IBM System x3650 M2 Restoration: Pt 3 (Finale)

[@ryanlewis7679]

As an IT manager for a Dealer group using CDK I would kill to have this and learn how the back end of this works because they protect it like the coke formula and ours is hosted in their data center.

[@ryanlewis7679]

Also C number is like the group/store number and correlates to one physical server. Some companies will have multiple “c numbers” because they need multiple servers to run all their store. because the software hasn’t changed much in the last 14 years still is almost identical. Any questions I’d be glad to answer

[@JackSprattt]

Bro, I hope he sees your comment because I bet you could help him get further into the system

[@clabretro]

I'll start with the basics to skip the root password. either way I can just image the array and the only thing that would really stop us from poking around is an encrypted file system. if it ends up being interesting I'll have a follow up!

[@ryanlewis7679]

@@clabretro look forward to it! Part of me hopes that it is encrypted because this is not only for managing repairs and inventory but also sales and financing. So potentially this is a massive L for the dealership that shipped this out with a lot of NPI but CDK isn’t exactly known for security a lot of the software still uses telnet for sessions from client to server.

[@clabretro]

definitely. in a way it'd be a relief to see an encrypted disk. they got relatively lucky, because either way I certainly wouldn't abuse that data (in fact, it would get deleted)

[@waynoinsaneo]

Dude the quality of content your putting out is pretty insane. Can't wait for the whole retro rack.

[@clabretro]

thank you!

[@dcoxdon]

Not sure if you already know, but the RSA stuff I'm SURE is referring to RSA's SecurID token (Hardware token that has 6 "random" digits you used for 2 factor authentication. I supported SecurID for years and recognied it. It was asking for your RSA userID, then Passcode (Is the 6 digits currently displayed on your RSA token. I don't think you'll have luck ever logging in because it's going to be looking for it's RSA SecurID Server to actually authenticate you. (Securid is Server/Client Based and isn't a stand-alone program on the machine you have). You'll need to disable/remove the RSA software or else it'll be lookinng for some internal URL for an authentication server.

[@Log4Jake]

Could you possibly replicate the server on your local network and some dns trickery? Perhaps authenticate anything. I would love to see some documentation on how this used to work and perhaps it has some flaws? Would be super cool to get into the server. I think maybe booting into a live cd usb drive you can mount the drive then just run passwd on the drive.

[@clabretro]

yeah I bet I can just mount and do some funny games to reset the root pass. if it ends up being interesting I'll follow up!

[@PauIieWalnuts]

​@@clabretro Unless it's encrypted

[@klaernie]

resetting the root password isn't too hard - interrupt grub from booting the kernel and edit the command line to include "init=/bin/sh", then one the server is at the bash prompt just "passwd root". The RSA token might be hackable, although I have no way of trying myself. Basically the linux implementation is just RADIUS - so with wireshark one might be able to find out what the server is, where that system tries to find its RSA server, then put a RADIUS server there and let it reply with a constant "yes, you are authorized". But if you're already successful in resetting the root password, you could also edit /etc/pam.d/* and find the rsa module being loaded, and comment it out - that way it doesn't bother asking anymore. And since the system already boots to a normal login prompt, it definitely does not use disk encryption with an external key, if there is any encryption at all the key will be in the grub config or in the initrd. So booting a live linux will gain you access - one way or another.

[@JustinDavidow]

@@klaernie The RSA token check is LIKELY just implemented as a PAM module; once logged in as root it should be pretty simple to check + disable.

[@markshade8398]

I like your sense of humor...... And fun. Mounting a server on a wall like a decoration. Totally diggin that!

[@andre-le-bone-aparte]

@21:41 - Things get SPICY and our hero takes a chance and makes his move on the customer support lady...

[@clabretro]

she didn't pick up 😔

[@TomStorey96]

SOAP, what a blast from the past. I wrote some software at an ISP back in the day (in Perl, which was the style at the time) that used SOAP to interact with a Telco to submit provisioning orders for broadband services. Shame the original motherboard didn't work but good to see that this thing is coming to life!

