Intel Xserves Crash only on weekends

We have 10 Intel XServes that we received in early December. For some reason anywhere between 2-6 of the 10 crash and become unresponsive, only on the weekends, usually Saturdays. Very odd.
I've been checking them every weekend since we've purchased them and it has been consistent for the last 5+ weeks. They crash only on weekends.
I found this in the crashreporter log on one of the servers, they all have similar logs:
Sat Dec 23 14:28:50 2006 crashdump[120]: crashdump invoked as panicdump
Sun Dec 24 02:11:08 2006 crashdump[1814]: crashdump started
2006-12-24 02:11:09.210 crashdump[1814] threadreadstack: stack appears to be in inconsistent state to trace. Truncating stack.
2006-12-24 02:11:09.210 crashdump[1814] threadreadstack: frame pointer is zero, continuing.
Sun Dec 24 02:11:11 2006 crashreporterd[118]: mach_msg() reply failed: (ipc/send) invalid destination port
Sun Dec 24 02:11:11 2006 crashdump[1814]: Started writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/drone.crash.log
Sun Dec 24 02:11:12 2006 crashdump[1814]: Finished writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/drone.crash.log
Sat Jan 6 08:26:57 2007 crashdump[113]: crashdump invoked as panicdump
Sat Jan 13 10:01:33 2007 crashdump[120]: crashdump invoked as panicdump
Does anyone have any ideas? What other logs should I be checking?
Quad G5s, Intel XServes Mac OS X (10.4.8) Xsans, XServe RAIDs, oh my...

