, not paid yet.

Shipped

Server ID Hardware Info Photo link Auction Status
E3 00:30:48:56:52:ca lady [3] to a member Paid & collected.
B4 00:e0:81:2f:64:6c a [4] Paid via PayPal. Sent via courier.
M4 00:e0:81:43:f4:60 Leeds [5] Paid via PayPal & collected. Very nice guy, part of CentOS.
F1 00:e0:81:47:b1:50 packet [6] Paid via PayPal & collected.
J2 00:e0:81:32:fa:57 swallowed [7] Paid in Cash & collected.
B1 00:e0:81:30:e8:42 There [8] Paid via PayPal & collected.
E2 00:30:48:56:52:92 young [9] Paid via PayPal. Collected.
J5 00:e0:81:33:7f:b6 a [10] Paid cash, £77. Collected.
J6 00:e0:81:32:bf:3f who [11] Paid cash, £51. Collected.
N1 00:30:48:5e:0b:50 Within [12] Paid cash, £117. Collected.
N3 00:30:48:5e:0c:c6 half [13] Paid cash, £126. Collected.
N4 00:30:48:5e:0c:40 seeds Sold directly to a member Paid cash, £100. Collected.

Discarded

Troubleshooting

Server won't netboot

  • Check that the Option ROM's for the onboard nics are enabled, something like BIOS -> advanced options -> PCI & devices config -> and then you can enable the ROMs. (Sometimes you need to configure it for each port individually.)
  • If netboot works but NFS mount fails, try a different ethernet port.

Some drives fail/don't get detected on boot

Remove drives until you found the faulty ones, put them in the "dead drives" box.

Some drives fail during dban or other operation

If you can't figure out how to determine the faulty one just put them all in the "dead drives" box, we will do a second pass of those drives later.

Monitors

Sales status at Project:ServerHardwareAuction/Monitors. Test pattern.

Summary: 

24 Working
4 Faulty
28 Total

All to be listed, including faulty, stated as.

A flickr set has photos for each make, nine in total.

Note for ebay listing, item 06 is short of a "mickey mouse" power cable, one item 01 is short of a base.

All photo links next to unit count.

01

9 Units ~ 01A, 01B, 01C, 01D, 01E, 01F, 01G, 01H, 01I in good working order. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel-sikar/5210488400/in/set-72157625349679459/

1 unit~ 01J missing base, otherwise in good working order. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel-sikar/5245454188/in/set-72157625349679459/ 

Product Type: Hanns.G LCD monitors     
Description: 
Model ID JC198D / HANNS.G JC198D 
LCD display - TFT - 19" 
1280 x 1024 
250 cd/m2 
700:1 
8 ms 
0.294 mm
DVI-D, VGA 
speakers 
silver

Product page: http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/tft-monitor/hanns-g-jc198d/

02

2 Units ~ 02A, 02B in good working order. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel-sikar/5210489222/in/set-72157625349679459/ 

Model: DXBL-19
60/50Hz 1.5A
Manufacturer: AOC

03

6 units available

4 03B, 03D, 03E, 03F in good working order. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel-sikar/5210489906/in/set-72157625349679459/

2 03A, 03C faulty. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel-sikar/5245454660/in/set-72157625349679459/ 

Screen size (inches) 19
Panel Type (TN, IPS) TN
Type LCD
Aspect Ratio 4:3
Resolution 1280 X 1024
Brightness (cd/m2) 300
Contrast Ratio 5000:1
Response Time (ms) 2
Viewing Angle (°) 170
Color Depth (Num of Colors) 16.7M
Pixel Pitch (mm) 0.294 x 0.294
Surface Treatment AG(3H) 
D-Sub Yes
DVI-D Yes

Product page: http://www.lg.com/uk/it-products/monitors/LG-lcd-monitor-L1953HR.jsp

04

2 Units ~ 04A, 04B in good working order. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel-sikar/5209892033/in/set-72157625349679459/ 

Product Description: V7 L19WA - LCD display - TFT - 19"
Device Type: LCD display / TFT active matrix
Colour: Black, silver
Built-in Devices: Stereo speakers
Dimensions (WxDxH): 46.9 cm x 19 cm x 36.9 cm
Weight: 4.5 kg
Diagonal Size: 19" - widescreen
Dot Pitch / Pixel Pitch: 0.285 mm
Max Resolution: 1440 x 900 / 60 Hz
Colour support: Up to 16.2 million colors
Response Time: 8 ms
Image Brightness: 300 cd/m2
Image Contrast Ratio: 500:1
Audio Output: Speaker(s) - stereo - integrated
Signal Input: VGA
Compliant Standards: TCO '03, CE, CSA, UL, TUV GS, ISO 13406-2, VESA DPMS
Power: AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )
Power Consumption Operational: 43 Watt
Environmental Standards: ENERGY STAR Qualified

Product page (Amazon): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Videoseven-L19WA-Monitor-Widescreen-Speakers/dp/B000E9Q0M4

05

3 units

05A, 05C in good working order, http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel-sikar/5210491646/in/set-72157625349679459/

05B faulty. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel-sikar/5245455216/in/set-72157625349679459/ 

Brand	Belinea
Dot Pitch	0.294 mm
Model	10 19 02 (Black, Silver) 19" LCD Monitor
Screen Resolution	1280 x 1024 pixels
Screen Size	19 in
Type	Flat Panel LCD TFT (Active Matrix)

06

1 unit

06A in good working order. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel-sikar/5210492476/in/set-72157625349679459/

Mickey Mouse power cable not supplied. 