[@clabretro]

Perl and SOAP! Now you're talkin.

[@callmefoxie2950]

Completely missed this video series! I worked for ADP roughly 12 or 13 years ago as a part timer during university as a tech support in Czechia! Before they merged whole eastern europe tech support into one place and all part timers were dropped :) I don't remember CDK but I do remember all kinds of ADP software and RSA keychains!

[@clabretro]

ah awesome! I think they spun off the dealership stuff to CDK around 2014

[@xsgt_silverx]

RSA PassID sounds like these old RSA Hardwaretokens that change numbers, odd that they used that for login - Glad you punched some life into it. And the software probably installs but says nothing due to /silent switches

[@clabretro]

Yeah that /silent switch was right there in the UI staring at me the whole time, didn't notice it until editing ha

[@cromulence]

Yeah, these are still common on a lot of secure systems. You have two parts to them - a PIN Code set by the user and a token code which is displayed on the users token. They use dedicated servers that other systems can talk to as an authentication method. Windows supports login using RSA with the right software installed, and other systems can use it too (e.g VMware). On one of our windows servers that use it, there is an override so the local admin account will not use it. Maybe there’s an equivalent ‘break glass’ account on that system too.

[@chaseohara4781]

Yea, RSA is just the algorithm used for securing this. It's a public/private certificate system, and if you look up the spec, it's basically the first system ever developed for this. It's still quite common, although in updated forms. PassID and PassCode are likely from a physical authentication device. While this style of device is mostly being phased out because it's not idiot proof (the biggest threat to security is never technological, it's social engineering) it's still very common. It's better than an SMS code anyways 😂

[@_vilepenguin]

He is right RSA key chains were like the Google Authenitcator of 2008.

[@cromulence]

@@chaseohara4781 look up RSA SecurID. Its not just an algorithm

[@JSEvans-or5xe]

I worked at IBM in NC as a hardware QA tester when this was in development. It brings back so many memories. Such a fun job except as a contractor we had no benefits. I subscribed. If you see a 3850x5, that was my baby that I spent 2 years on.

[@clabretro]

oh very cool! the riser boards on this M2 had the outline of NC etched into the silkscreen.

[@xPLAYnOfficial]

Maybe you can DIY a transparent cover using a cheap clear plastic lid off a container. Definitely an awesome resurrection for the ages!

[@spikeukspikeuk]

Thanks for finally cracking this one. Having worked on IBM kit most of my life I particularly enjoy vids that show the kit. Hopefully you can get some more in the future

[@clabretro]

Thanks for watching! I'll have some more p5 stuff coming!

[@DarkT3ch]

I've had a couple ibm-esc Lenovo servers in my possession and when you plugged in the new board I was sitting here waiting for them to scream! I used to have a couple I'd use in our tech office a few years ago and I'd have to wait to power them on for people to be off the phone because it was usually a 2-5 minutes commitment of them screaming before they would begin to post. Anyway, loved the video, your channel is so underrated and the home cable idea was a winner!

[@clabretro]

Oh yeah they're screamers, wish I hadn't turned the camera off. They fired up literally a couple seconds after I stopped filming haha. Thanks for watching!

[@waterundertheboard]

17:10 I'd wager that the reason the drives werent detected, is because the second minisas connector is not plugged in all the way. You can see in the frame the left side one isnt fully seated all the way. I own one of these myself (an M3 tho) and this has actually happened to me personally 😂

[@clabretro]

ha, I'll double check that next time I'm messing around with this thing

[@YukikazeQ]

It's always fun looking through old hard drives from companies when they don't get wiped. I have 6 or 7 hdds that came out of thinkpads that were being used in blockbuster prior to me getting them. :^)

[@clabretro]

ah that's cool!

[@bufordmaddogtannen]

I bought an ssd off ebay. It belonged to an IT contractor that should have known better. Aside from the fact it had 39RB written and described as "light usage", he left a ton a sensitive data on. In the end, I sent the drive back and got a refund.

[@herdware]

Great to see the machine up and running at last. :) The wall mount is definitely how you should run it. In totally unrelated news I accidentally bought a Sun Fire T2000. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it.

