V240 CPU Fan Modules

[Jeff Wieland]

So, since Sun/Oracle no longer sells the CPU Fan/Heatsink modules for
the V125/V210/V240, we're wondering what people are doing to replace
failed fans on them. The refurbished modules that we've seen appear
to not have the TIM[1|2] intact, so they don't seem to be a viable
option either.

[DoN. Nichols]

Post by Jeff Wieland
So, since Sun/Oracle no longer sells the CPU Fan/Heatsink modules for
the V125/V210/V240, we're wondering what people are doing to replace
failed fans on them. The refurbished modules that we've seen appear
to not have the TIM[1|2] intact, so they don't seem to be a viable
option either.

I've no experience with the V120/V210/V240, and can only find
the V210/V240 in the FEH (Field Engineer's Handbook) stored on
sunshack's site. Looking at the V210, I have questions:

1) Is there a separate fan built into the heatsink? I see a
red/black twisted pair near one corner of the heatsink.

2) If not that, is it simply cooled by one or more of the fans
in the fan tray?

3) What is the "TIM[1|2]]"? I don't find a reference to it in
the FEH pages.

Anyway -- can you look at the actual fan itself and see whether
you can find one at a vendor like Mouser or Newark to swap in? I found
one some years ago for a Sun Ultra 140 which had a fan die. The
original fan was the usual sintered bronze (Oilite) type bearing. I
found one with the same dimensions, voltage, wattage, and bearings, and
another which was the same except for the fact that it had ball
bearings. I ordered that and swapped it into the Ultra 140, and it kept
running without problems until the system finally was retired. (I was
using it as a firewall for quite a while.)

With the Sun Fire 280R, I see that the fan tray has to be
changed if you upgrade to the CU CPUs, and comparing two trays, I see
that the only difference between the trays is that the center fan (for
the CPUs only) is a 14 watt fan instead of a 7 watt fan. Both fans are
three wire -- so they have a tach feedback to the computer which allows
it to detect fan failures. I keep planning on ordering a three-wire 14
watt fan to replace the fan in the spare tray, so I can swap it in at
need with the newer CPUs. (I'll have to remember to mark the tray with
the new part number to avoid confusion if someone else winds up
maintaining these systems -- but they are at home, so this is not too
likely. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

[Jeff Wieland]

Post by DoN. Nichols

Post by Jeff Wieland
So, since Sun/Oracle no longer sells the CPU Fan/Heatsink modules for
the V125/V210/V240, we're wondering what people are doing to replace
failed fans on them. The refurbished modules that we've seen appear
to not have the TIM[1|2] intact, so they don't seem to be a viable
option either.

I've no experience with the V120/V210/V240, and can only find
the V210/V240 in the FEH (Field Engineer's Handbook) stored on
1) Is there a separate fan built into the heatsink? I see a
red/black twisted pair near one corner of the heatsink.
2) If not that, is it simply cooled by one or more of the fans
in the fan tray?
3) What is the "TIM[1|2]]"? I don't find a reference to it in
the FEH pages.
Anyway -- can you look at the actual fan itself and see whether
you can find one at a vendor like Mouser or Newark to swap in? I found
one some years ago for a Sun Ultra 140 which had a fan die. The
original fan was the usual sintered bronze (Oilite) type bearing. I
found one with the same dimensions, voltage, wattage, and bearings, and
another which was the same except for the fact that it had ball
bearings. I ordered that and swapped it into the Ultra 140, and it kept
running without problems until the system finally was retired. (I was
using it as a firewall for quite a while.)
With the Sun Fire 280R, I see that the fan tray has to be
changed if you upgrade to the CU CPUs, and comparing two trays, I see
that the only difference between the trays is that the center fan (for
the CPUs only) is a 14 watt fan instead of a 7 watt fan. Both fans are
three wire -- so they have a tach feedback to the computer which allows
it to detect fan failures. I keep planning on ordering a three-wire 14
watt fan to replace the fan in the spare tray, so I can swap it in at
need with the newer CPUs. (I'll have to remember to mark the tray with
the new part number to avoid confusion if someone else winds up
maintaining these systems -- but they are at home, so this is not too
likely. :-)
Enjoy,
DoN.
--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
(too) near Washington D.C. |http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