Brand: TC0
Model: 900P
Power: AC 100-240V 50-60Hz 1.0A

07

3 units

  • 07C sold to Barry for £27.06, picked up already

07A, 07B, 07C in good working order. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel-sikar/5209894487/in/set-72157625349679459/ 

Type   48cm / 19" TN colour TFT active matrix SXGA LCD
Contrast Ratio  1000:1 (typ.)
Viewing Angles  170° horizontal, 160° vertical (at 10:1)
170° horizontal, 170° vertical (at 5:1)
Brightness  300cd/m² (typ.)
Display Area  37.6cm horizontal x 30.1cm vertical; 48.3cm diagonal
Optimum Resolution  1280 x 1024@60Hz
Response Time  5ms (off-on-off) (typ.)
Light Source  Long life, 50,000 hrs. (typ)
Panel Surface  Anti-glare (3H)
Pixel Pitch  0.294mm
Colour Support  16.2M colours (6-bit + 2-bit FRC)
Pixel Clock  135MHz

Product page: http://www.viewsoniceurope.com/uk/products/desktop-monitors/lcd/graphic-series/vg930m.htm

08

1 unit 08A in good working order. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel-sikar/5210494102/in/set-72157625349679459/ 

19-inch Chimei A190E3-T0J LCD Monitor
Stylish black design
19-inch TFT Active Matrix LCD display
5:4 aspect ratio
0.294 x 0.294 mm pixel pitch
1280 x 1024 maximum resolution
320 cd/m2 brightness
500:1 contrast ratio
8 ms response time
16.2 million Color display 
160º horizontal viewing angle
130º vertical viewing angle
30 - 82 KHz horizontal scanning frequency
56 - 76 Hz vertical scanning frequency
On Screen Display (OSD) controls
Hard coating, anti-glare treatment
0º - 20º tilt

09

1 unit 09A faulty. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel-sikar/5210494718/in/set-72157625349679459/ 

Description 19" Digimate L-1931 TFT
Brightness  	250cd/m2
Contrast ratio 	700:1
Dimensions 	430mm (W) x 380mm (H) x 170mm (D)
Display colours 	16.7M
Input signal 	DVI-D, VGA (D-sub 15pin)
Internal speakers 	Built-in stereo speakers
Osd language 	English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Simplified / Traditional Chinese
Panel size 	19"TFT(Active Matrix)
Pixel pitch 	0.294 x 0.294mm
Power consumption 	MAX 50W, Standby 3W
Power supply 	AC 100~240V 50/60Hz
Resolution 	1280 x 1024(SXGA)
Response time 	12ms
Safety standards 	FCC, CE, UL
Scan frequency 	H:30-80KHz V:56-75Hz
Viewing angle( h/v) 	170 degree(H) / 170 degree(V)
Weight 	4kg


Product page: http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Displays/Monitors/TFT+19/19%22+Digimate+L-1931+TFT+?productId=23548

USB Drives

Total 16 NexStar 3 external 3.5" hard drive enclosure, USB 2.0 and eSATA

  • 9 of the above boxed, with most accessories including PSU (some boxes tatty) PSU are 110-240V but have integral US 2-pin mains connector
  • 1 of the above has no box or accessories
  • 1 of the above has no PSU but there is a Lacie PSU with the same fitting, may be compatible.
  • 3 drives (found so far) are faulty, either not spinning or overloading the power supply. These were mostly unboxed units.
  • Disk capacities not fully checked. All examined so far are 750GB Seagate Barracuda SATA --Artag 21:52, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
    • I'd like one or more of these if they are available to hackspacers --Artag 19:20, 27 November 2010 (UTC)
[766917.452964] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access     ST375033 0AS                   PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[766917.453582] sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[766917.476662] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] 1465149168 512-byte logical blocks: (750 GB/698 GiB)
[766917.488073] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[766917.488081] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 38 00 00 00
[766917.488085] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[766917.505132] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[766917.505175]  sdc: sdc1
[766917.560394] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[766917.560436] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk

Selling

See Project:ServerHardwareAuction/Sales (moved suggestions for ebay auction improvements here as well ~Kevin).

People who want to buy stuff: Project:ServerHardwareAuction/Purchasers

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