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Delimiter HP BL260c E5420 16GB 2x500GB / Benchmarks and Initial Impression
I recently got this Delimiter HP BL260C E5420 dedicated server for $60/quarter (actually $59.40/quarter with a 1% coupon). So about $20 a month.
- Dual E5420 cpus (8 cores total)
- 16GB RAM
- Two 500GB hard drives
- 10TB bandwidth
It took about 3 1/2 days to get it after ordering (during the business week). I paid with bitcoin. After getting an automated email that they had received my payment, I received no further emails until 3 1/2 days later when I got an automated "your server is ready" email. The long silence made me a little nervous, but it all worked out.
It came delivered by default with Centos 6 (what I would have chosen anyway). There are options to reprovision to a different OS, and I noticed in the setup options it could also configure software RAID if you want it. I'll probably keep the drives separate so I can use all the space. The server does not have a hardware RAID card.
It looks like the hard drives are WD Blue 5400 rpm 2.5" drives.
Here's smartctl info for the first drive:
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Device Model: WDC WD5000LPVX-22V0TT0 Serial Number: WD-WX21EC3FVT96 LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 60453af83 Firmware Version: 01.01A01 User Capacity: 500,107,862,016 bytes [500 GB] Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall] ATA Version is: 8 ATA Standard is: ACS-2 (revision not indicated) Local Time is: Fri Jan 29 17:29:28 2016 PHT SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 0 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 154 149 021 Pre-fail Always - 1300 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 280279 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 087 087 000 Old_age Always - 10133 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 30 191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 29 193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 714500 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 124 097 000 Old_age Always - 19 196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
And the second drive:
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Device Model: WDC WD5000LPVX-00V0TT0 Serial Number: WD-WX81E73SKCV2 LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 6aec5a286 Firmware Version: 01.01A01 User Capacity: 500,107,862,016 bytes [500 GB] Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall] ATA Version is: 8 ATA Standard is: ACS-2 (revision not indicated) Local Time is: Fri Jan 29 17:40:20 2016 PHT SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 0 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 151 151 021 Pre-fail Always - 1441 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 34 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 080 080 000 Old_age Always - 14853 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 34 192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 32 193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 1003821 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 121 102 000 Old_age Always - 22 196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
Note that the first drive has a "power on hours" value of 10133 hours (1.15 years) and the second drive has a "power on hours" value of 14853 hours (1.69 years). This seems contrary to Delimiter's claim that they always use new or almost new drives when they deploy their servers.
Here's dd output for the first drive:
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/root/test bs=64k count=16k conv=fdatasync 16384+0 records in 16384+0 records out 1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 12.0549 s, 89.1 MB/s
More later if I can think of anything else.
Comments
Of course, Unix Bench.
Dirty cheap! I do not really know what's a point to rent it for just 20$, it will use more electricity and traffic than gives any profit... Anyway, GOOD LUCK!
One year disk is not that old I got many 5 to 8 year drives.
@mikeyur
@MarkTurner
I would not called a 1yr + disk new though.
I'm guessing they are consolidating the 500GBs from previously cancelled E5420s, and those don't need to be perfectly brand new when most customers that choose the 2x 500GB option will probably go with RAID1.
I mention the disk age because, if you read some recent Delimiter threads, they say that they only use new or as-new (no more than a few months old) drives.
Never mind.
How manyipv4
It came with one ipv4. There are options on the order form for more at $1 per month each. 1, 2, 3, 4, or a /29, or a /28. You can see them here:
https://cc.delimiter.com/cart/dedicated-servers/
Yup, I have 6 5+ year old drives in my desktop/gaming rig and they're still running great - the OP just mentioned it because Delimiter said something about only using new drives.
Thank you for the feedback, I am glad to hear you are happy with your server.
It was less than 2 business days after your order was reviewed. Bitcoin is subject to the same review process as credit card or paypal, potentially even more as there is third party verifiable name/address data available.
Just like when you order from Amazon, you get an email confirming your order, then you don't get any more emails from them until the goods ship. The timescale was clearly stated on the offer posted.