[@clabretro]

accidents do happen.

[@4rft5]

you literally uploaded this just as I finished watching the previous two, you got recommended to me because of your home cable system, subscribed!

[@clabretro]

haha great timing. thanks for subscribing!

[@JakeCovey]

Loved the trilogy of the x3650 m2

[@ryderrepairs]

clabretro, i ADORE your content, im starting to get into old computers and equipment in general and your videos are informative, super high quality, and overall very good!!

[@clabretro]

thank you!

[@damirkvajo]

Oh yes! Cant wait to see it run on the wall :) I really really love the distance you go to make it work.

[@MarcosCastro-v5n]

Man the content of your channel is superb and I have to say when I start watching I cannot stop

[@clabretro]

thank you!

[@T0NYFERRELL1]

This box has turned into an IBM version of Ship of Theseus. Cool! Hopefully you can dig into that “boring” dealership software. That stuff is never talked about or documented, which actually makes it interesting!

[@clabretro]

Haha might have to name it Theseus.

[@ToxicwasteProductions]

We need more videos of you digging into the software of that thing :)

[@clabretro]

if it ends up interesting I'll probably do a follow up!

[@ToxicwasteProductions]

@@clabretro that would be awesome :) I love old server and networking gear. Don't have much myself but enough to have fun with atleast =) do you also work in it?

[@clabretro]

I'm on the software side, just hardware as a hobby!

[@lukedavis436]

I knew you weren't gonna give up on her....glad to see shes Alive again. Perhaps see if anyone wants the old board to toy wround with

Amazing content, keep it up!

[@clabretro]

Thank you! More on the way!

[@robertchamberlin2362]

I love the way the server looks on the wall that's a great idea ,great video sir

[@clabretro]

thanks!

[@briansmyla8696]

IBM laid me off in 2004. I don't even remember this hardware, and here you are trying to restore it lol.

[@LB4FH]

That logo for the drive controller was amazing 😁

[@ramble-uk]

Glad to see you got it working. Even though the power supply didn’t fix the issue I maintain this was a power regulation/distribution problem. Interesting that IBM chose to put that circuitry on the motherboard instead of in the power supply module where it could have been redundant.

[@clabretro]

agreed! probably a voltage regulator

[@miked4377]

wow!!that was super interesting!!! and yeah that IBM adk is very cool...looks great on the wall..can't wait to see you do more videos of this awesome hardware..

[@olearycrew]

I caught the "which was the style at the time" reference. Perfect for tying an onion to your belt or using SOAP

[@subynut]

Super neat! I vote leave it on the wall and give it a task to do!

[@questionablecommands9423]

Something I've learned from watching Way Too Much™of "Adrian's Digital Basement" is to check if the 12v and/or 5v lines are shorted to ground and to check if any tantalum capacitors are shorted (apparently, they're often not needed and just be clipped out). To be fair, Adrian is working on computers from the 80s, but I gotta' imagine a lot of that still holds true today.

[@clabretro]

Agreed! Probably a shorted cap or broken voltage regulator.

[@SimonVideo]

Glad it's booting and it looks *so* good on the wall

[@williamkibira5789]

Congratulations, nice way to start the year.

[@chaseohara4781]

I'm pretty old-school with my hard drive retirements. While I do a proper wipe with many passes, I just tend to go for physical destruction. A drill makes data recovery fairly impossible. Haha

[@Redd00]

Very good video glad to see you finished off this device! May it forever live on your wall!

[@Fractal_32]

Another fantastic video, I’m glad the old IBM server is running.

[@kbhasi]

(21:06) One thing I noticed is not only that it was a custom ADP OS and Linux kernel build, but the "el5" means it was based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.x!! (or probably CentOS 5.x) (18:54) That was WordArt, not ClipArt. (18:12) Windows Server 2008 R2… Ah, the memories… (insert mini ramble about the UI design of Windows 7 here)

[@AdamChristensen]

Oh, there was an ADP screensaver listed in the software list. That might be cool to check out.

