D220 and D270 upgrade issues

[Nikos Avradinis]

Hello all.

I've got two D-class servers, a 220 and a 270 and some money to upgrade them (which unfortunately cannot be used to buy a new/used system).

The configuration is:

D220
-----------
132 MHz PA-RISC8000 CPU
64MB Memory
4GB Tape
2x4GB Hard disks
HP-UX 10.20

D270 one way
-----------
160 MHz PA-RISC8000 CPU
128MB Memory
4GB Tape
20 GB Hard disks (storage cabinet)
HP-UX 10.20

The D220 is primarily being used as a Web Server (Apache/PHP/Mysql), while the D270 is used as a Web/Database server (INGRES, Apache, Library software).

We are considering to upgrade CPU (?), Memory (take them both to 512 Megs), Hard Disks (2x18GB SE SCSI drives), 12 GB DDS-3 Tape drives.

Does anybody have any suggestions regarding the following?

a) Would it be better to upgrade the D270 to a 2-way system, replace the processor for an 180MHz one or dump the whole CPU upgrade idea and go for even more memory?
b) If we go for the 180MHz, would the 160 MHZ one be possible to be used in the D220 system?
c)Do we have to use HP drives only or could we use any good quality fast SCSI drives?
d)Any suggestions about availability/resellers in Europe?

Thanks in advance,
Nikos

[Joshua Scott · Accepted solution]

Nikos,

First off, you cannot simply add/swap processors on a D-class. Upgrading/Adding CPUs requires a complete board swap.

Memory is easy to upgrade, simply add more to the CPU/Memory board

Hard Drives in the D220/D270 are not hot-swappable, so it would be a major undertaking to upgrade the hard disks. Adding a DDS-3 should be easy.

Regarding your questions:
a) No matter what type of CPU upgrade you do, you'll have to completely replace the CPU/Memory board. go for a D280 (180MHz) 2-way if possible, it was the fastest processor made for the D2XX.

b) yes.

c) as long as the drives are LVD/SE compatable, you can use any manufacturer. HP uses IBM, Seagate, and others.

If possible though, I would go for a D3xx, since they have the hot-swap internal drives. You can purchase this as an upgrade from some resellers. I don't know much about the market in europe, but Epoka is a major reseller based in denmark(?).

[Michael Steele_2]

Listed below are the different config.s for the D-Class.

1) No. 160MHz CPU only for D270. (* 2-way, yes *)
2) No. 132 MHz CPU only for D220.
3) SE Single-ended SCSI devices - Consult the specific device documentation for more information.
4) Resellers ship anywhere.

Model CPU(s) Clock Speed
D200/1 PA7100LC 1 CPU 75MHz
D210/1 PA7100LC 1 CPU 100Mhz
D220/1 PA7300LC 1 CPU 132MHz
D230/1 PA7300LC 1 CPU 160MHz
D250/1 or /2 PA7200 1 or 2-CPUs 100MHz
D260/2 PA7200 2-CPUs 120Mhz
D270/1 or /2 PA8000 1 or 2 CPUs 160MHz
System Overview
D280/1 or /2 PA8000 1 or 2-CPUs 180MHz
D310/1 PA7100LC 1 CPU 100Mhz
D320/1 PA7300LC 1 CPU 132MHz
D330/1 PA7300LC 1 CPU 160MHz
D350/1 or /2 PA7200 1 or 2-CPUs 100MHz
D360/2 PA7200 2-CPUs 120Mhz
D370/1 or /2 PA8000 1 or 2 CPUs 160MHz
D380/1 or /2 PA8000 1 or 2-CPUs 180MHz
D390/1 or /2 PA8200 1 or 2-CPUs 240MHz
Model CPU(s) Clock Speed

[Joshua Scott]

Perhaps I should clarify my statements. You cannot do processor upgrades in the D-class servers. The only way to change the number or speed of processors is to swap out the entire memory/CPU board. The memory/CPU boards are interchangable between servers.

[James Grice]

you could probably buy a used D3xx for what it would cost you to "upgrade" your existing server...

[Michael Steele_2]

In that case its no longer a D220 or D270 but an entirely different model.

[Nikos Avradinis]

Thanks guys.
After a lot of digging in the net, I found quite some information, but your answers were most helpful.
Jim is right, I got a price around 10000 USD to upgrade to a one-way D380 system, and upgrade boards are not the easiest thing to find on the market.
A 2 way refurbished D380 would cost less than 1500 USD.
The problem is that for some bureaucratic reason, we cannot buy used stuff-the money was allocated specifically for "Upgrades". (...and the worst is that the servers are only going to be used for a year more or so, they are going to be replaced by intel-based servers-anyway, that's a long and sad story.)
So, given the total funds we had, the wisest option was to go for memory (1 gig for each server) and forget about the main board upgrade-the servers do not have to cope with any processor-intensive applications anyway, so we should be more than OK.