Upgrade K370

[Mona Buck]

Hello,

I'm upgrading a K370, running 10.20, patched thru March 2001 patch bundles. Sybase application is running on the box, majority of users come in via socket, not telnet.

Box currently has 4 CPUs, 200mhz each, and 1 GB memory. I want to take the box up to 6 CPUs and max memory. Has anyone ran into any problems, re: heat, higher fan failure rates, etc.?

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Mona:

The K-class supports up to 6-processors. However, I suggest that you consider looking at replacing your K370 with an N-class. Based on cost, and HP announcements you might find that your initial *and* maintenance costs would be far less for far more. I know this firsthand, having toyed with K-class hardware upgrade prices!

Take a look at this announcement:

http://www.hp.com/products1/unixservers/midrange/kclass/discontinuance.html

...JRF...

[paul courry]

Hmmmm.....

Memory is no problem, you can go to 3.75Gb on 10.20 I believe.

Cpu's, no problem, they are self recognizing as is the memory. You will see a quadrupling in the amount of time it takes to check the memory at boot up. Same for CPU's.

However..............

Double check to see that you don't need a bigger power supply. Some K-class upgrades do require them. I assume you are getting the CPU's from a 3rd party refurbisher? They should know all about what you need. I would suggest that you use 3rd party memory for the rest of what you need unless you are on HP's CSS support. All memory today is guaranteed for life and a 24 hour replacement policy. Price is a lot less.

FYI, anything that runs in place for 30 days is eligible for HP maintenance automatically.

[Dave Wherry]

Mona,
I agree with James. Before spending any money on a K box I would take a serious look at the N's and L's.
The list price on the processors for the K370 is $15,000 each. The Max RAM is 4GB, so to add another 3GB lists for $39,180. Provided you currently have four 256MB modules in your system. If not, you will have to replace them to get to 4GB.
So, you are somewhere around $70,000 list to do the upgrade. Granted nobody pays list and you can get this stuff used. I just do not think upgrading a K is worth it, especially after that discontinuance announcement.

Performance wise, a maxxed out K370 gets you 21,350 estimated TPM. A 4 processor L3000 gives you 34,500 TPM. You could probably get by with 3 processors, have a little room to grow and it is cheaper than an N class box.
If you think your needs may exceed that L in a year or two, as James said look at an N. One processor has a TPM of 9,100 so two procs. would likely carry you for some time. It can grow to eight procs. with a TPM of 60,000. These are all 550MHz procs.

Position yourself to grow, not hit a dead end.

Dave