[@clabretro]

oh good catch!

[@casperghst42]

Congratulations! SOAP is actually quite nice to work with (I've spend a lot of time with it), as the URL hardly never changes it is the payload which tells what to access (nice when it comes to programming). IBM and Compaq made some nice stuff, easy to access. Sadly also very expensive. The LSI is actually quite nice, you use it to configured a HW raid, then wait many hours for it to sync and then you'd install your OS. I installed Netware 3.12 / 4.x and 5.x on a few of these. RSA is 2fa (RSA Tokens) - you'll never get access without having the correct token. The disks might be encrypted which makes it impossible to access the data.

[@electrickery]

Nice work! You can probably get into that system by either booting off your Linux live CD and mounting the hard drive or booting the existing OS in single-user mode. After that, you can edit the passwd and/or shadow files to remove the root password and find out which other user accounts exist. The usernames for the application software might be in another file or database - but if you have root, you can do whatever you like...

[@clabretro]

exactly, that's what I'm thinking!

[@SuperSulc]

I think the root password was guessed correctly, the shell was asking for the RSA is/passcode.

[@Tatersalad812]

I worked in a recycling facility and I always snagged the drives and ran a deep scan on them and some of the stuff ive seen still shocks me

[@Space_Reptile]

Wall server is certainly a neat thing, id keep it up there, even when in use for actual things

[@ricardobornman1698]

Himm. One can safely assume that C162415 is a dealership code. Any dealership has a unique code that it's H/O identifies it with. When we bought a VW dealership, we had CDK (and we were issued new dealer codes) running there as per VW specifications and we wanted it changed to Evolve (was Brighthouse then bought out by Dimension Data) and the process was an absolute nightmare, but we got it done. The licensing for CDK was also ridiculously expensive compared to other DMS's.

[@clabretro]

Interesting!

Super interesting. I would love to see if you could access the ADP software and snoop around

[@clabretro]

Totally, if it ends up being interesting I'll do some sort of follow up!

[@Log4Jake]

yea it would be super cool to look through those files.

[@BrainboxccGames]

the RSA ID is a small keyring dongle with a rotating secure random number on it which changes every minute. it's basically early 2fa. You would be assigned a user id by RSA, and given a dongle for the Secure ID. You would enter these after your normal username and password. They were quite common in the 2000s and early 2010s, not as common now people can just use Google authenticator...

[@alexdhall]

In some industries, including government agencies they are still commonly used. Especially in secure spaces where one can't bring their phone in.....

[@ax14pz107]

We still use RSA tokens for VPN login. I have a hardware token because the soft token requires you to agree that security can wipe your phone and there's no way in hell I'm going to allow my employer the ability to wipe my personal devices.

[@pavelvrasskii1359]

Thank you so much for this journey!

[@clabretro]

thanks for watching!

[@xXBeefyDjXx]

This is nuts, albeit not a proper resurrection since you changed the board, it's still cool to see those drives spin up and the ADP stuff. Judging by what's on there it's clear each of these "endpoint" servers just mirrored a huge amount of the software/contents required for client side, though it's the same for quite a few DMS systems and other platforms too since it helps to localize things for maximum resiliency and ensures that there isn't too much load on the main core hosts. Now, a lot of DMS systems are "cloud hosted" by a licensed provider and it's really hard to get things from them, a lot of them are super outdated too because they won't update to newer renditions of the platform without new contracts and a hefty price tag!

[@AnonyDave]

While I see you eventually got a login prompt, I did notice that the kernel arguments set the console to the first serial port. That'll probably be why you got nothing on the video until then. Plug in a serial console, 38400 baud, and I reckon you might get the boot log But I guess someone else probably already said that. This is what I get for going out half way through watching it and then coming back hours later.

[@clabretro]

Heh I did try serial, but only a couple lower baud rates and then it finally hopped to the prompt over VGA.

[@danscannell9353]

Love the dark synth track "Juiced" by Karl Casey, really suits the mood

[@clabretro]

he's great!

[@troyBORG]

I have an X3650 M3 sitting in my basement. I don't use it anymore as I built a new server. But it was a good server.