The "drone" is our encoding software. That may be the cause, but i'm not entirely sure of course.
Here is the panic log:
Sat Dec 23 14:28:50 2006
panic(cpu 3 caller 0x00141505): zalloc: "kalloc.256" (1915824 elements) retry fail 3
Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x4bc93cf8 : 0x128d08 (0x3c9a74 0x4bc93d1c 0x131de5 0x0)
0x4bc93d38 : 0x141505 (0x3ca780 0x3c9d1c 0x1d3bb0 0x3)
0x4bc93d98 : 0x12d97d (0x1945b70 0x1 0x4bc93dc8 0x12db75)
0x4bc93dc8 : 0x12e192 (0xa8 0x1 0x4bc93e18 0x140259)
0x4bc93df8 : 0x63421142 (0xa8 0xa9b2680 0x4bc93e58 0x1a16ce)
0x4bc93e28 : 0x6341c64d (0x63476c68 0x0 0x558c161c 0x20)
0x4bc93e98 : 0x6343a294 (0xa8 0x0 0x2 0x0)
0x4bc93ee8 : 0x6343ad67 (0xaaef800 0xac94000 0x18 0x634211dd)
0x4bc93f78 : 0x6341fa8e (0xaaef800 0xaaef814 0xaceb8c4 0x0)
0x4bc93fc8 : 0x19a7ac (0xaceb8b0 0x0 0x19d0b5 0xa3d6c64) Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0x0
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.filesystems.acfs(2.7.1)@0x633c0000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(1.5.1)@0x516000
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.8.4: Sun Oct 29 15:26:54 PST 2006; root:xnu-792.16.4.obj~1/RELEASE_I386
Sat Jan 6 08:26:57 2007
panic(cpu 2 caller 0x00141505): zalloc: "kalloc.256" (1829872 elements) retry fail 3
Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x4bd0bcf8 : 0x128d08 (0x3c9a74 0x4bd0bd1c 0x131de5 0x0)
0x4bd0bd38 : 0x141505 (0x3ca780 0x3c9d1c 0x1bebf0 0x3)
0x4bd0bd98 : 0x12d97d (0x1945b70 0x1 0x4bd0bdc8 0x12db75)
0x4bd0bdc8 : 0x12e192 (0xa8 0x1 0x4bd0be18 0x140259)
0x4bd0bdf8 : 0x63423142 (0xa8 0xad8f280 0x4bd0be58 0x1a16ce)
0x4bd0be28 : 0x6341e64d (0x63478c68 0x0 0x558c161c 0x20)
0x4bd0be98 : 0x6343c294 (0xa8 0x0 0x2 0x0)
0x4bd0bee8 : 0x6343cd67 (0xaabec00 0xacab900 0x18 0x634231dd)
0x4bd0bf78 : 0x63421a8e (0xaabec00 0xaabec14 0xac450c4 0x0)
0x4bd0bfc8 : 0x19a7ac (0xac450b0 0x0 0x19d0b5 0xa3d6c64) Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0x0
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.filesystems.acfs(2.7.1)@0x633c2000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(1.5.1)@0x516000
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.8.4: Sun Oct 29 15:26:54 PST 2006; root:xnu-792.16.4.obj~1/RELEASE_I386
Sat Jan 13 10:01:33 2007
panic(cpu 1 caller 0x00141505): zalloc: "kalloc.256" (1823792 elements) retry fail 3
Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x4bd43cf8 : 0x128d08 (0x3c9a74 0x4bd43d1c 0x131de5 0x0)
0x4bd43d38 : 0x141505 (0x3ca780 0x3c9d1c 0x1bd430 0x3)
0x4bd43d98 : 0x12d97d (0x1945b70 0x1 0x4bd43dc8 0x12db75)
0x4bd43dc8 : 0x12e192 (0xa8 0x1 0x4bd43e18 0x140259)
0x4bd43df8 : 0x799d6142 (0xa8 0xa423280 0x4bd43e58 0x1a16ce)
0x4bd43e28 : 0x799d164d (0x79a2bc68 0x0 0x558c161c 0x20)
0x4bd43e98 : 0x799ef294 (0xa8 0x0 0x2 0x0)
0x4bd43ee8 : 0x799efd67 (0xafc3c00 0xae4e200 0x18 0x799d61dd)
0x4bd43f78 : 0x799d4a8e (0xafc3c00 0xafc3c14 0xad2d8c4 0x0)
0x4bd43fc8 : 0x19a7ac (0xad2d8b0 0x0 0x19d0b5 0xa3d1e68) Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0x0
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.filesystems.acfs(2.7.1)@0x79975000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(1.5.1)@0x516000
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.8.4: Sun Oct 29 15:26:54 PST 2006; root:xnu-792.16.4.obj~1/RELEASE_I386
And here is the asl.log. I only included a few of these entries, as there are a lot there a quite a number of the same identical entries.
[Time 2007.01.16 16:31:36 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no name available via DNS for 192.168.60.69] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 16:31:36 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no hostname set and unable to detect via DNS, services may not function properly - use changeip to repair] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 17:01:36 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no name available via DNS for 192.168.60.69] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 17:01:36 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no hostname set and unable to detect via DNS, services may not function properly - use changeip to repair] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 17:31:36 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no name available via DNS for 192.168.60.69] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 17:31:36 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no hostname set and unable to detect via DNS, services may not function properly - use changeip to repair] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 18:01:36 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no name available via DNS for 192.168.60.69] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 18:01:36 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no hostname set and unable to detect via DNS, services may not function properly - use changeip to repair] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 18:31:36 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no name available via DNS for 192.168.60.69] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 18:31:36 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no hostname set and unable to detect via DNS, services may not function properly - use changeip to repair] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 19:01:36 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no name available via DNS for 192.168.60.69] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 19:01:36 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no hostname set and unable to detect via DNS, services may not function properly - use changeip to repair] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 19:31:37 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no name available via DNS for 192.168.60.69] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 19:31:37 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no hostname set and unable to detect via DNS, services may not function properly - use changeip to repair] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 20:01:37 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no name available via DNS for 192.168.60.69] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 20:01:37 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no hostname set and unable to detect via DNS, services may not function properly - use changeip to repair] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 20:31:37 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no name available via DNS for 192.168.60.69] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 20:31:37 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no hostname set and unable to detect via DNS, services may not function properly - use changeip to repair] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 21:01:37 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no name available via DNS for 192.168.60.69] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 21:01:37 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no hostname set and unable to detect via DNS, services may not function properly - use changeip to repair] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 21:31:37 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no name available via DNS for 192.168.60.69] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 21:31:37 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no hostname set and unable to detect via DNS, services may not function properly - use changeip to repair] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 22:01:37 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no name available via DNS for 192.168.60.69] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 22:01:37 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no hostname set and unable to detect via DNS, services may not function properly - use changeip to repair] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 22:11:14 UTC] [Facility daemon] [Sender ntpd] [PID 7931] [Message time reset +0.137353 s] [Level 5] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 22:31:37 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no name available via DNS for 192.168.60.69] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 22:31:37 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no hostname set and unable to detect via DNS, services may not function properly - use changeip to repair] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 23:01:37 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no name available via DNS for 192.168.60.69] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
[Time 2007.01.16 23:01:37 UTC] [Facility user] [Sender servermgrd] [PID -1] [Message servermgr_dns: no hostname set and unable to detect via DNS, services may not function properly - use changeip to repair] [Level 3] [UID -2] [GID -2] [Host Encoder-9]
Quad G5s, Intel XServes Mac OS X (10.4.8) Xsans, XServe RAIDs, oh my...

