New Tech Toys on the Cheap

J found a great Dell server on Craigslist for about 10% of its resale price. It doesn’t have near the storage space of mine, so he plans to use it for a web/sql/app/vpn server in the meantime (And possibly as a Backup Domain Controller, if we can get the damned thing joined to the local domain). The guy was using it as a regular computer. Shame!

As some of you may know, Enterprise-grade servers have keyed entry, meaning you can’t open the case without a special key (issued directly from Dell) or a good deal of prying. Without going into too much detail, that wasn’t a problem

At first we were suspicious of its legitimacy due to its puny pricetag, but the seller was a cop so we dismissed any such suspicions as unjustified. I tagged along and the guy had two rackmount 24-port 10/100 Ethernet switches there, so I asked if he was selling those too. I knew their value was at least $750 and probably somewhere into the thousands. I was right. The dialog went something like this:
Me: Those switches for sale too?
Cop: Yep.
Me: How much?
Cop: Twenty for both.
Me: Dollars?
Cop: (looking confused) yes…
Me: Sold!

So now I have my first two rackmount devices. We were out of switch ports as it was, and I had already been considering purchasing a small (24U or so) rack when I get my own place (Which has been “a few months from now” for two years). I’m also considering buying a rackmount PowerEdge chassis and moving my server into it, thus freeing up the beefy case for a gaming rig. Buying and stocking a rack will save on space while looking hella cool in the process.

So I reconfigured the network a bit so only bandwidth-hogging systems are on the Gigabit, and the low-priority systems are on a 10/100 switch. The other switch is plugged in and empty, but largely there just for looks (Who doesn’t love blinking LEDs?). The Gigabit is home to both servers, my main productivity machine (Which transfers large amounts of data), and one additional machine that requires a big pipe to the server for reasons I won’t publish .

This is also J’s first dedicated server machine, so he’s as excited about it as I was when I set up mine (Though mine’s not in a real server case. Mine is in a regular case with a door made out of fans.). I would say he’s attacking this project (Setup of the server) with the zeal of a lion chasing an antelope.