Suggest projects for old servers.

[sickpup]

Chaps

I have 3 old servers as follows

Dell PE4400 dual 400mhz P11 Xeon 1G ram
Dell PE350 1g P3 1G ram
Dell PE350 750mhz 1G ram

Can anyone suggest any projects/OS installations etc for them?

Use as doorstop is not acceptable.

[chrisw]

This comes up quite often on the sysadmin sub-reddit and I'll say the same on here as I do on there. If you're paying for power there really isn't anything of value you can do with them, you're better off using virtual machines on a more modern desktop machine. They'll 'do more' and burn less energy.

If you're not paying for power, then why not try rolling some form of appliance with a really cut down build (Gentoo or the like). Something like a full function router/vpn/firewall and maybe an authentication source on the 350s and a storage appliance (even if it's just NFS) on the 4400?

All said and done though - I'd rather use a R.Pi. They have as much power (give-or-take) as those dinosaurs and won't make the same level of noise.

[P.addy]

Last little machine I had spare turned into a pfsense box. Thoroughly pointless tbh Was alright though.

[Im-a-Ridah]

Now here is some good advice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvXZVJXIyqM

[CaNsA]

[sickpup]

I agree the 4400 is power hungry but the 350's are actually low powered. This is why I have the Microserver running 24/7. The 4400 is a 3 PSU animal though.

What I should add is I have legal copies of EVERY MS server program upto 2007 so is there anything I should be learning.

Don't think of this as a running everyday thing, more a learn to use stuff especially SCSI, a chance to play with things.

[G]

The PSUs are likely worth something - connect two or possibly even three together in serial to provide power for lithium 'hobby' chargers as used on radio controlled stuff, electric bikes and the like.

I'd also consider harvesting fans and the like.

The rest is old enough technology that I can't see it being useful for much when compared to modern fare - the memory card the size of my finger nail I got recently isn't that far off the size of some of the arrays we'd run in that kind of server and may well be faster too, all for £20.

If you find the right buyer, may also sell for parts - as lots of people are still using them for systems not intended to be run on newer hardware, no doubt.

[WD Forte]

Not au fait with servers so not sure,
but if they'd run XP or Linux and have parallel ports
they may be useful as dedicated Mach3/EMC CNC controllers.
Maybe 3D printer type stuff?
I've noticed a lot of MBs nowadays dont have parallel ports and I've
had to use older PCs to run the mill
They dont have to be that fast, just stable
____________________
bikers smell of wee

[G]

You know you can get a USB parallel port for £4 or so?

[sickpup]

[WD Forte]

Yep
I've not heard good things about USB to parallel ports for cnc
PCI cards maybe
____________________
bikers smell of wee

[Im-a-Ridah]

[chrisw]