A couple of questions about a PowerEdge 2300

Picked up a surplus PowerEdge 2300 server, and looking it over brings a
couple of questions to mind. I downloaded the manuals from Dell, but didn't
really cover the topics.

1) The motherboard, near PCI slot 5, has text silkscreened on it "PCI5 is
RAID upgradeable" What the heck does THIS mean ??? I've heard of add-on
cards like the Adaptec RAIDPort that turn the onboard SCSI into RAID but as
I recall they go into special connectors that are slightly physically
different than regular PCI slots. Or was there a special version for this
Dell ? Or is the silkscreen talking about something completely different ?

2) On the back, between the keyboard/mouse and video connectors, are a
couple of odd ports that the manual calls "Server Management Bus" ports.
Okay, that tells me what they ARE but doesn't explain what they DO. What
sort of things would one typically do via these ports ?

TIA

- FM -

 

the pci slot 5 is where an optional poweredge raid controller (perc) card
would be installed. i don't know if it also behaves as a regular pci slot
or not, check the documentation. the pe2300 did not come with a perc card
as standard (beginind with the pe2400 a raid card was standard and embedded
in the mother board with higher performance raid cards offered as options -
and since then all pe came with raid of some sort except for the entry level
'sc' line of servers where it is offered as an option). the management bus
ports offer a way to connect multiple servers for centralized monitoring...
this explains it better than i can...
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/dta/SAFESTE2/

 

Hi Chris.

I understand what you're saying, I'm familiar with PERCs, my other machine
is a pe1300 with a PERC-2SC. I think I just didn't frame the question right
or ask in enough detail.

Tha manual for the pe2300, when discussing PERC cards, tells me to put it
in PCI3 or PCI4.

THIS I understand - PCI1..PCI4 are all part of the "Primary PCI slots". If
I had extra video cards, I'd put them in PCI1 and/or PCI2 (The manual says
this elsewhere), leaving PCI3 and/or PCI4 for the PERC controller.

But the manual doesn't say ANYTHING about PCI5, or offer any explanation as
to why the motherboard is silkscreend "PCI5 is RAID expandable".


- FM -