Each module has two 25mm fans attached to one end that blow air
across the heat sink and under a shroud. They were used on the
V125, the V210, and the V240, and maybe some other machines
as well. The slower processors used TIM1 as the heat sink compound,
and the faster ones (1.333Ghz and 1.5Ghz) used TIM2. Sun quit selling
these modules around Dec. 2008. Generally speaking, removing the
module from the processor seems to screw up the TIM such that it
would need to be replaced with the correct stuff.

If you're really curious, the document for replacing the module is at
<http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E19102-01/n210.srvr/
817-4048-13/817-4048-13.pdf>

I can't believe that all the V240's have been retired... :-)

We're probably going to try going the "replace the fan without
disturbing the heatsink route" if all else fails. Access to the
fan screws looks pretty tight though.
--
Jeff Wieland

[Michael]

Hi,

Post by Jeff Wieland
So, since Sun/Oracle no longer sells the CPU Fan/Heatsink modules for
the V125/V210/V240, we're wondering what people are doing to replace

<snip>
We're probably going to try going the "replace the fan without
disturbing the heatsink route" if all else fails. Access to the
fan screws looks pretty tight though.
--
Jeff Wieland

I would not go that route since you will almost need to remove the
mainboard, do some digging on heatzink thermal compound insteadcand try
on one CPU first then run it and try the next then you know it it is not
rocket sience.

If you google for those that do overclocking and replacing fans on PCs
you will soon have a grip of it and also probably get a feeling for a
good quality compound.

Here is one.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/index.html


/michael

[Jeff Wieland]

Post by Michael
Hi,

Post by Jeff Wieland
So, since Sun/Oracle no longer sells the CPU Fan/Heatsink modules for
the V125/V210/V240, we're wondering what people are doing to replace

<snip>
We're probably going to try going the "replace the fan without
disturbing the heatsink route" if all else fails.  Access to the
fan screws looks pretty tight though.
--
Jeff Wieland

I would not go that route since you will almost need to remove the
mainboard, do some digging on heatzink thermal compound insteadcand try
on one CPU first then run it and try the next then you know it it is not
rocket sience.
If you google for those that do overclocking and replacing fans on PCs
you will soon have a grip of it and also probably get a feeling for a
good quality compound.
Here is one.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/index.html
/michael

If I had a V240 motherboard to spare, I'd probably try remove and
replace
the heatsink route.
--
Jeff Wieland

[Michael]

Hi,

Post by Jeff Wieland

Post by Michael
Hi,

Post by Jeff Wieland
So, since Sun/Oracle no longer sells the CPU Fan/Heatsink modules for
the V125/V210/V240, we're wondering what people are doing to replace

<snip>
We're probably going to try going the "replace the fan without
disturbing the heatsink route" if all else fails. Access to the
fan screws looks pretty tight though.
--
Jeff Wieland

I would not go that route since you will almost need to remove the
mainboard, do some digging on heatzink thermal compound insteadcand try
on one CPU first then run it and try the next then you know it it is not
rocket sience.
If you google for those that do overclocking and replacing fans on PCs
you will soon have a grip of it and also probably get a feeling for a
good quality compound.
Here is one.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/index.html
/michael

If I had a V240 motherboard to spare, I'd probably try remove and
replace
the heatsink route.
--
Jeff Wieland

if you buy some of the thermal compound as I said and then have some
cleaning alcohol you will find that replacing one CPU will only take 1
hour at most.

BUT follow Sun suggesting in the replacement doc about IF the machine
should be hot OR cold when you removing the original compound this is
very important for a easy cleaning.

