So, the IBM x440 is not IBM Certified to run OS/2 WSeB. Nonetheless, after checking for drivers and evaluating the hardware in the machine, I decided to give it a go.
Currently, the machine is set up with dual Xeon Pentium 4 2.4GHz DP CPUs in one SMP backplane with 4GB of RAM and active memory mirroring enabled (BIOS function - mirrors the memory so in the event of a module failure, there is no downtime until someone decides to replace the module) which reduced the available memory to 2GB. The server had it's ServeRAID controller removed before it was shipped to us, so currently, the SCSI drives are connected to the internal onboard Adaptec U160 controller (something I plan on rectifying later - read more on that below)
In order to install, I had to go into the BIOS and disable Hyperthreading (hopefully only for the install phase). Otherwise, during the install's format phase (using either WSeB or eCS 1.2MR), the system would do something with the drive (dunno what, but the drive light goes solid) and sit there forever, regardless of whether a quick or long format was selected. Once disabling Hyperthreading, all proceeded fine.
The other possibility is that WSeB and eCS 1.2MR will not install with 4GB installed in the machine (the only other change I made that got formatting working was cutting the memory available in half by enabling memory mirroring, which is transparent to the host OS).
Anyway, the machine is installing blazingly fast with only a few caveats:
- There is currently no network card support on the WSeB CDs (may be with eCS 1.2MR and later, but eCS 1.x does not include SMP support). Not a showstopper, as the drivers do exist and can even be found on IBM's site (Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit drivers)
- One probably cannot install WSeB on one of these without updating the CDs to include the ServeRAID 6M drivers (included in the ServeRAID 6.11 CD and on the 7.0 disks - but not on the 7.0 CD). It is possible that the older drivers will work, but I dont know. Regardless, no big issue as the drivers exist.
ADDED NOTE:
One note on this... some IBM docs state that OS/2 support is non-existent above v6.11 for the ServeRAID Suite. That is not true... at the very least, v7 exists - it simply comes in a separate package. Not a showstopper either as it is not needed on the CD. That just makes it convenient for having the ServeRAID Suite and the OS drivers on one disk instead of on two - either way, one needs to boot to OS/2 through some method (direct OS boot, boot off CD, etc) and copy the drivers onto the OS/2 boot drive. On that note, you CAN simply copy/overwrite the existing drivers while the machine is running and then reboot. They do not get locked.
WSeB properly recognized the presence of multiple CPUs (the x440 uses MP1.4 specs for SMP as opposed to the newer ACPI methods). Both the installer detected them, and the OS itself reports initializing both of my installed CPUs on bootup. (they will both soon be replaced by eight 2.7GHz MP CPUs).
ADDED NOTE:
Whether intentional or as an error, enabling HyperThreading did not increase the number of recognized CPUs. WSeB still sees only two after I re-enabled HT on the machine... perhaps the CPUs I am using dont have HT capabilities, or perhaps WSeB simply does not support it for that series CPU (though theoretically, per Intel, any OS that works with the correct MP specs properly - in this case, MP1.4 - should be able to use HT if the CPU supports it).
As for the NIC card and RAID controller, IBM provides drivers for both for OS/2 on their site or elsewhere, leaving nothing I could find unsupported (except maybe USB, which I have not tested yet, but suspect to work). The video card, like most IBM servers of this age or earlier, is based off an S3 chipset fully supported and properly detected during installation.
So, the following notes for anyone wishing a rock solid server for WSeB (or possibly eCS v2 or an earlier eCS with SMP option):
(1) You will need to either disable Hyperthreading for install, or have less than 4GB of RAM available (if I figure out which, I will let you know)
(2) The ONLY ServeRAID controller supported for this machine and OS/2 is the ServeRAID 6M U320 adapter
- (2a) You will need to update the install disks if you are using this as a boot controller
- (2b) It is a 64bit PCI-X 133MHz card - ONLY install it in Bus C or Bus D (the only 133MHz slots in the machine) if you want full use of it
- (2c) Actually, per various references, it is the ONLY ServeRAID controller supported by any OS for this machine - the 128MB cache version is pretty cheap on eBay, while the 256MB is mutiple times the price.