The primary products are 1TB and 120GB SSD both are delivered with new/as-new disks. The 2x500GB disk offering is a temporary offer to give customers who want 2x500GB instead of 1x1TB then option. We stopped ordering 500GB disks at the end of last year at the same time ceased offering the Dual X5150 server. Those units are shipped down to Brazil as they get handed back.
If you switch the power regulator mode to performance rather than dynamic, you'll get higher results.
At home I have a few really old drives (5+ years), and I've also had plenty fail that were only 1-2 years old. Three dead 3tb seagates sitting in my office that died in less than 2 years, and a fourth one on it's last leg.
@david do they not perform as you want them to?
@ATHK they're fine.
I bought the same package, but with 120 SSD.
I will post benchmarks when I have the service.
I bought it at Jan 27 18:00 (GMT -3).
Drives between 1 and 2 years old in a server are preferred for me when renting. It means they are old enough that had any present faults existed they would have shown themselves and new enough to have plenty years left in them.
This whole "The drives are too old" thing is just meh...
Understood. I have no complaint there. Just sharing what I experienced so somebody else that orders will know that the silence is normal.
That's good to know. I wished I had known before I ordered, but that's ok.
Thanks for the tip. I tried to change the setting but I don't have the privileges to do it. Is that something I need to contact support to do?
It says "NOTE: You must have the Configure iLO 2 Settings privilege (Configure Local Device Settings privilege for directory users) to alter this setting." And it won't do anything if I change the setting and click apply.
I also can't change the power setting.
I think he's talking about CPU Frequency Scaling, you can do this from the OS or BIOS.
I can't remember the specific BIOS setting, but should have something to do with CPU frequency/power states. You want to disable the scaling/power states and keep it in performance mode.
I think the L/E 5420s will drop to ~2GHz in dynamic, so you want to set performance mode and keep them pegged at 2.5GHz.
Debian: https://wiki.debian.org/HowTo/CpuFrequencyScaling
CentOS: http://unix.stackexchange.com/a/77604
Thanks. Do you know if there's a trick to get into the BIOS on these? I'm connected to the KVM and keep rebooting. It says F9 = Setup, but pressing it doesn't enter the BIOS. Tried F8, F9, F10, DEL, but nothing seems to work.
Use the KVM, don't use the integrated client (think it's the 3rd one down).
if you've got the same dedi as I have, just keep pressing one of your Fnumbers button until you get it. It appears shortly after that big ugly dell logo shows up for a few seconds.
I changed my virtual iso(for reinstall ,but failed at networking setup) over kvm yesterday so it works.
There can be a bit of delay, so right before I know it's coming up I start mashing the key
I'm sure there's a better way to do it though.
This was it. I was using the 1st option "Integrated Remote Console" and I needed the 3rd one "Remote Console." I had another problem, though, in that it didn't work right with Windows 10. I'd get a ClassNotFoundException when the applet tried to load.
http://community.hpe.com/t5/ITRC-Remote-Lights-Out-Mgmt-iLO/iLO2-Remote-Console-not-working-com-hp-ilo2-remcons-remocons/td-p/6418502
They have new iLO firmware for it, but I don't think I have access to install that. I did get it to work in the end, though, by disabling TLS 1.1 and TLS 2.0 in the Java settings. The applet still failed the first time, but after reloading it, it worked. After it loaded, F9 worked to get into the BIOS.
I changed the setting here:
Even after changing the power settings, I'm unable to get acpi-cpufreq to load, though.
I think it's still working without that, but I'm not sure. I reran UnixBench. Single thread performance improved a little, from 883 to 914. Multi-thread performance dropped from 3346 to 3312.
I would prefer to control it from the OS using "OS Control Mode" and something like
https://gist.github.com/trick77/21cfc65c769609be29e2
I'm guessing his HP Proliant BL260 won't show a Dell logo :-)
Good times and memories of logos die quickly.
You just broke thousands of graphic designers' hearts!
run & put into /etc/rc.local
Verify with /proc/cpuinfo , mhz should always match top frequency.