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EndSection
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Dec 15 11:33:24 stansted /System/Library/CoreServices/Crash Reporter.app/Contents/MacOS/Crash Reporter: FIXME: IOUnserialize has detected a string that is not valid UTF-8, "¨”^X^F¨”^X^F".
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While I have found a few problems as well, I have gotten the intel xserve fairly stable (it did take a while and a lot of apple support calling)
I haven't had kernal panics, but I haven't been able to get the processors above 45% when doing compression. Also, I had some nasty lun masking problems with the fibre card which did result in corrpution of a HFS raid volume.
On the topic of xsan and the intel xserve, it is a BAD idea to try to install anything prior to 1.4.0. Had hangs, crashes and even corruption of the serial licensing daemon. Installing 1.4 and upgrading to 1.4.1 was a huge fix to those issues.
Overall, after a lot of work, it is working well, and does play back 100MB/s video extremely well off an xsan volume. Although, I would be fully content if I could get compressor's utilization of the CPU from 40 to 100%.

Intel Xserve not using full CPU

When submitting a batch to qmaster, I notice my other g5 machines utilize almost all the processor, and on the intel xserve, all 4 CPUs usually max out at 40% tops. Is this a limitation, to be expected, etc?

Things do look clean - not familiar with all of the Processes, but some of the common "culprits" do not appear. Nice job in keeping these to a minimum. Most people have 60-80 going. Maybe someone else can look down your list and find something that can be eliminated easily for NLE work. I just don't see any potential problems, but remember I do not recognize some of those.
I like the Virtual Memory setting, with only one question: you mention a partition on the RAID 0. Why a partition? The reason that I ask is that Windows first sees your 2 HDD's as one (the RAID), then it sees your partitions as several. If accessing what it now thinks are 2, or more, physical HDD's, it's telling the controller to get the heads in a couple of places at the same time. You probably have a good reason for doing it this way, but it does throw up a yellow flag to me. Having the RAID managed by the MoBo chip is not the fastest/best, but is usually more than adequate. It does save on a US$400 RAID card with multiple channels/chips.
You have provided me, and others, with food for thought. I'll keep looking over your data, but just see nothing, except for the Page File on a partition, that might affect performance.
One test that I'd run would be a slight re-config on your Scratch Disks. I'd do a Save_As, or a Save_As_a_Copy for your Project. Leave your original totally alone. Do a test with the Scratch Disks set to "Same as Project." This will put them on the RAID 0. Then, perform the same operations and monitor the time. Unfortunately, you're investing hours into this, but you might get enough of a performance increase to justify it for future Projects. One way around the time, would be to do a "test" Project with shorter versions of similar Assets. Do all processing on that Project, as configured, and time the results. Do the Save_As, make the changes to the Scratch Disks, and process again. Any difference?
Good luck, and thanks for gathering the data,
Hunt

Intel Xserve Lights Out Management Config Question

When setting up my Intel Xserve I was confused and still am about the way LOM is set up.
Ethernet port 1 uses IP XXX.XXX.XXX.50 for web
Then LOM asked for another IP address on port 1 so I gave it XXX.XXX.XXX.51
How can one port have 2 different IP addresses?
Server monitor connects to XXX.XXX.XXX.51 and all of the other server tools connect to XXX.XXX.XXX.50
Is this correct?
I use port 2 for internal use. Should I use port 2 for LOM?

