SunFire V100 PATA Hard Disks

The SUN SunFire V100 uses legacy Parallel ATA (PATA) – UltraATA 100 – hard drive controllers. A base configuration V100 has one included hard drive (generally 40GB or 80GB) with a removable “drive cage”. A second drive can be installed but will require the addition of a second drive cage. Otherwise there is no where to place the second drive.

Confusingly, the single drive configuration puts the only hard drive on the same cable as the CD-ROM device. This can be confusing – especially when installing a new hard drive to replace the original. Today most hard drives ship with their jumpers set to “Cable Select” as this works 99% of the time. However, in the case of the V100, you will need to manually set the hard drive to “Master” as the CD-ROM is already set to “Slave”. They are backwards on the cable.

If a second hard drive is installed it can be set to either “Cable Select” or “Master” as it will be the only device on the cable. “Master” is the recommended setting as it protects against unknown issues and is more reliable.

Also confusing is, if you look on the server itself, that the primary controller is the one with no hard drive attached natively (IDE 0) and the native hard drive and the CD-ROM attach to the secondary controller (IDE 1). This isn’t an issue but can be confusing when working from the console.

The biggest surprise to many people when adding hard drives to the SunFire V100 is that the V100 has an IDE Controller limitation of 28bit logical block addressing or LBA which means that the IDE controlling is physically limited to 137GB per device. (Technically this makes the device not a true ATA-6 or UltraATA 100 device but truly an ATA-2 device!) To support larger devices a 48bit LBA is required.

I have put in some serious effort into finding a workaround for the 28 bit LBA issue but have no managed to find one.  This issue is limited to a very small number of SUN UltraSPARC machines and therefore does appear to have been addressed in Solaris.  Perhaps now with the advent of OpenSolaris someone will decide to tackle this problem and write a reliable 48 bit LBA overlay but it appears unlikely.  If anyone knows of a workaround for this issue, please comment and let us know.

Possibly the best option is to use 160GB drives as these are inexpensive and only barely overkill as just 23GB will be unusable. Might I recommend the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 UltraATA100 7200rpm 160GB with 8MB Cache? You can get it quite inexpensively from NewEgg. The 7200.10 is the final generation of the Barracuda drives to include support for PATA connections. The 7200.10 increases performance and reliability over the 7200.9 series by moving to Seagate’s new perpendicular write technology which is very appropriate when installing it into a server of this class.

Check out my SunFire V100 page for everything you ever wanted to know about the SunFire V100 but were afraid to ask.

Accessing the SunFire V100 LOM Serial Console

Unlike traditional “Intel” or PC based servers (HP Proliant, IBM xSeries, Dell PowerEdge, etc.) the SUN SunFire is a RISC server and does not use keyboard, mouse or monitor ports with which to interact with the server. Interactions traditionally takes place through the integrated Lights Out Management, or LOM, port which provides, in addition to a serial console session, basic hardware manipulation – most importantly the ability to power on and power off the device.

Attaching to the LOM port on the back of the V100 requires a console cable. The LOM port itself is an RJ45 port (the same as is commonly used for copper Ethernet connections) and uses RS232 serial communications. For most casual SunFire users the best means of attaching to this connection is to use an RJ45 to DB9 serial cable that can be used to attach to the serial (DB9 Male) connection on most normal personal computers.

Console cables can be purchased cheaply enough (try eBay) or you can make your own. But they are so cheap that I would suggest buying a real SUN cable on eBay. I spent $10. It was worth the money to avoid the headache. If you enjoy making your own cables then be my guest.

If you are using a Windows based PC then the most popular tool for connecting to the console session is Hyperterminal. Hyperterminal is popular and easy to use and is part of the stock Windows operating system so no additional software is necessary. I don’t use Windows myself and am unaware of any known quirks with using Hyperterminal for this tasks. If you are a Windows Vista user then you are out of luck. Microsoft has removed Hyperterminal from its latest OS offering and has not replaced its functionality. Vista is simply lacking in this industry critical functionality. You can complain. Or you can migrate to Linux.

I use a Linux based PC (HP dx5150 running OpenSUSE 10.1 for AMD64 if you must know.) My preferred serial communications tool (by preferred I mean “the one that I know”) is Minicom. Linux.com has a good Minicom Remote Serial Console How-To. Minicom is easy to use and acts, more or less, just like a standard console window making it extra transparent to you, the end user. It also makes it easy to access your LOM remotely by connecting via SSH to your Linux desktop and access the LOM via Minicom in your SSH session. Much easier than running Hyperterminal over an RDP session.

The RS232 serial settings for the LOM (or the serial ports) are simple:

  • 9600 baud
  • 8 bits
  • No parity
  • 1 stop bit
  • No handshaking

Fire up Minicom (use minicom -s to set the settings) and you should be dropped immediately to the LOM prompt. From here you can type help to get a command list or poweron to turn on your V100 without needing to touch the power switch. Once the V100 has turned on the LOM will automatically pass through the server console and it will be exactly as if you were sitting directly at a terminal attached to the server (which is, of course, another option.)