Fans are a digikey as posted

/michael

[Cydrome Leader]

Post by Michael
Hi,

Post by Jeff Wieland
So, since Sun/Oracle no longer sells the CPU Fan/Heatsink modules for
the V125/V210/V240, we're wondering what people are doing to replace

<snip>
We're probably going to try going the "replace the fan without
disturbing the heatsink route" if all else fails. Access to the
fan screws looks pretty tight though.
--
Jeff Wieland

I would not go that route since you will almost need to remove the
mainboard, do some digging on heatzink thermal compound insteadcand try
on one CPU first then run it and try the next then you know it it is not
rocket sience.
If you google for those that do overclocking and replacing fans on PCs
you will soon have a grip of it and also probably get a feeling for a
good quality compound.
Here is one.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/index.html
/michael

You can't replace the fans on the v240 heatsinks without removing the
heatsink assembly. It's not hard- no goofy torque wrenches, just your
finger and a tab/lever thing, like on some PC.

One catch-

The thermal paste dries up over time and turns to glue. The cpu may pop
out of the socket with the heatsink. Check for bent pins/bend them back
and you're good. There's a ZIF lever for the CPU, just like on a PC too.

If you disturb the grease or thermal pad, you will need to remove the crud
and replace it. The silver grease mentioned in this post is fine for these
machines. The processors don't get all that hot to start with.

[DoN. Nichols]

Post by Jeff Wieland

Post by Jeff Wieland
So, since Sun/Oracle no longer sells the CPU Fan/Heatsink modules for
the V125/V210/V240, we're wondering what people are doing to replace
failed fans on them. The refurbished modules that we've seen appear
to not have the TIM[1|2] intact, so they don't seem to be a viable
option either.

[ ... ]

Post by Jeff Wieland
Each module has two 25mm fans attached to one end that blow air
across the heat sink and under a shroud. They were used on the
V125, the V210, and the V240, and maybe some other machines
as well. The slower processors used TIM1 as the heat sink compound,
and the faster ones (1.333Ghz and 1.5Ghz) used TIM2. Sun quit selling
these modules around Dec. 2008. Generally speaking, removing the
module from the processor seems to screw up the TIM such that it
would need to be replaced with the correct stuff.
If you're really curious, the document for replacing the module is at
<http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E19102-01/n210.srvr/
817-4048-13/817-4048-13.pdf>

Thanks!

O.K. So "TIM" stands for "Thermal Interface Material" -- in
other words heat sink compound with more pretentious phrasing. :-)

Based on the descriptions, I suspect that the TIM2 would work
for the earlier systems as well, as long as the CPU and heatsink
surfaces are properly cleaned.

From the description of the TIM2, it sounds like a heat sink
compound with powdered silver included to maximize the heat transfer.
The trick is to find out just what that is -- and the mentioned MSDS
(internal page number 6, PDF page number 8) might be helpful in that, if
you can still get that. The heat sink compound has to have come from
some source outside of Sun, and the trick is identifying it (and,
because of the MSDS mention, it *may* have been discontinued as a
product for safety reasons.

Anyway -- once you have a source for what Sun called "TIM2", it
is time to look for replacements for the fan modules. Newark and Mouser
are good places to start. You *might* have to splice the cables,
depending on what lengths and connectors come with the replacement fans.
Are these two-pin or three-pin connectors? (E.g. does the fan have a
tach feedback wire or not?)

Or -- are you needing certified replacement parts as part of a
service contract? I'm accustomed to looking at how to replace/repair
things even when they are no longer supported, but I work with the
computers at home, not in a business. :-)

Also -- can you access the screws securing the fans to the
heatsink modules without removing the modules? If so, you could perhaps
replace the fans while the heatsinks are still mounted to the CPUs. (I
see later in this e-mail that you intend to try this very thing.)

Post by Jeff Wieland
I can't believe that all the V240's have been retired... :-)

I'm sure that they have not. But Sun/Oracle *hopes* that they
will soon be retired, so they can sell new systems and new service
contracts. This sounds like a reasonable motivation for discontinuing
the service modules.

Post by Jeff Wieland
We're probably going to try going the "replace the fan without
disturbing the heatsink route" if all else fails. Access to the
fan screws looks pretty tight though.

Ah good. You can. It looks as though CPU1 should be fairly
easy to get to, but CPU0 may be more difficult.