>Thank you and I did read it before. So what I doing is correct?
What you did is valid, yes. correct? maybe not.
Specifically, I'm concerned by the statement:
>Then LOM asked for another IP address on port 1 so I gave it XXX.XXX.XXX.51
I use port 2 for internal use. Should I use port 2 for LOM?
From your description it sounds like ethernet 1 is used for your public network. This means you've configured LOM in your public network, meaning (firewall aside) anyone can hit your LOM from outside the network, shutdown your machine etc., etc.
I would only ever configure LOM on an private/internal network. There should be no reason to manage LOM from the public network.

Intel Xserve panics with 667Mhz RAM

I have an 2x dual core 2.66Ghz Intel Xserve running 10.4.9
Currently it is running with 2 x 2Gb "533Mhz" ECC DDR2 FB-DIMMs
This it has been stable with and has been running for 5days without any problems.
However if I install into the machine 667Mhz ECC DDR2 FB-DIMMs, then the server panics approx every other day or more. I have tried running with Apple supplied RAM and Kingston (who I believe are a supplier to Apple).
I only fitted the 533Mhz RAM out of desperation to try to get the system stable and it seems to have worked.
Does anyone know if there any issues with running 667Mhz RAM in the Intel Xserves.

Is the RAM module "known good"?
At least before you handled it?
Does it do it with ALL 667s or is this the only one you've tried?
Will it pass a Memory Test when installed? Even when warm?
My $.02,
=Tod

Mail Crashing only when opening Attachments

I have a friend on the white intel imac, 17" screen, all updated to 10.5.7. Her mail keeps crashing only when opening any email with attachments. I have delete the apple.com stuff and reloaded everything. So that is not the problem. Any other solutions ?

The upgrade to 10.5.7 results in a new version of Mail (version 3.6). It is possible that the upgrade process has resulted in a problem with Mail. To determine if the problem is machine wide or isolated to your current login, try creating another user account with the same permissions as that which you are currently using. Login to that account, open Mail, set up your email account, send yourself an email with an attachment and see when you open it without Mail crashing.
If it does crash then the problem is system wide and I recommend that you download the [Mac OS X 10.5.7 Combo Update|http://support.apple.com/downloads/MacOS_X_10_5_7_ComboUpdate] and install that. It is a large file (730Mb).
If it does not crash then the issue is with the other user account rather than being system wide. A possible solution is to do the following:
1. Open finder and Move the folder ~/Library/Mail to the desktop
2. Launch Mail and re-create your email accounts.
3. Import your old messages via the menu option "File" then "Import Mailboxes".
4. Select "Mail for Mac OS X", click Continue.
5. Select the Mail folder from the desktop and navigate to the folder Mailboxes within that folder then click Choose.
6. You will be presented with a list of pre-selected items to import so click Continue and the import will proceed.
If that works and you can successfully open and view messages with attachments then you can delete the Mail folder that you moved to the desktop in step 1.
Chris

