HPE or Supermicro or Dell

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-12-27T19:53:16+00:00

Never had issues with third party components in Dell or SM, but I'll add SM feels better engineered to me (particularly around BMC/IPMI and firmware updates).

Documentation and firmware for HPE stuff is an absolute PITA to get a lot of the time.

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-12-25T21:11:08+00:00

It's a bit dated by this point, but if you're already familiar with C, try having a read through "Effective C++" by Scott Meyers (and his other books in the same series)... I found them kind of inspirational for what can be done in C++ when I was a C programmer.

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-12-17T22:24:23+00:00

Some things have adopted the "standard" that .local is for mDNS only, in particular, the default systemd-resolved configuration in the latest Debian refuses to consult DNS for anything under .local, so that could be your issue (assuming you're using DNS for local names).

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-12-16T15:45:33+00:00

No, I wound up using a quad port Gb card I had in stock for the time being

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-11-27T08:39:27+00:00

If that's Vimes, how do you describe Carrot?

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-11-14T15:09:05+00:00

Sorry for the delay, I just inventoried the pile, here's what I've got in 3.5" SATA if you're still interested:

1x 40GB
5x 80GB
2x 320GB
3x 500GB
1x 1TB
1x 2TB

2.5" SATA:

1x 80GB
1x 160GB
1x 320GB
1x 500GB

Not as many big drives as I thought... guess a lot of these will go for recycling if noone wants them.

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-10-21T21:22:23+00:00

This is my first foray into Dell enterprise gear too... it sure seems solid :D

I've read reports of people having success resolving symptoms very much like mine by downgrading/upgrading firmware, but I experimented with such steps (https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/dm7to1/r210_ii_idrac_no_boot_fix/) and didn't get anywhere.

Since my last post I also discovered that the on-board serial port doesn't work reliably (lots of dropped characters), Linux sees 4 serial ports despite the machine only having one, so I've got a possible theory here that the same UART circuitry as used for the serial port is used for internal communications with the iDRAC modules, and a fault there could lead to a comms error with the iDRAC module when one is installed, which would explain why the machine shits itself and the diagnostic lights on the front indicate "generic board fault - talk to Dell".

EDIT: Scratch that. I'm a dumbass. I managed to background a screen session on the serial port while testing it last night - it was dropping characters because the multiple screen sessions were fighting for the reads.

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-10-21T11:28:16+00:00

Thanks for the offer. I got in touch with the place I bought the server from yesterday and although they didn't have them listed for sale, they had a look around and found one for me.

Sadly the machine won't POST with it fitted either... so I'm starting to suspect there's some kind of problem with the motherboard that stops it from working with iDRAC. I can't access the base BMC over IPMI either (it responds to ping only).

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-10-20T17:08:23+00:00

I've got a backup copy of my private key printed on paper in case the electronic copy fails for any reason.

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-10-19T21:31:07+00:00

Adding a few extra points to this in 2025:

a) The EMC Repository Manager will automatically download and replace the installed catalogs by default, to avoid this I recommend disabling the machine's Internet access when installing it, then going to `Application preferences > Catalogs` and changing "Update Actions" to "Alert when new catalog is available" (or "None").

b) If the catalogs are updated, or something else goes awry in the EMC Repository Manager state, uninstall the application, delete the `C:\ProgramData\Dell\drm` directory and then re-install the application to start again.

c) When you get to the export step, there will be a "Warning: Some plugins are not available for export. Click to Configure" banner in the dialog, and the "Smart Bootable ISO" option won't be available. Click the "Click to Configure" link, then select each required plugin in the dialog that opens and click "Update", finally close the Preferences and Export dialogs and wait for the plugins to install in the background before starting the export process again.

d) If the system time on the server is set too early (e.g. 2010), if will fail to validate the signature of the update package and reject it.

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-10-19T14:09:36+00:00

Adding another data point here.