I picked up from MicroCenter a screwdriver set which includes
several small screwdriver bits of various styles, a magnifying glass, a
handle with a telescoping shank, and a flexible shaft perhaps 7" long
which can go between the handle and the bits. (It can go into the
socket in the shank, or with the shank removed, directly into the
handle. This might enable better control of the screw removal and
replacement process. There is no visible name on the kit, just a "Made
in Taiwan" sticker on the back. The top of the kit is transparent, and
the bottom a pale orange if this helps you to spot them. I got a couple
of extra of these kits which I used for Christmas Presents this last
Christmas. 7 each straight blade, four each Phillips bits (000 through
1, two Pozidrive bits (0 & 1) and 9 Torx and 8 Allen (hex) bits. Of
course, most of this kit does not matter, as long as you have the
handle, the flex shaft, and the right sized bit. :-)

Good Luck,
DoN.

[Cydrome Leader]

Post by Jeff Wieland
So, since Sun/Oracle no longer sells the CPU Fan/Heatsink modules for
the V125/V210/V240, we're wondering what people are doing to replace
failed fans on them. The refurbished modules that we've seen appear
to not have the TIM[1|2] intact, so they don't seem to be a viable
option either.

if anybody cares, the fans on V240 heatsinks are Delta Electronics p/n
AFB02512HHA. Fans are flavor of the week so good luck with an exact part
number match.

Oracle still has plenty of these left for customers with support.

[Michael]

Hi,

Post by Cydrome Leader

Post by Jeff Wieland
So, since Sun/Oracle no longer sells the CPU Fan/Heatsink modules for
the V125/V210/V240, we're wondering what people are doing to replace
failed fans on them. The refurbished modules that we've seen appear
to not have the TIM[1|2] intact, so they don't seem to be a viable
option either.

if anybody cares, the fans on V240 heatsinks are Delta Electronics p/n
AFB02512HHA. Fans are flavor of the week so good luck with an exact part
number match.
Oracle still has plenty of these left for customers with support.

Ok, then Digikey is one good supplier

http://parts.digikey.com/1/parts/437352-fan-dc-axial-12v-25x10-13000rpm-afb02512hha.html

[Jeff Wieland]

Post by Cydrome Leader

Post by Jeff Wieland
So, since Sun/Oracle no longer sells the CPU Fan/Heatsink modules for
the V125/V210/V240, we're wondering what people are doing to replace
failed fans on them.  The refurbished modules that we've seen appear
to not have the TIM[1|2] intact, so they don't seem to be a viable
option either.

if anybody cares, the fans on V240 heatsinks are Delta Electronics p/n
AFB02512HHA. Fans are flavor of the week so good luck with an exact part
number match.
Oracle still has plenty of these left for customers with support.

The part# for the fans is AFB02512HHA-F00 - they are three wire, which
is how
the ALOM monitors the fan speed. We can get these fans, but the leads
are
about an inch shorter than what was used on the Sun modules.

The newer heatsinks with TIM2 work fine on the older processors -
we've got
a couple of those in production.

It's unfortunate that Sun/Oracle chooses to not sell these to
customers. We
recycle a lot of hardware and we do nearly all of the maintenance
ourselves.
This isn't going to sell maintenance contracts - it's going to sell
hardware
from other vendors for which we know we can get replacement parts.
--
Jeff Wieland

[DoN. Nichols]

Post by Jeff Wieland

Post by Cydrome Leader

Post by Jeff Wieland
So, since Sun/Oracle no longer sells the CPU Fan/Heatsink modules for
the V125/V210/V240, we're wondering what people are doing to replace
failed fans on them.  The refurbished modules that we've seen appear
to not have the TIM[1|2] intact, so they don't seem to be a viable
option either.

if anybody cares, the fans on V240 heatsinks are Delta Electronics p/n
AFB02512HHA. Fans are flavor of the week so good luck with an exact part
number match.
Oracle still has plenty of these left for customers with support.

