- Nov 28, 2004
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Yesterday my old server just quit. The computer was suddenly so quiet. I had gotten used to its sound, the PSU , the 4 extra 90 mm fans, the silent whining of the 5 SCSI-HDD and the audible swoooooooosh of the heat sink fan.
I was not surprised at all. Each computer has to quit sometimes. And this one was old ...
It started at once as a server for my home network:
The motherboard was a ASUS BX-Master, purchased 1999. The memory bus was 133 MHz (included 66, 100 MHz), it had 2 USB-ports (v. 1.0)
CPU: Pentium in a socket 1, initially 400MHz, later 833 MHz and some 4 years ago a PharLap upgrade processor: 1299 MHz.
RAM: initially: 2 x 128 MBytes, one year later 2 x 256 MBytes and for the last 5 years 768 MBytes: 2 sticks for 256 MByes and 2 sticks of 128 MBytes.
Since it was a server from the start, it had some Adaptec SCSI-cards: initailly SCSI II, then a SCSI 160. It started off with a 1.05 GByte HDD, a CD-reader (NEC), a CD-writer (Pioneer) and a tape drive (Tandberg). Later the HDD capacity gradually increased to the total of 99.05 GBytes, two CD-readers, one CD-writer, one DVD-reader and a 30Gbyte tapedrive by OneTrack. The CD-readers and the DVD-reader were always loaded with some kind of encyclopedias and a CD with the most frequently used downloads.
The server also had a number of floppy drives: it could read (until some days ago) 360 KByte floppy disks, 1.2 MByte floppies. 2.4 MByte (3.5) inch floppies and also all kinds of IOMEGA-removable disks.
The connection to the cyberworld started with a shared modem and a 10 Mbit/s ethernet card in a PnP-network. Later a hub was added, then a switch and the server obtained a secont ethernet card. After a few years 100 Mbit/s cards were available, and for the past 2 years a gigabit card served the needs of communication.
The sound was initially provided by a original Soundblaster which was upgraded to a Soundblaster 128. The graphics card was initially a no-name-brand PCI-card, later upgraded to a Matrox Millenium card with a whopping 64 MBytes of VideoRAM.
The server went through a number of PSUs: initially a no-name-brand 250 W supply, which just gave up its guts, then a Chieftec 350 W PSU, and last - for a whopping 4½ years an Antec 480 W PSU.
The server was in a large server case - it hade space for 5 externally accessable 5-1/4 bays and 5 bays for 3.5 drives ...
It has run DOS (versions 5 and 6), Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP Pro, RedHat Linux 4.1, Suse Linux 8.0, and Ubuntu Feisty Fawn. Most of the time it has had ZoneAlarm as a firewall, Norton or Avast AntiVirus and a few different spywares.
The most interesting thing is the server's track record: It has been working 24/7 since May 1999 until September 2007: 8 years and 4 months. The total down time is - according to my records 5 days and 16 hours; unscheduled down time is 50 hours (2 days and 2 hours).
It has crunched the following projects:
Non-BOINC projects:
Cuboid (did not work at all well), DIMES, DPAD, ECMET, Euler, Folding@home, Seti@home classic:
BOINC projects:
BBC Climate change, ClimatePrediction@Home, Cosmology@Home, Einstein@Home, Leiden Classical, LHC@Home, MalariaControl@Home, µFluids, Nano-Hive@Home, Predictor@Home , Primegrid, Project Neuron, Proteins@Home, QMC@Home, Rectilinear Crossing Numbers, Rosetta@home, Seti@home , SIMAP, Spinhenge@Home, Tanpaku, WorldCommunityGrid.
The computer worked with all those projects - except one (see above): it was stable, reproducible and generated a lot of credits.
I do not know how many, since i did not keep track of the on the "computer" level.
Edit: During the last four years the Server had the following benchmarks: 1122 (+/- 24) Whetstones and 2008 (+/- 16) Dhrystones. I do not have any records of the benchmarks before the last CPU-upgrade.
The computer used some 185 W/h during the last years, which, extrapolated to its life, makes a staggering number: 11850 kW (=11.85 MW) at a cost of approximately 1200 US$. I paid for the computer - in its original shape - 1 500 US$ and have upgraded it for approximately 1 150 US$. The there are all the hours I've spent with the computer: cleaning it, upgrading it, etc., I have not counted those.
