[RndTbl] [Muug] Old MUUG server up for grabs! ($$$)

Wed Feb 16 20:15:09 CST 2022

As somewhat of a policy wonk other than the non-existent means of a 
sealed bid until the close of bidding, I would like to express my kudos 
to the MUUG board in coming up with a good process involving minimal 
bureaucracy in liquidating retired equipment AND leaving it open to 
board members as well to be part of the bidding process.

The one variant I suggest to avoid even the possibility of an appeal is 
that MUUG publish the winning bid dollar amount, or any further 
cascading amount, should any come into play.  As each bidder knows their 
own number, this would eliminate nearly all possibility of appeals 
except for the error of an oversight or typo concerning the tally sheet 
of all bids.

My further thanks to Adam as this does not come without a further 
voluntary time commitment.

Eduard

On 2022-02-15 22:58, MUUG meeting announcements wrote:
> We’re getting rid of the old server!  It’s up for auction, to MUUG
> members in good standing only.
> 
> We’re taking bids for the rest of the month by email.  Emailed bids
> must be received by me no later than Monday 2022-Feb-28 23:59:59 to be
> considered eligible.
> 
> We’re doing this as a “blind auction [1]”, where everyone
> submits their bid to me (Adam Thompson), and at the end of the bidding
> period, I’ll contact the highest bidder.  If they’re unable to
> follow through for any reason, it goes to the second-highest bidder,
> and so on.  We cannot issue a receipt for tax purposes.  The MUUG
> board (excluding board members who entered bids themselves) shall be
> the only, and final, avenue of appeal for anything related to this
> auction.
> 
> Since we already know some of the board _is_ planning to bid, and I am
> _not_, send your bids to me directly: athompso at muug.ca (or my usual
> address, they both wind up in the same place), and not to board at .
> Please provide name, email, phone#, and dollar amount.  If you don’t
> receive a confirmation from me within a few days, post to roundtable
> letting me know something’s wrong.  And/or try a different email
> provider.
> 
> The server is about 6yrs old, it’s a 1U rack-mount server from ASUS
> with 12 x 4TB NAS HDDs, 2 x 2.5” SSDs, a Xeon (E3 v3) CPU, 32GB of
> RAM, 2 x 1G & 2 x 10G(SFP+) ethernet ports.  To reiterate that point,
> we’re selling it with 48TB of mostly 5400rpm SATA “NAS”-type
> hard drives (and two SSDs) included.  All the drives will be ATA
> Security Erased before you get the unit.
> 
> (This could make an awesome 40TB FreeNAS unit for storing backups!)
> 
> The winner can come pick up the server from my place in north
> Winnipeg, where it’s currently stored.  If you can’t come pick it
> up, there are ways to get it to you but you might be on the hook for
> delivery charges (modest, if you’re in Winnipeg).  You’ll be
> expected to get the server out of here by March 7th (one week after
> bidding closes), one way or another.
> 
> -Adam
> 
> (see below for lots more words)
> 
> Detailed server specs:
> 
>  	* ASUS RS300-H8-PS12 [2]
> 
>  	* 1U rack server
> 	* integrated ASUS P9D-MH/SAS/10G [3] microATX motherboard
> 
>  	* Xeon E3-1230v3 (any E3-1200v3 processor is supported)
> 	* 32GB RAM (4 x 8GB DDR3 Unbuffered ECC)
> 	* 1 low-profile PCIe slot is usable in this chassis using a riser
> (included)
> 	* 4 x SATA 6GB/s & 2 x SATA 4GB/s on motherboard, pre-wired to drive
> bays
> 	* 8 x SAS 6GB/s (supports SATA III) on embedded LSI2308 [4]
> controller, pre-wired to drive bays
> 	* 2 x Intel I210AT 1gbps ethernet
> 	* 2 x Broadcom BCM57840 NetXtreme II 10gbps ethernet (see notes)
> 	* Built-in ASMB7-iKVM [5] remote server management with dedicated
> 100M ethernet port
> 
>  	* integrated 400W 80PLUS Gold power supply – looks proprietary?
> 	* 4 “warm-swap” carriers holding 3 x SATA HDDs each (see notes)
> 	* Proprietary mounting rails are included
> 
>  	* 12 x 4TB “NAS”-type HDDs.  Mixture of WD RED, Seagate
> IronWolf, and Hitachi something-or-other.
> 	* 2 x 250GB SSDs.  Intel 545S & Samsung 850 EVO
> 
> NOTES
> 
>  	* The HDDs range in age from original to recently replaced.
> 	* The server must be powered off to replace drives, despite the fact
> it looks like hot-swap at first glance.
> 	* Linux bnx2x kernel driver bugs in some versions of some distros
> affect the ability to use the onboard Broadcom NetXtreme II 10-gigabit
> NICs.  They’re fine in Debian 9, but unusable in Debian 10.
> Believed to work fine under FreeBSD (FreeNAS) and other non-Linux
> kernels… VMware is anyone’s guess.
> 	* 1U rack-mount servers have fans running between 10krpm and 24krpm.
> It will be very loud.
> 	* It can only be operated horizontally (e.g. in a rack).  It’s also
> fairly heavy because of the 12x 4TB drives.
> 	* The onboard video is, as is usual for servers, unsuitable for
> desktop use.
> 	* Original user manuals are provided.
> 	* No warranty.  There might be a bit of warranty on one or two
> drives, but don’t count on it.  Otherwise… It could die the moment
> you plug it in.  It could eat your family for breakfast while you’re
> at work.  It could start WWIII.  MUUG guarantees nothing more than if
> we take your money, you’ll get a very large quantity of
> mostly-metallic molecules in the shape of a server.  Having said all
> that, it ran continuously for 6 years, the only things that died were
> the various drives, and it was still working perfectly when I removed
> from the rack at Les.net earlier this month.
> 
> Pricing/value considerations: (all prices taken from Newegg.ca today)
> 
>  	* E3-1230v3 goes for $300 today.  A similar modern server CPU
> (E-2124) runs $270.
> 	* 32GB of Unbuffered DDR3 ECC goes for $190 today.  32GB of DDR4 ECC
> runs $308.
> 	* 4TB NAS HDDs go for $100 today.  That’s normal pricing, no age or
> scarcity effects.
> 	* 1U “barebone” servers of a similar class/category run around
> $440 today.  (That one doesn’t have 12 x 3.5” bays, but… meh,
> close enough.)
> 
> So to rebuild this server with brand-new parts, you’d be looking at
> almost $2200.  THIS server, however, is used and there’s no
> warranty, so… bid based on what it’s worth to you!
> 
> 
> 
> Links:
> ------
> [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-price_sealed-bid_auction
> [2] 
> https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Commercial-Servers-Workstations/RS300H8PS12/
> [3] 
> https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Commercial-Servers-Workstations/P9DMHSAS10GDUAL/
> [4] https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/12351997
> [5] 
> https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Commercial-Servers-Workstations/ASMB7IKVM/
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