The part# for the fans is AFB02512HHA-F00 - they are three wire, which
is how
the ALOM monitors the fan speed. We can get these fans, but the leads
are
about an inch shorter than what was used on the Sun modules.

O.K. So -- time to splice the cables. I would suggest that you
cut the old cable off fairly close to the old fan and splice it onto the
new fan, which would maximize the number of times you can splice in new
fans (shortening the old cable a little each round) before you have to
find the proper connector and crimping tools so you can make new cables
for the new fans. I would suggest that the splice be lapped as follows:

__________ _________________________
__________=====_________________________
___________________ ______________
___________________=======______________
______________________________ _____
______________________________=====_____

With the "====" actually representing tinned wires from both cables
overlapped and flowed together. (Offset is thanks to the limitations of
ASCII graphics. :-) The liner arrangement assumes that the wires are
like a three-conductor zip cord -- otherwise you will want a tiny
heat-shrink sleeve on each splice.

If the zip cord style -- just a single somewhat larger
heat-shrink sleeve over the whole length of the three splices.

Nicer would be a crimp splice for all three wires at once.

Post by Jeff Wieland
The newer heatsinks with TIM2 work fine on the older processors -
we've got
a couple of those in production.

Good -- from the description, I suspected so, as the TIM2 was
for the higher speed (and thus hotter) CPUs. It should be overkill for
the older and slower ones.

Post by Jeff Wieland
It's unfortunate that Sun/Oracle chooses to not sell these to
customers. We
recycle a lot of hardware and we do nearly all of the maintenance
ourselves.

Amen!

Post by Jeff Wieland
This isn't going to sell maintenance contracts - it's going to sell
hardware
from other vendors for which we know we can get replacement parts.

Unfortunately so. I've always liked the quality of Sun's
hardware -- but as it becomes less and less practical to the hobby user
(other than running from other OS' such as OpenBSD, which has gotten
quite good at handling the interface between the LOM and the running OS
on the Sun Fire V120 at least. :-)

Good Luck,
DoN.

[Dave Wade]

Post by DoN. Nichols

Post by Jeff Wieland

Post by Cydrome Leader

Post by Jeff Wieland
So, since Sun/Oracle no longer sells the CPU Fan/Heatsink modules for
the V125/V210/V240, we're wondering what people are doing to replace
failed fans on them. The refurbished modules that we've seen appear
to not have the TIM[1|2] intact, so they don't seem to be a viable
option either.

if anybody cares, the fans on V240 heatsinks are Delta Electronics p/n
AFB02512HHA. Fans are flavor of the week so good luck with an exact part
number match.
Oracle still has plenty of these left for customers with support.

The part# for the fans is AFB02512HHA-F00 - they are three wire, which
is how
the ALOM monitors the fan speed. We can get these fans, but the leads
are
about an inch shorter than what was used on the Sun modules.

O.K. So -- time to splice the cables. I would suggest that you
cut the old cable off fairly close to the old fan and splice it onto the
new fan, which would maximize the number of times you can splice in new
fans (shortening the old cable a little each round) before you have to
find the proper connector and crimping tools so you can make new cables
__________ _________________________
__________=====_________________________
___________________ ______________
___________________=======______________
______________________________ _____
______________________________=====_____
With the "====" actually representing tinned wires from both cables
overlapped and flowed together. (Offset is thanks to the limitations of
ASCII graphics. :-) The liner arrangement assumes that the wires are
like a three-conductor zip cord -- otherwise you will want a tiny
heat-shrink sleeve on each splice.
If the zip cord style -- just a single somewhat larger
heat-shrink sleeve over the whole length of the three splices.
Nicer would be a crimp splice for all three wires at once.

Post by Jeff Wieland
The newer heatsinks with TIM2 work fine on the older processors -
we've got
a couple of those in production.

Good -- from the description, I suspected so, as the TIM2 was
for the higher speed (and thus hotter) CPUs. It should be overkill for
the older and slower ones.

Post by Jeff Wieland
It's unfortunate that Sun/Oracle chooses to not sell these to
customers. We
recycle a lot of hardware and we do nearly all of the maintenance
ourselves.