[@kc9nyy]

The OS looks like a derivative of RHEL5, try downloading the last release of CentOS5 from an archive & boot from the ISO, as long as the disks aren't encrypted you should be able to mount the OS disk from the iso, chroot to the OS disk, and reset the root password, or if you want to leave it as is you could add your own local account with sudo permissions. Another good video but you need to get back to the Sun equipment.

[@LeeZhiWei8219]

Oh dude! It has been a long while. (since this started!) it is super awesome to see the server up and running... My dad had a M3 and M5 both didn't boot... I think it was due to the IMM being stuck on boot for the M3, the M5 just mysteriously died at "Initialising Memory"... Also wow. The IMM used the SOAP API. I wonder if the IMM2 of the M4 and above used REST... Haha.

[@LeeZhiWei8219]

The LSI WebBios reminded me of reinstalling Windows Server 2016 on the X3650 M4, for my job. Wiping the disk array of 2012 R2 to prep for the install haha.

[@clabretro]

I don't know for sure but wouldn't surprise me if the later IMMs were the same haha

[@LeeZhiWei8219]

@@clabretro haha. Yep if it ain't broke don't fix it

[@ayitsyaboi]

It looks really cool on the wall. I have an old laptop board hung up on the wall near my little network rack for some Discord bots. It has a built in UPS hah.

[@clabretro]

ha nice!

[@markpriceful]

Great work, awesome to see it boot up! I like the "you should wipe your hard drives" - its not a threat, its a promise! :) Lets go!

[@andresbravo2003]

Worth the system even better. Glad it’s done.

[@heinowalther5023]

Pretty sure the RSA prompt is for an additional security device from RSA. They had some SecureID dongles back in the day which was used as a MFA...

[@briansmyla8696]

Yes, IBM issued me a dongle when I worked for them in the late 90s.

[@ConnerBurns]

Loving your videos! Thank you!

[@clabretro]

thanks!

[@OBSESSED1954]

I have not watched this yet but YAAAAAAAAH! I have a soft spot for the 3650 M2 so here goes nothin'

[@oscarcharliezulu]

You stuck it on the wall. Nice.

[@hendra_joe_]

"So, put a little bit protection" when just put blue tape on it 😂😂😅

[@shawsplace-876networking5]

Most definitely go for the plexiglass I think it will look awesome

[@fokthewef]

My recollection is a bit foggy. But if im not mistaken i bought a few x3650 for an ISP i worked for back in 2007.

[@aeleequis]

I love your stuff. Nice job

[@clabretro]

thanks!

[@st4rm4st3r]

that is a nice server and an interesting machine, that server has seen the front lines :D that said, if those HDDs weren't wiped then that is a lawsuit waiting to happen, because not 100% sure about back then but nowadays, ADP is a payroll company, so more than likely that server is going to have employee paycheck and time-clock data on it if those HDDs weren't wiped, the amount of PII (Personally Identifiable Information) on that server is horrifying if that is genuinely the case lol

[@clabretro]

they still have a payroll offering. not totally sure yet but I suspect this one is just dealership stuff, but it could still very well have PII on it of its tracking things like maintenance appointments

[@st4rm4st3r]

@@clabretro awesome, though to clarify a few things with my comment: I know now they are a payroll company, because I use them at my current place of employment, just wasn't sure they always did, second, I hope you wouldn't get in trouble for having that data by mistake, but any company that has sensitive employee or customer data like that is legally obligated to destroy any data storage with social security stuff, or potential social security stuff on it, while a bummer for hardware preservation, it's better that than having your retirement jacked from someone stealing your full identity 😰

[@RealEngineer]

Woooohooo! New video 🎉🎉

[@Ragepro3D]

Love the great vids keep it coming!!!!

[@clabretro]

thanks! more on the way.

[@Natsumidragneelkim]

I wonder if that board was at one time in a server that was owned by Taiwan semiconductor Manufacturing

[@Log4Jake]

Just found your channel today im subbing.

[@clabretro]

thank you!