(3) You will need either (a) the Broadcom drivers for the internal NICs, or (b) to disable them and install other NICs
- (3a) You can simply install/bind all of the networking stuff to "No Network Adapter" during install, and install and rebind to the Broadcom drivers later
(4) If you get a model with Xeon DP processors, expect to only be able to use 2 or 4 CPUs. Two CPUs if you have one SMP backplane, four if you have both SMP backplanes. This is an Intel design issue/aspect, as only two DPs work in a machine. The x440 "cheats" and allows 4 with both SMP backplanes installed because each backplane acts almost like it's own computer as each has their own bus.
- (4a) You can always replace the DP CPUs with MP CPUs (over or at least 3.1GHz is supported) and populate ALL CPU sockets (4 or 8 depending on how many SMP backplanes you have). The price point (currently) for MP CPUs is at 2.7GHz or lower... anything higher is many times more expensive... and besides, eight 2.7GHz CPUs on an OS that scales to SMP so well is blazingly fast... I have 8 on order now to give me a total of over 21GHz CPU power.
- (4b) READ THE HARDWARE MANUAL AND INSIDE (the machine) LABELS CAREFULLY: DP CPUs *MUST* be installed in sockets 1 and 4, MP CPUs should be installed in socket order. EITHER requires a VRM module for each CPU.
- (4c) Memory should MATCH for each bank for each CPU for each SMP expansion module (again, read the label for bank ordering) and be in pairs of 4 per bank. ENSURE that the memory you select (assuming it does not come in the x440 you purchase or in the SMP expansion unit) is fully compatible... best bet, buy used IBM memory for this series from eBay. It IS special memory (high quality ECC registered DIMMs)
(5) Expect a COM.SYS and VCOM.SYS error during boot/install unless you have enabled or installed a COM port.
(6) Read the Setup and Installation Guide and Options Installation Guide for info on how and where to install additional options... the machine has multiple PCI-X buses... use them. Don't waste a high speed card by installing two bus intensive cards on the same bus. Instead, take advantage of the fact that this machine has multiple separate buses and install each in a different bus. For instance, the ServeRAID 6M controller should have it's own bus, as should probably any high speed NIC card (assuming for some reason you dont want to use the built in NICs).
(7) Like most IBM Servers with multiple power supplies, lots of hardware, multiple buses, lots of massive fans and SCSI, expect this thing to use a lot of power - and generate a lot of heat (actually measured in BTUs just like a room heater as it puts out that much). And recognize you need TWO power cords to run this beast.
(8} Expect the machine to be blazingly fast - heck, a FULL WSeB install took barely longer than it took for me to write this post. Boot time is pretty darn quick as well (for an IBM server with this much hardware to initialize... just over 60 seconds for full boot - or less time than the machine itself takes to perform it's POST tests, hardware detection and hardware initialization). Inotherwords, even at just over 60 seconds for OS boot, it's kinda irrelevant, because like all the big IBM servers, this machine does a ton of checks, scans and initialization that take quite some time - all before it even tries booting the OS. So, no matter what, you will never get this machine to boot quickly. Even a soft reset or reboot starts the entire hardware boot sequence at the beginning.
Performance, for the little bit of testing I have done since it just finished installing, also seems as expected.
Anyway, this install was simply for testing purposes. Once I have the ServeRAID 6M, I will be doing a full reinstall, re-enabling HT and all memory (and testing with 8GB just for the heck of it), and let you know how things are going...
I took a chance with this server (and whether or not it would run WSeB), because the performance reviews of it were phenomenal - even with Windows Server installed it manages near perfect CPU scaling due to it's multiple buses for everything (from CPUs to memory to PCI cards).
Best,
Rob