Amen!

Post by Jeff Wieland
This isn't going to sell maintenance contracts - it's going to sell
hardware
from other vendors for which we know we can get replacement parts.

Unfortunately so. I've always liked the quality of Sun's
hardware -- but as it becomes less and less practical to the hobby user
(other than running from other OS' such as OpenBSD, which has gotten
quite good at handling the interface between the LOM and the running OS
on the Sun Fire V120 at least. :-)

Its already going that way where I work. The pile of discontinued servers
contains several SUN boxes but we have replaced them all with Intel boxes.

Post by DoN. Nichols
Good Luck,
DoN.
--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
(too) near Washington D.C. |
http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

[Jeff Wieland]

We were able to replace the failed fan successfully - we had a
module with known good fans, and we used one of the fans from
it. The problem was, this was the fan on the rear processor (P0)
that's behind the front processor. What we ended up using was
a #1 Phillips drywall bit as a very short screwdriver, and a open
-end wrench on the bit to get enough torque to turn it - this was
for the lower screw. The upper screw was was easily accessible
with a jeweler's #1 Phillips.

The fan module that we swiped that fan from was for the slower
processors, but they both use the same fans.

We've got another fan on a V240 to replace yet - it's on the front
processor, and we'll get that by either pulling the fan tray out or
by pulling the system board to get access.

Then we'll have two dead fans to cannibalize for terminal wire
and connectors, so we can make up some more fans to have
on hand.
--
Jeff Wieland

[DoN. Nichols]

Post by Jeff Wieland
We were able to replace the failed fan successfully - we had a
module with known good fans, and we used one of the fans from
it. The problem was, this was the fan on the rear processor (P0)
that's behind the front processor. What we ended up using was
a #1 Phillips drywall bit as a very short screwdriver, and a open
-end wrench on the bit to get enough torque to turn it - this was
for the lower screw. The upper screw was was easily accessible
with a jeweler's #1 Phillips.

Great!

Post by Jeff Wieland
The fan module that we swiped that fan from was for the slower
processors, but they both use the same fans.

Good news there.

Post by Jeff Wieland
We've got another fan on a V240 to replace yet - it's on the front
processor, and we'll get that by either pulling the fan tray out or
by pulling the system board to get access.

O.K. You weren't able to find the flex shaft screwdriver bit
sets at MicroCenter then? Or too busy to try. (I only know that they
had them on display near Christmastime -- not sure about currently.)

Post by Jeff Wieland
Then we'll have two dead fans to cannibalize for terminal wire
and connectors, so we can make up some more fans to have
on hand.

Great -- Glad to hear that it can all be done, and that there
are people still willing to do it.

Best of luck,
DoN.

[Jeff Wieland]

Post by Jeff Wieland
We were able to replace the failed fan successfully - we had a
module with known good fans, and we used one of the fans from
it. The problem was, this was the fan on the rear processor (P0)
that's behind the front processor. What we ended up using was
a #1 Phillips drywall bit as a very short screwdriver, and a open
-end wrench on the bit to get enough torque to turn it - this was
for the lower screw. The upper screw was was easily accessible
with a jeweler's #1 Phillips.
The fan module that we swiped that fan from was for the slower
processors, but they both use the same fans.
We've got another fan on a V240 to replace yet - it's on the front
processor, and we'll get that by either pulling the fan tray out or
by pulling the system board to get access.
Then we'll have two dead fans to cannibalize for terminal wire
and connectors, so we can make up some more fans to have
on hand.
--
Jeff Wieland

The other V240 lost both fans on processor 1. Fortunately it did
not cook anything (it's in a VERY well cooled environment :-) ).
Processor 1 is much easier to work with -- I just pulled the system
board (using the instructions from the service manual) and replaced
the fans using a #1 jeweler's screwdriver. We had a "rebuilt" fan
module without usable TIM1 or TIM2, so I just cannibalized the fans
from it. It's up and running now with all fans operational.
--
Jeff Wieland

[Jeff Wieland]