[@aod420247]

I just have one of these away because I was missing the ram risers

[@JanJanson84]

The LEDs on the 7 Segment Displays doing their funky stuff means, that the IMM is starting and diagnosing as far as I remember. They will turn solid after about 10min when everything is fine, if not, you will see the fault leds. We also got the "BRD" error with some customers and got a guy from IBM/Lenovo to change the whole board.

[@JanJanson84]

BTW that were x3550 M3 servers

[@JanJanson84]

@clabretro Oh another thing, you see the small purple like stick on the old board? I case your new board doesnt have it, swap it to the new board. I think this contains the license for the IMM. You cant use the the remote console without this license.

[@jevgenijobzigailov2376]

I'm almost sure that it can run Xeon X5675 - I'm using one in X3400 M2. I remember it's quite picky about USB drives, some of them not recognized by BIOS at all. Took me a good hour to get it working because initialization delays are huge. I was successful with 16GB Sandisk USB3 from 2013, installed Server 2019 from it. Boot drive was prepared by Rufus. However months after I configured my server I discovered Ventoy, which worked with everything from 2007 Lenovo 3000 to modern AM4 systems.

[@friedgpu]

damn bro YOU ARE GOOD

[@TrolleyMC]

Wow, insane that company didn't wipe those drives, glad you got the server booting though, is it possible to run both of those power supplies for redundancy?

[@clabretro]

Yup I'm gonna leave the second one in there (though admittedly more for storage than for redundancy in this case 😅)

[@leo_craft1]

I don't know where am I but this guy is really cool and likes ibm as i also do

[@dsfdfssqdfsqfdfqsd4235]

Enter the linux with the classical grub modification that'll allow u to get into the server without having to know the password :))

[@sats_nak]

yep this is the way - jump into single user mode and reset the root password.

[@clabretro]

yup that's the plan 😎

[@MadITGeek]

Im also surprised your X3650 M2 is quiet..I had a X3650 M5 and it had a leaf blower PSU fan and it wasn't exactly quiet even at idle

[@ricke573]

The problem with the original system board is likely to be the voltage regulator, as a lot of the System x servers of this vintage had a voltage regulation design that was... how do I put this delicately... "not highly robust". If your machine was under an IBM service contract, your friendly CSR would show up with a new system board, do the replacement, and leave with your old system board. At that point the system board might be scrapped, or it might be sent out for board level repair and wind up back in IBM stock as a "Certified Spare Part" if it passed the test suite after getting a VRM transplant.

[@clabretro]

oh yeah very likely a regulator. the manual says if a voltage regulator is suspected the "IBM technician should replace the board" haha

[@justanotherhuman-d6l]

The only RSA I know of is RSA ID which is for multi factor?

[@DaveWongillies]

This! Its requiring an RSA token for 2FA

[@clabretro]

yeah very likely!

[@Mr_Meowingtons]

I have a Dell PowerEdge 2970 just need drives for it has dual AMD OPTERON 2435 and 32gb of ram don't know what ill do with it, i did had 8 500gb SSD's in it running TrueNAS and plex for a little bit. LOL i use that LSI Raid Config its not bad when you get use to it. I'm so glad i switched over to TrueNAS for my storage .

[@clabretro]

I've got a truenas instance and I really like it as well

[@laceflower_]

Good lord the schhhhhkAChunc sound and feel of the power supply is unreasonably satisying. Why did IBM make it like that

[@JMassengill]

Nice. Very nice

[@kronos2611]

I'm sure you know by now but the RSA stuff is 2FA looking for your RSA SecureID passcode and current RSA numbers.

[@clabretro]

yeah I think you're right!

