Re: Acquiring a used IBM i Server - (repost)

Completely agree that if a system such as this were available there would be a fair number of folks that would take advantage. But the problem is how do you (if you are IBM) configure it?

Perhaps IBM could do this:

You acquire a used machine, e.g. today an old 8202-E4B can be had el-cheapo. Even with 8 139GB drives and 8 or 16 GB memory, cheap.

IBM Says OK We'll sell you the O/S and LPPs really cheap, like lets say for $500 per year for the whole shooting match. BUT you get only one processor, and 2 users of everything. It would HAVE to be locked down though because otherwise, I'm sure you'll be shocked, people will cheat. They'll get this sweet deal and use it for their business cutting IBM out of a bunch of revenue.

BUT how do you lock that down? Today users and such are warnings so that would take O/S and firmware changes. IBM isn't so likely to do that for an old model for just a few users.

A second problem which is clearly IBMs issue but still not simple is that the software bits are not all under the same umbrella and that makes this el-cheapo deal hard to coordinate.

So perhaps IBM could do this:

Take the smallest cheapest model that 2U S812. Make the suggested firmware changes to that. Still have to do the same IBM i changes though to restrict the users or users could cheat as above and use the silly thing for a business instead of the little developer.

But lets say they do this, now the small user, one off, hardware techie, has to purchase a brand new S812! As cool as that is it's not gonna be cheap even if you cut the memory to the minimum and only put in a couple drives! You could buy a whole stack of those E4Bs for the price of this.

And that still requires firmware and IBM i changes just to do it. Is there a business case to IBM for this? I would suspect it's not likely.


- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

www.Frankeni.com
www.iDevCloud.com - Personal Development IBM i timeshare service.
www.iInTheCloud.com - Commercial IBM i Cloud Hosting.

On 2/2/2018 9:56 PM, Nathan Andelin wrote:

I get the "hardware junkie" itch, kind-of. Years ago I enrolled in a
network-administration course at the community college that met in the
evening for 3 hours, twice each week. The "PC repair" class met just before
ours, which meant that we "software guys" had to completely rebuild our PCs
from parts, install an OS and software, before we could learn network
administration. I initially carped about what a rinkey-dink operation the
college was running. But that experience came in handing while working in
the field later.

The request for an entry-point system has been coming up repeatedly ever
since the invention of the PC. The answers are always less than
satisfactory for the guy who is just wanting to learn, grow, and do
something on their own; activities which may not have a solid economic
basis.



On Fri, Feb 2, 2018 at 12:52 PM, Scott Williams <scottwill0707@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Sorry if this posts twice, but some time had gone by and a few digests
showed up without my original posting...I've also added to the original
text.


I know this has been discussed before but my Google-Fu isn't helping in
finding the older archived articles in relation to this topic.

I'm a SysAdmin/RPG Dev who is considering a used server purchase. I've
played around with some of the cheaper hosted options and found them to be
limiting in a few ways. (limited disk space, Low RAM, not my own
environment, etc.) Also, I'm somewhat of a hardware junkie, and I would
love to be hands on with the hardware instead of renting an instance
somewhere... I feel like this would help immensely in becoming a better
operator.

I want the box to be a Dev Box, but would also use it to help grow my
skills in Server Administration, Web Development, and to play around with
Modern RPG, Java and other Open Source languages.

I would think it could be rather modest in that case. From what I
understand reading IBMs EOS schedule, many POWER6 and 7 servers will reach
end-of-support in 2019.

I've come across a box that is not on the EOS list, and has unlimited
entitled users until Nov. 2019. It is a POWER7+ machine with the following
config:

IBM 8202-E4D
Power7+ 3.6GHz 1/8 Processors
56.300CPW
OS v7r2, v7r1, and v6r1
PowerVM included

0041 DEVICE PARITY PROTECTION-ALL
0267 I OPERATING SYSTEM PARTITION SPECIFY
0567 IBM I 7.1 SPECIFY CODE
1888 139GB 15K RPM SAS SFF DISK (QTY=4)
2145 PRIMARY OS IBM I
5532 SYSTEM AC POWER SUPPLY 1925W (QTY=2)
5771 SATA SLIMLINE DVD-RAM DRIVE
5899 4-PORT 1GBE ADAPTER
6577 POWER CABLE DRAWER TO IBM PDU (QTY=4)
7134 IBM RACK MOUNT DRAWER BEZEL
7145 IBM/OEM RACK MOUNT DRAWER RAIL
9300 LANGUAGE GROUP SPECIFY US ENGLISH
EJ01 STORAGE B P 8 SFF RAID IOA
EM08 8GB 2X4GB MEMORY DIMMS 1066 (QTY=2)
EPCM 8 CORE 3.6 GHZ POWER7+ PROCESSOR MODULE
EPDM ONE PROCESSOR ACTIV FOR EPCM (QTY=4)
EPEM ZERO PRICED PROCESSOR ACTIV FOR EPCM (QTY=4)

It's pretty costly for a single dev in my opinion especially since it seems
that the box will lose user entitlement in late 2019...which will probably
force a hardware upgrade. I think aquiring a P10 license on the older box
might not be viable. This box also seems like overkill for my needs, but
I'm not one to sneer at MOAR POWER

I'd like to find a modest and affordable (not several thousands of dollars)
machine I can call my own for a decent length of time (Is 5 years asking
too much?) Any tips to assist in my search? I'm not 100% sold on the config
I listed, so I'm open to other config suggestions. I called IBM today to
see what used offerings they might have, but I talked to 5 different reps,
and none of them were from the proper department so I doubt I'll actually
get any worthwhile information from speaking to them on the phone.

Keep in mind, I've never bought a IBM i server before even in my day job. I
mostly maintain and program for it. I'm hoping to change that with some
iron to expand my skillset.

Opinions are welcome. Thanks in advance.


--

Scott Williams
System Administrator
American Southern Insurance Company
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