At any time when using the V100 console that you wish to return to the LOM itself you may do so using the “#.” key sequence. That is “pound-period”.

Note: The SUN Configuring ALOM Document has some good info on the serial settings and on how to build your own console cable.

Learn more about the SunFire V100 from Scott Alan Miller’s V100 page.

SunFire V100 Server

Welcome to Scott’s SUN SunFire V100 UltraSPARC Server page. I decided, after finding a dearth of information online about getting started with one of these machines, that I would make my own little V100 repository on the web for people looking to get some help with SUN’s most basic UltraSPARC server.

The SunFire V100 is an entry level, 1U, One Way, 64-bit UltraSPARC II RISC server that can use processors up to the UltraSPARC IIi 650MHz. PC133 memory up to 2GB max (512MB x 4 slots of 1.) The V100 can hold either one or two UltraATA 100 (PATA – Parallel ATA) hard drives. Note: Due to legacy IDE controller technology of 28bit addressing the SunFire V100 cannot address hard drive space greater than 137GB. Larger drives will be seen as 137GB drives. This is a hardware limitation and cannot be overcome in software.

The SunFire V100 is an excellent introductory server for someone needing a basic UNIX server and is a great way for learning about SUN hardware and the Solaris operating system. Linux, NetBSD and, of course, Solaris are popular options on the V100 although Solaris must be by far the most popular alternative. Solaris runs natively on this hardware and is available as a free download from SUN.

The V100 is not designed with expansion in mind and therefore has no PCI or other expansion slots. The only available locations for expansion are in the upgrading of the existing hard drive, the addition of a second hard drive and the addition of additional memory. No additional controllers or features may be added. The resulting mainboard (motherboard) is extremely spartan, clean and easy to work with. The chassis is mostly empty and one of the easiest servers you could ever hope to work on.

The only difference between the V100 and its big brother the V120 is in the hard disk subsystem. The V100 uses PATA technology allowing you to install two lower performance legacy IDE hard drives (UltraATA up to 137GB) while the V120 allows you to install two SCSI drives (Ultra2 SCSI 80MB/s.) The V120 also doubles the official memory cap to 4GB. The two servers share a form-factor and chassis. (According to the V100 System Board documents from SUN, the V100 equipped with the UltraSPARC IIi (a.k.a. UltraSPARC IIe+) processors can access up to 4GB of memory while the older UltraSPARC IIe processors are limited to 2GB.)

The SunFire V100 is the update of the popular SUN Netra X1. The SunFire V120 is the update of the SUN Netra T1 AC2000.

If you are new to SUN hardware you might be surprised to find that the V100 does not have ports for a keyboard, mouse or monitor. Accessing the V100’s console can be done through either the Lights Out Management (LOM) or Serial ports. However, these ports use RJ45 connectors instead of traditional serial connectors so a special console cable must be purchased or built.

Overall the V100 is inexpensive when purchased used (it has not been available new for some time), light weight, quiet, relatively “green” with low power consumption and low heat dissipation needs and very easy to work on. It is the perfect machine for many small businesses and UNIX enthusiasts looking for an entry into the enterprise UNIX RISC server market.

Working with the SunFire V100:

Resources:

September 12, 2007: Oreo @ Home

A friend in London sent me a link to the BBC’s Day in Pictures. There are some good pictures in there but the best is number seven. So cute!  Oreo wants to take a vacation in Japan now.

Today is my work from home day this week.  I had to work from home today because I have to go in to Newark’s traffic court at 31 Green Street for a traffic ticket (failure to display insurance card) from several weeks ago.  My court time is at eight thirty.

I got up and worked this morning for over an hour before walking Oreo and heading on out to the court.  The nice thing is that the court is just a little way down the street so it is an easy walk and I don’t have to bother getting the car out.  So I walked down to the court building and sat there for two hours before my name came up.  This was my first appearance and all I did was get instructions for what to do the next time that I go there – which is Monday the 17th.  The people who worked at the court were very gruff but the judge was very friendly.  It is a pain that I have to return on Monday but it isn’t stressful now that I know the process.

On my way home from court I stopped by Food for Life as they were just opening up and I grabbed a “The Round” for breakfast.  I don’t manage to get breakfast there very often so it is a nice treat when I do.

Oreo was very happy to have a daddy-doggie day as it has been a  while since he and I had the chance to spend the day together.  It is important bonding time for us.  Unlike most days when he is off from daycare he didn’t just sleep all day today but actually wanted to go on several walks and even made me play fetch with him at length.  It has been a long time since he has had so much energy.

It was a very normal work day for me.  Nothing to report.  I took the time while I was home today to order the drives that I am going to settle on for the SunFire V100s that I have.  I can’t use the very cool 500GB drives so I just got 160GB drives and will suck it up and only get to use 137GB of each of them.  What a bummer.  At least they will work.  I have tested out both boxes and am very confident in them.  It is just too bad that they won’t be nearly as useful as I had hoped.