Rest in peace, "Server", your records will stay with me. I have had some great time crunching, learning, playing; and you have never let me down.
I was not surprised at all. Each computer has to quit sometimes. And this one was old ...
It started at once as a server for my home network:
The motherboard was a ASUS BX-Master, purchased 1999. The memory bus was 133 MHz (included 66, 100 MHz), it had 2 USB-ports (v. 1.0)
CPU: Pentium in a socket 1, initially 400MHz, later 833 MHz and some 4 years ago a PharLap upgrade processor: 1299 MHz.
RAM: initially: 2 x 128 MBytes, one year later 2 x 256 MBytes and for the last 5 years 768 MBytes: 2 sticks for 256 MByes and 2 sticks of 128 MBytes.
Since it was a server from the start, it had some Adaptec SCSI-cards: initailly SCSI II, then a SCSI 160. It started off with a 1.05 GByte HDD, a CD-reader (NEC), a CD-writer (Pioneer) and a tape drive (Tandberg). Later the HDD capacity gradually increased to the total of 99.05 GBytes, two CD-readers, one CD-writer, one DVD-reader and a 30Gbyte tapedrive by OneTrack. The CD-readers and the DVD-reader were always loaded with some kind of encyclopedias and a CD with the most frequently used downloads.
The server also had a number of floppy drives: it could read (until some days ago) 360 KByte floppy disks, 1.2 MByte floppies. 2.4 MByte (3.5) inch floppies and also all kinds of IOMEGA-removable disks.
The connection to the cyberworld started with a shared modem and a 10 Mbit/s ethernet card in a PnP-network. Later a hub was added, then a switch and the server obtained a secont ethernet card. After a few years 100 Mbit/s cards were available, and for the past 2 years a gigabit card served the needs of communication.
The sound was initially provided by a original Soundblaster which was upgraded to a Soundblaster 128. The graphics card was initially a no-name-brand PCI-card, later upgraded to a Matrox Millenium card with a whopping 64 MBytes of VideoRAM.
The server went through a number of PSUs: initially a no-name-brand 250 W supply, which just gave up its guts, then a Chieftec 350 W PSU, and last - for a whopping 4½ years an Antec 480 W PSU.
The server was in a large server case - it hade space for 5 externally accessable 5-1/4 bays and 5 bays for 3.5 drives ...
It has run DOS (versions 5 and 6), Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP Pro, RedHat Linux 4.1, Suse Linux 8.0, and Ubuntu Feisty Fawn. Most of the time it has had ZoneAlarm as a firewall, Norton or Avast AntiVirus and a few different spywares.
The most interesting thing is the server's track record: It has been working 24/7 since May 1999 until September 2007: 8 years and 4 months. The total down time is - according to my records 5 days and 16 hours; unscheduled down time is 50 hours (2 days and 2 hours).
It has crunched the following projects:
Non-BOINC projects:
Cuboid (did not work at all well), DIMES, DPAD, ECMET, Euler, Folding@home, Seti@home classic:
BOINC projects:
BBC Climate change, ClimatePrediction@Home, Cosmology@Home, Einstein@Home, Leiden Classical, LHC@Home, MalariaControl@Home, µFluids, Nano-Hive@Home, Predictor@Home , Primegrid, Project Neuron, Proteins@Home, QMC@Home, Rectilinear Crossing Numbers, Rosetta@home, Seti@home , SIMAP, Spinhenge@Home, Tanpaku, WorldCommunityGrid.
The computer worked with all those projects - except one (see above): it was stable, reproducible and generated a lot of credits.
I do not know how many, since i did not keep track of the on the "computer" level.
Edit: During the last four years the Server had the following benchmarks: 1122 (+/- 24) Whetstones and 2008 (+/- 16) Dhrystones. I do not have any records of the benchmarks before the last CPU-upgrade.
The computer used some 185 W/h during the last years, which, extrapolated to its life, makes a staggering number: 11850 kW (=11.85 MW) at a cost of approximately 1200 US$. I paid for the computer - in its original shape - 1 500 US$ and have upgraded it for approximately 1 150 US$. The there are all the hours I've spent with the computer: cleaning it, upgrading it, etc., I have not counted those.
Rest in peace, "Server", your records will stay with me. I have had some great time crunching, learning, playing; and you have never let me down.
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