Intel Xserve kernel errors

when I use java threats on intel Xserve cause this a kernel panic (interlock timeout for mutex)
I can reproduce Is problem with a simple java script ( see below)
Has anybody the same problem or a solution for this problem ?
how to test
save script as MutexSimulator.java and run
# javac MutexSimulator.java
# java MutexSimulator
result : the server gives a kernel error.. and reboots
public class MutexSimulator implements Runnable
public static int nSimultaneousProcs = 0;
protected Thread runner;
MutexSimulator()
nSimultaneousProcs++;
runner = new Thread(this);
runner.start();
public void run()
try
Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();
Process p = null;
try
p = rt.exec(new String[]{"ls","-al","/"});
p.waitFor();
catch(Exception e)
System.err.println("Exception "+e.getMessage());
if(p!=null)
p.destroy();
catch(Exception e)
System.err.println("Exception "+e.getMessage());
nSimultaneousProcs--;
public static void main(String [] args)
int nProcsInQueue = 0;
while(true)
if(MutexSimulator.nSimultaneousProcs<200)
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
try
Thread.sleep(50);
} catch (InterruptedException e)
System.err.println("Exception "+e.getMessage());
//System.out.println("Running "MutexSimulator.nSimultaneousProcs" processes.");
public class MutexSimulator implements Runnable
public static int nSimultaneousProcs = 0;
protected Thread runner;
MutexSimulator()
nSimultaneousProcs++;
runner = new Thread(this);
runner.start();
public void run()
try
Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();
Process p = null;
try
p = rt.exec(new String[]{"ls","-al","/"});
p.waitFor();
catch(Exception e)
System.err.println("Exception "+e.getMessage());
if(p!=null)
p.destroy();
catch(Exception e)
System.err.println("Exception "+e.getMessage());
nSimultaneousProcs--;
public static void main(String [] args)
int nProcsInQueue = 0;
while(true)
if(MutexSimulator.nSimultaneousProcs<200)
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
new MutexSimulator();
try
Thread.sleep(50);
} catch (InterruptedException e)
System.err.println("Exception "+e.getMessage());
//System.out.println("Running "MutexSimulator.nSimultaneousProcs" processes.");
}

While I have found a few problems as well, I have gotten the intel xserve fairly stable (it did take a while and a lot of apple support calling)
I haven't had kernal panics, but I haven't been able to get the processors above 45% when doing compression. Also, I had some nasty lun masking problems with the fibre card which did result in corrpution of a HFS raid volume.
On the topic of xsan and the intel xserve, it is a BAD idea to try to install anything prior to 1.4.0. Had hangs, crashes and even corruption of the serial licensing daemon. Installing 1.4 and upgrading to 1.4.1 was a huge fix to those issues.
Overall, after a lot of work, it is working well, and does play back 100MB/s video extremely well off an xsan volume. Although, I would be fully content if I could get compressor's utilization of the CPU from 40 to 100%.

Intel XServe first impressions

So my first Intel XServes have arrived to to mixed reaction, not all of it good.
To answer other questions that have been banded around, there doesn't look like any option for an internal hardware RAID card. The daughtercard in the XServe G5 to which the RAID card attaches does not seem to be present, at least not with easy connectors to attach the RAID card to, so that one is out.
The next bad news is that the XServe is no longer tool-less. You used to be able to do just about anything a reasonable person would expect just by using thumbscrews. This is no longer the case. The PCIe card slots have vented faceplate in place which are held in by small screws. Therefore you need a screwdriver to add or remove a PCI card. To add insult to injury the screw is not readily accessible, can only be accessed by tilting the screwdriver at an angle, and has a tendency to drop as you remove it, potentially getting lost in the case. Bad move, Apple.
Next comes rails. What a PITA they are. I was hoping that the new rail system would be an improvement over the last. It's not. It is actually impossible for me to rack my Intel XServes in my industry-standard rails. I cannot believe Apple messed this one up so badly. I now need to get a grinder to re-tool the rails so that they will work. Bad, bad move Apple.
What about the plusses? Well, redundant power is nice. Actually including power cables and cable clips for the redundant power supply would have been nicer, though.
Well, that's the first 5 minutes out of the box. Hopefully it gets better from here.

Next comes rails...
Not sure what kind of rack you have but I found the rails to be some of the best I have worked with. I have spent the last 3 months rebuilding our server room. We use standard round hole racks. I racked 5 XServes in about 30 minutes. The only thing I noticed is there are 2 types of screws that ship with the round screw rail kit. Thread count is the same, but one set is a bit wider.
I did notice that our Dell rails won't fit in the round hole racks as they have a "Tab" that sticks out.
As for the noise I coulnd't tell, we have a ton of the new Supermicro 1U servers and they are so loud I couldn't even hear the XServers Start up.
For Camelot:
Did your's not ship with power cables? All of ours had both clips and cables. One a standard length and a 12" cable.
I will post more as I get them configured.
MBP Mac OS X (10.4.8) Network Administrator

Intel Xserves Crash only on weekends

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