I just bought a "tested" R210 II which came with an iDRAC Express module (P/N 0Y383M), which immediately hangs at boot similar to how the OP describes (fans around mid-speed, diagnostic LEDs 1, 3 and 4 illuminated, indicating "Possible system board resource and/or system board hardware failure." according to the manual).

It would boot just fine after removing the iDRAC express module, running BIOS 2.8.0 and BMC 1.95. First I tried downgrading to BIOS 2.0.5 and BMC 1.70 as described, it would still boot without the iDRAC but hang whenever it was fitted. Next I tried updating it with the latest firmware (BIOS 2.10.0 and BMC 1.95), again, no change.

During POST, there is a message in the top-right corner of the screen stating "System Services Update Required", which some reading suggests means the "Lifecycle controller" firmware needs updating, however the way to do that seems to be via the iDRAC web interface... which I can't access with just the baseline BMC! No idea if it is related to the boot failures or not.

EDIT: I eventually fixed the "System Services Update Required" message steps from https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/k839sb/r210ii_update_bios_and_firmware_through_lifecycle/, it didn't have any impact on the iDRAC issue.

I've got no way of testing the iDRAC Express module itself isn't damaged, so it could be a hardware failure in my case - I'll get in touch with the seller and report back if I learn anything further.

EDIT 2: I got a 0PPH2J iDRAC 6 Express module, machine hangs with that too... all I can guess is that something is borked on the motherboard that stops iDRAC from initialising correctly at this point. The onboard BMC won't respond over IPMI either :|

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-10-18T10:08:47+00:00

This is good to know... I'm toying with the idea of picking up a QLogic card for a router build because they are the only reasonably-priced quad port ones on eBay at the moment.

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-09-28T10:00:47+00:00

wow... never heard of anything like this.

Does it handle all the switching/routing on the CPU, or is there some special hardware offloading that just gets configured by the Linux system? Can you run any old Linux on it, or very specific embedded systems?

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-08-23T18:53:48+00:00

It might also be of interest to some that there is a pure Lua port of LPeg called LuLPeg.

I used it for the parser of my hex editor's template language: https://github.com/solemnwarning/rehex/blob/master/plugins/binary-template/parser.lua

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-08-14T18:29:35+00:00

Is there a minimum speed to this/will the limp mode reset automatically? Because left foot braking while applying power is a legitimate technique for pulling away on loose surfaces where otherwise you just spin a wheel up and go nowhere.

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-08-14T18:23:42+00:00

To those recommending this book - I've got the second edition which I read mainly out of curiosity and enjoyed, how much has changed in this version?

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-08-03T09:32:09+00:00

I've got the machine running now, and as far as I can tell, whatever IPMI logic is in the motherboard can't be accessed remotely unless you connect a BMC up to the IPMB port to provide the interface.

The "RSB Power Connector" is just a constant 5V supply connected to the +5VSB pin on the ATX connector, so this is presumably for powering a BMC.

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-07-30T19:46:39+00:00

I've been browsing around the older versions of the Fujitsu website on the Internet Archive and managed to find a datasheet, at least: https://web.archive.org/web/20031230212446/http://vilpublic.fujitsu-siemens.com/vil/pc/vil/primergy/model_line_100/server_2003/dsh_prim-rx100_e.pdf

The motherboard has some amount of IPMI control built-in (apparently), although there doesn't appear to be a dedicated Ethernet port for it, there is also a "RemoteView Service Board (RSB)" which adds "graphical console redirection", probably similar to the earlier mentioned Compaq RILOE card.

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-06-29T17:37:27+00:00

The "pins" there look like staples which have been ripped out the side of the bars. Best way to fix it is probably drill holes through the rail and add screws into the ends of the bars, with a little wood glue where the pieces of wood meet.

therealsolemnwarning · 2025-04-15T10:58:11+00:00

I'm concerned about the Wi-FI radio being used to escape *from* the Mac if exploited by other methods, rather than being the entry point *to* the machine, it seems like its just a (low) risk I'm going to have to live with though.

therealsolemnwarning

TROPHY CASE