Help: upgrade an HP 9000 D class server (hardware)

[Wei Wang]

Hi, I have an HP 9000 D class (D370) server which is about 6 years old. Currently it has 512MB RAM and two 9.1GB hard disks, and it's running HP-UX 10.20. I want to upgrade this server to run HP-UX 11.0, with faster CPU, more memory and disk spaces.

My question is: what is the maximum capability of this server? i.e. can I add up to 2GB memory to it and the server can still manage/utilize all the memory well? How fast CPU can I get for this server?

I want to upgrade/replace CPU, memory and hard disks. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Jesse Dougherty · Accepted solution]

Hi Wei, the top of the line D class server is the D390-2 way box, it is a dual 240MHz CPU box. HP did not
make one bigger one than that. You are able to swap out your Dx70 CPU for the D390-2 way cpu. You can keep your existing power supply. This upgrade costs about $1,000.00. The upper end D class servers can take up to
3GB of memory using all 512MB memory kits. HP makes up to 18GB hot swap drives for the D class servers. Let me know if I can help with your upgrade.

Thanks
Jesse Dougherty
Cypress Technology, Inc
Re-Sellers of HP 3000/9000 products
12890 Automobile Blvd
Clearwater, FL 33762
727-557-0911 / fax 727-557-0014
jesse@cypress-tech.com
www.cypress-tech.com

[Wei Wang]

Thanks a lot Jesse, your answer has been very helpful for me to estimate what costs the upgrade would be and how much we can achieve by upgrading the box. Thanks again for the timely answer.

Regards,
Wei

[Mark Landin]

Since you are upgrading practically everything on the box, you might consider just buying a whole new box! The used market is just filled with cheap servers and workstations.

What new workload are you going to have that will require this upgrade? (If I'm not mistaken, 11.x will run on the D370 as you have it.)

[Wei Wang]

We intend to install on this server several Enterprise Applications which could consume quite a lot memory and disk spaces. There would be up to 100 users sign-on this server everyday after upgrade. We know this server is out-of-date and may not be able to handle this workload if not upgraded.

Our management is assessing the costs of upgrading and purchasing a new one to see which way is the best to go.

Thanks for your comments.

[Mark Landin]

Well if it's going to be doing "serious" work I'd try to do something besides upgrade a D. Because, once you exhaust your D390, what are you going to do?

You can mail me at mark.landin@tdwilliamson.com and I can turn you on to a used hardware vendor I've had very good success with.

[doug hosking]

Something like an A500 or rp24xx would seem to be worth looking into. That would give you a substantial boost over your D370, let you use PCI cards, etc. Investing in that might make a lot more sense than in doing many upgrades to an old D-class system.

http://www.e-solutions.hp.com has some
configurator tools that can be helpful in
doing rough configurations and pricing of
new systems.

You might also think about whether it would make more sense to move to 11.11 than to 11.00. 11.00 is 5 1/2 years old already.
Not knowing specifics of your environment it's hard to guess whether there are any blockers to you using 11.11, but I'd certainly suggest you look into that.

If you're willing to consider starting migration to IPF-based systems, the rx2600 running 11.22 would also be worth looking into.