        Unfortunately so.  I've always liked the quality of Sun's
hardware -- but as it becomes less and less practical to the hobby user
(other than running from other OS' such as OpenBSD, which has gotten
quite good at handling the interface between the LOM and the running OS
on the Sun Fire V120 at least. :-)
        Good Luck,
                DoN.
--
                  Remove oil spill source from e-mail
          (too) near Washington D.C. |http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
           --- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

Odds are if OpenBSD works on V120, it'll work on V100 as well. We've
got a
fair number of V100's scattered around that we use as small DNS/DHCP/
web
servers in specialized environments. Maybe I should have a look at
OpenBSD.
--
Jeff Wieland

[DoN. Nichols]

Post by Jeff Wieland

        Unfortunately so.  I've always liked the quality of Sun's
hardware -- but as it becomes less and less practical to the hobby user
(other than running from other OS' such as OpenBSD, which has gotten
quite good at handling the interface between the LOM and the running OS
on the Sun Fire V120 at least. :-)

[ ... ]

Post by Jeff Wieland
Odds are if OpenBSD works on V120, it'll work on V100 as well.

Almost certain to work. It works on Sun Blade 1000 & 2000 as
well, Ultra 5 and Ultra 10 systems and many others. The only thing
which is not quite certain is whether it will talk to the LOM.

O.K. Checking the lom man page, I see:

======================================================================
DESCRIPTION
The lom driver provides support for the LOMlite lights out management
module found on Sun Netra t1 systems and the LOMlite2 module found on Sun
Fire V100/V120 and Sun Netra X1 systems. Temperature readings, PSU
status and fan status provided by the LOM are made available through the
sysctl(8) interface. The integrated watchdog(4) timer can be configured
through the sysctl(8) interface as well. The watchdog timer supports
timeouts between 1 and 126 seconds. If the watchdog is disabled, which
is its default state, it will turn on the system's fault LED after the
maximum timeout of 126 seconds.

The lom driver will update the hostname stored in the LOM whenever the
system's hostname is changed.
======================================================================

so it is described as working on the SF-V100 as well.

Post by Jeff Wieland
We've
got a
fair number of V100's scattered around that we use as small DNS/DHCP/
web
servers in specialized environments. Maybe I should have a look at
OpenBSD.

Good for a lot of things which require exposure to the outside.
Beware that the apached httpd is run chrooted so if you use CGI
programs, you will have to compile them with paths which work in the
chrooted environment -- and supply whatever else they use in the chroot
tree as well -- which is one reason that I compile the CGI programs as
statically linked ones, so I don't have to have shared libs vulnerable
to being corrupted in the chroot tree.

Also -- while you are at it -- look at the PF (Packet Filter)
feature built into the kernel. In particular, download the _Firewalling
with OpenBSD's PF packet filter_ by Peter N.M.Hansteen. It can be
downloaded from:

http://home.nuug.no/~peter/pf/

Among other nice features, it can be set up to automatically block IPs
which have too many failed sshd connections in a short period of time,
or have too many open connections to sshd at one time - -and keep it
blocked for 24 hours. The limits and the time are tunable for your
system, of course.

OpenBSD has a serious focus on security -- so you will find it a
bit less GUI encrusted than current versions of linux. Yes, it runs
X11 without problems, but it does not force it on you. :-)

It also has (in the extension of the file attributes) an
"immutable" bit, which prohibits any changes -- including to the bit
itself -- until you drop down to single user mode, thus making it
difficult for people to exploit holes from outside. If you want it
really locked down, you can make the /etc/passwd and /etc/master.passwd
files immutable (along with many other things), as long as you know you
won't need to add or delete users frequently.

Enjoy,
DoN.

[Ejas Ahamad Jabarullah]

who told that Sun/Oracle is not selling the CPU fans for these servers. If you have proper support contract, they will release the part.

[Richard B. Gilbert]

Post by Ejas Ahamad Jabarullah
who told that Sun/Oracle is not selling the CPU fans for these servers. If you have proper support contract, they will release the part.

IOW, no contract, no parts!!