I also got a chance to test out two “new” desktops that I have recently received.  The one was supposed to be an HP d530 with a 2.66GHz Pentium 4 but turned out to be the almost identical HP dc5000 with a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 (533MHz FSB.)  I was very happy to discover that.  It didn’t come with an OS so I loaded up OpenSUSE 10.2 to test it out and the machine works like a charm.  Snappy and quiet.  Just what I like.

I also tested out an older Pentium 4 1.7GHz based HP Vectra.  It too tested out fine after I loaded OpenSUSE 10.2 on it.  Good deal.  That baby was just $42!  Can’t go wrong there.  Both machines are small form factors which I really like.  So this week I have done two Solaris installs and two Linux installs.  It’s been a busy week.

I had a hankering for pizza so for a late lunch, after two thirty, I walked over to Queen Pizza II across the street and grabbed myself a couple of slices.

I did manage to do a little cleaning today but not nearly as much as I normally get to do on my work from home days.  We have been falling behind recently.  At least today was a move in the right direction.

Dominica got home just after five thirty.  Not having to take Oreo to daycare really improves her day!  We hung out for an hour or so and then ordered in dinner from Big Bite – the Greek diner around the corner.  She got a veggie burger sub and I got a fish fillet sub.  We watched one episode of Ballykissangel and decided to call it a night.  Even with the evening being as early as it was we really only managed to squeeze in that one episode plus the miscellaneous things that we have to do in the evenings.

Dominica was pretty tired so we headed off to bed just after nine!  She did have homework to do though so she did some reading from bed.  It was actually after ten when we actually tried to go to sleep.  Oreo was extra snuggly in appreciation of having a day at home with me.

Tomorrow is a normal day at the office.  Friday we are leaving directly from Warren, NJ to head out to Alliance, OH.  Dominica is going to leave work, pick up Oreo and (hopefully not have to go home as the car should be packed) drive straight out to Warren where she will pick me up.  We will leave the Mazda here in Warren and we will drive the BMW out to Ohio.  We would take the Mazda but Dominica’s back doesn’t like the softer seats on long trips so we have to use the Beamer when we do that now.

September 11, 2007: Basic Instructions

The incredible rains returned again today. Today they didn’t begin until almost noon although there was some amount of rain all night causing light flooding around Newark on my drive into the office.

At two thirty this morning the smoke detectors in Dominica and my apartment went off because of the incredible humidity. Of course I lept from bed and ran into the living room to see if there was actually any smoke or something causing the smoke detectors to go off. The moment I emerged from the bedroom my glasses fogged right up from the ambient humidity so I was pretty confident that that was the problem.

On my drive in, the windows of the Starbucks located roughly next door to our apartment were completely fogged up (someone was really enjoying their coffee this morning.) So much so that water was literally running down the windows on the inside!

I decided to get breakfast but to skip lunch today. I wanted coffee so I went down to the cafeteria and a large coffee, a donut (don’t tell Dominica) and an egg ‘n’ cheese on a hard roll.

One of the Java developers that I work with – I work with a lot of them – told me to definitely switch to using the Eclipse IDE for my Java work. So I downloaded and installed that today and began to play with it. I first tried out Eclipse a very long time ago and it has definitely come a very long way since that first trial that I gave it several years ago. So far it is working very well for me but my needs are incredibly basic at the moment. I have been using jEdit and vi for my Java development up to this point so the comparison is not really relevant.

Thanks to Scott Adams, today I discovered a new comic strip called Basic Instructions. Good stuff. Very entertaining. I think that I especially like the strip because the main character is like a thin, and funny, version of me. I especially like the one on “Morning People“. This one on “Justifying Extravagant Purchases to Your Spouse” is totally Dominica and I. (It even looks like me! And his name is Scott!)

This “semester” I am taking “Introduction to Storage Networks” from the HP Learning Center. I am halfway through that class today. Basic stuff but all learning is good learning, I say.

I went home at normal time.  It was still raining but only lightly by that time.  I was home by five.  We had two packages delivered today.  One package was Dominica’s next order of coffee for her Keurig one cup coffee maker that she just loves.  And the other was my “new” SUN SunFire V100 server which I imediately unpacked and set up to test out.  Externally the machine was immaculate and all the physical parts were as described.  The machine powered on easy from the LOM and booted right into Solaris.  Everything checked right out.
Before Dominica got home I unpacked her new coffee and started brewing her a fresh cup of something other than the same coffee that she has been stuck with for the past week or two.  Then I called Nino’s in Harrison and ordered in some pasta for dinner.  Fettuccini alfredo for me (with broccoli and eggplant) and fettuccini funghi for her and some garlic bread.  I have come to believe that Dominica would much rather have me just order dinner and decide what she is getting than have to look at a menu and decide for herself.  So I just ordered it.

We ate our dinners and started the fourth season of Ballykissangel.  Dominica did some laundry and I got to work building Solaris servers.

I am working from home in the morning.  I have to go to Newark court in the morning to deal with my traffic tickets from several weeks ago.  That is at eight thirty in the morning at the court on Green Street just around the corner.  At least it is just around the corner.