I was told my Idea would never work-They were wrong.

S

Shameliss

New Member
I have a Dell Poweredge 2550 fully loaded to its max potential, and I also have a run of the mill Poweredge 2300. I went to install Windows home server on the 2550, but did not have enough drive space, so unless I purchased bigger SCSI drives it wasn't going to happen. My idea is simple. Take the 2550, make it the server, but have the 2300 do one thing, power the 6 18.2 GB 15K Drives (Make it act as if the drives were inside the 2550 and fool the 2550.

My Poweredge 2550's backplane would not function all of a sudden( I say all of a sudden because the last time it was touched it was left in working order) I took the 2300, installed 6-18.2 GB 15000 RPM SCSI Drives, all with Hot Swappable carriages and placed the server on it's side. I unplugged the Backplane in the 2300, ran a SCSI IDE cable from that backplane, through the back, up and over into the 2550's main board which also ran in through a PCI slot. I plugged in everything such as my Monitor and keyboard and my mouse into the 2550, and placed the 2550 on top of the 2300.

I powered up the 2300 and let it do its thing for about 4 or 5 minutes (No error beeps). I then started the 2550 and KABLAMOE, It read all the drives. I entered the SCSI utility and created a RAID5 setup giving me a single container at 84.97GB of SCSI Goodness. I placed my Home server DVD in and it went on installing it.

So now I'm running a very strange looking setup, but was told on many other forums there was no way it would work what-so-ever as the backplane in the 2550 was completely different than the backplane in the 2300, and just because their job is simple, they take completely different drivers ect to run, so one will not recognize the other, they are incompatible. Hmmm......that's interesting as it's working right now in my basement.

The next thing I plan to do is take another SCSI cable and make sure that the Backplane inside the 2550 is actually dead or if it was just a cable issue, as it's still powering up the drives, just no ones home. If this is the case, I'll set up the four remaining 18.2 GB 10K SCSI drives up as another Container just for shi#$ and giggles.

I also plan to do something with the 10-9.5GB and 4-18.2GB SCSI drives I have left over, not sure what or how, but I'm going to utilize them for sure.

Just thought I'd share
 
Proove it!

Don’t get me wrong, I mean no offense.

A physical backplane from a server made 10 years prior, would not be combatable with your 2550. It’s impossible, not to mention that a backplane from a 2550 would not work inside a newer Dell Server only two years newer than itself, here’s why.

Each Backplane depending on the model of course, has its very own structure. Just because they are both inside “Dell” servers means nothing. They all run differently, and are controlled in different ways by different paths. I looked into your claim and I would like you to prove it. There are no interchangeable backplanes between the two models you’ve described and I find it highly unlikely that there would be even a small percentage of success as the main boards SCSI controller will not have the necessary drivers to run the backplane in the 2300.

So I ask you kindly, please prove it. Post Photos if you can on this forum.

Thanks.
 
I too, would like Proof

I was just reading as a guest, and seen this claim. I registered just to add my opinion.

IM-POSS-IBLE.:confused:

I would like to see physical proof that you have done this. I’ve worked at Dell for 19 years, so I think I know what I'm talking about when it comes to servers sold by Dell baring the Dell Logo, and this is a stretch of a story. This is the problem with Forums, lots of useful information but too much of this ridiculous, unsubstantiated bull.

I wait patiently for failure.
:eek:
 
O.K Then

You see, not that I personally care about someone’s opinion who presumably works at Dell, nor do I mind constructive criticism, but in regards to the first reply post by Win, I plan on posting pictures at some point this evening, with the hard drive bays empty in the 2550, and the dell 2300 turned on so you can see the activity, plus I hope in all one photo I can show the screen of the monitor showing all 6 drives.

And to the so called Dell Rep……..the only reason everyone I’ve told has trouble believing me, is that it’s never been tried, as it’s a ridiculous setup, and not to many would have a use for such a monstrosity, and I get that, but for what I needed to do, this was an option in which I thought up, and it works 100%.

So if you do work at Dell……..maybe do a little more research as I have a Dell 2550 running a 6 bank SCSI RAID 5 off of another 2300 in my basement.
:D
 
Unless I'm reading this completely wrong, you just ran a data cable from the drives in old system to a SCSI controller in the new one. That being the case, so long as the cable meets maximum length requrements, why wouldn't it work?
 
Right

Exactly.

When I first brought it up in some other forums, every single reply was negative for whatever reason, so , as I go to forums from time to time for information or opinions i thought I would simply ask if it would work, and since it was all negative, I decided to try it anyway, and it worked, so i was pleased with the results and wanted to share, that's all.

If someone who claims they work for dell say's it won't work, and it does work, makes you wonder who Dell is hiring.
 
after reading it a second time and reading cromwells post it made more sense. even though i dont really know much about servers themselves right now(planning to learn really soon)

and congratz are in order. its always fun doing something and getting it to work even though everybody else said it will not.

but if you could. can you also post a pic. really want to see the setup. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top