[@NebukadV]

28:19 down in the status bar it shows a copyright of 2024 - as if that is not just fetched straight from the current date of the (host?) machine

[@SenileOtaku]

I have a Lenovo TS200 of the same vintage (IBM sold it as the x3200 M2). I noticed you have the Remote Console module in the machine as well. I bought one for mine, but the Remote Console access in IMM uses Java WebStart, and only supported obsolete/blacklisted certificate specs. Oh, and the .jar files are 32-bit. I have YET to get a setup that will access the remote console, other than a basic install of MSWin XP inside of a VM (which means lower resolution video, since XP isn't supported under current virtualization systems). I would really like to move this machine out of my office (this circuit is already maxed out, adding the TS200 is pushing it)

[@mindustrial]

That WEBBIOS logo using old fashion Microsoft Word design really makes me feel old

[@kunarnav1985]

Bro climbed up there like 20 times just to make that IBM server boot and show us

[@matthewgregory395]

What is the Screensaver app?, you could use live cd to reset the root password

[@clabretro]

good eye! I'll have to check that out

[@nasigoreng553]

Good to see people messing around with these older servers. Im currently tickering with my x3650 and x3550, no sas drives.... shame But im figuring some workarounds to still boot them. Living on the old with these servers is fun and cheap

[@MadITGeek]

I've seen that SAS BIOS before on a old-scsi powered Dell poweredge. it behaved better-you would press the hotkey during POST it will load up and you would only see its screen and nothing else until pressed save and exit it also had a import config wizards (and others) built in. On this IBM the window keeps disappearing and re-appearing-weird Perhaps it works better if the server is in BIOS boot vs UEFI boot? its very impressive to me a 2009 server even has UEFI at all!

[@clabretro]

agreed! yeah the UI reloading with every click was mainly what I was complaining about ha

[@WoolieOG]

web ui with all the activeX applets was fascinating, too bad you couldn't login

[@JohnKiniston]

I wonder if a old version of kon-boot would get you a root prompt, I used it about that era of 2.6 Linux, you will have to find a old copy as now it’s commercial and windows/mac

[@Name-gl6lf]

the ADP os probably boots, but the reason it "hangs" is because the console= kernel flag is set to ttyS0, which sounds a lot like serial. huh, looks like it booted anyways. fun.

[@clabretro]

Yeah tried serial but only a few different baud types, probably just didn't test the right one.

[@aeleequis]

What do you plan on installing? Linux? Windows server? I mean, after cloning the drives for archival

[@clabretro]

it'll run Linux very well, but might throw windows server 2003 or 2008 on there. though win 7 might be funny lol

[@thorsteinj]

If you want something really cursed and somehow can make it run with a max. of 512 MB of RAM you could slap Windows 98 SE on it and run Microsoft Personal Web Server.

[@DrakeDaraitis]

ADP is a pay roll company. My mom works there.

[@ran2wild370]

Ugh, that thing draws a lot of power :-) But I'd like to have x3 even 146GB drives to boot virtual machines from that array.

[@thorsteinj]

Had an x3650 m1 once that - just sitting there idle - pulled more than my entire homelab. These machines are super cool but it's silly how much better modern servers are regarding power use.

[@RobertGallop]

You can likely get into single user mode and reset the root password if you can google how to get into single user mode with grub. Likely just add init=/bin/bash or /bin/sh to the end of the linux line

[@clabretro]

yeah I'm thinking that's what I'll try

[@thorsteinj]

2.6-ish linux is apparently also hilariously easy to get into. But as someone has pointed out that RSA implementation might prove exciting.

[@joeperry2617]

How do you find deals on eBay? Everything seems crazy overpriced. I am always looking for Sun and IBM retro.

[@clabretro]

well... it's not always a deal haha. the servers are tough, shipping kills you. much better to find locally whenever it's possible.

[@slightlyevolved]

Nice set of vids. I have a a ton of x3650 M3 hardware, so feel free to reach out if you need anything. I'd rather schlep it to someone directly than deal with the ebay BS. I have three working chassis all with 56xx series CPUs (duals) and all but one has dual PSUs.

[@clabretro]

thanks! I'll reach out if I ever dive into M3s.

[@slightlyevolved]

@@clabretro Sure thing. Pretty sure 90% of the components are the same. Pretty much only the bios/CPU sockets. While the motherboards are different, I believe they use the same chassis though.

[@MrMoon1ight]

сделай ему крышку из пластика прозрачного с подсветкой и будет красивый экземпляр на стене 👍😊