🗄️ A mysterious Google server Part 1 - What is it?
Abstract
I recently found a Google-branded server, and am looking for a way to repurpose it.
What is it?
Doing some cleanup in a datacenter, one of the servers that was supposed to be thrown away stood out to me. A bright yellow server with Google branding on this. My curiosity got the better of me and I took it home to find out what it was.
After some Googling on this mysterious Google branded server, I quickly found out that it is a Google Search Appliance (GSA). This server was a rack-mounted device that provided search capabilities for enterprises. It was first released in 2002 and officially discontinued in 2018. GSAs were essentially Google's web search engine packaged in a local server to index and search internal content.
The hardware
During its lifespan, multiple GSA variants were made. This model appears to be a Dell PowerEdge 2950 which was released back in 2006.
| Spec | Details |
|---|---|
| CPU | Dual Intel Xeon 5430 |
| RAM | 32 GB DDR2 ECC |
| Drive Bays | 6 x 3.5" or 8 x 2.5" SAS/SATA |
| RAID | PERC5i or PERC6i RAID controllers |
| Network | 2 x Gigabit NICs onboard |
| Expansion | PCIe slots for additional cards |
| Management | DRAC 5 for remote management |
I would have loved to test it out and see if the OS was still on the server, but it appears the RAM was salvaged at some point. I did not have any DDR2 ECC memory laying around to fill the slots.
What to do with it?
Even though I advocate reusing hardware as much as possible, this system is simply too old. A quick power on also showed that it would have been too loud to use in my homelab (note: in my reseach I found a number of guides on how to 'silence' these systems). Next to noise, the power consumption would have been too high. Based on estimations with the current configuration, it would have drawn around 250-300W at idle. Almost double of what I am currently consuming for my entire homelab!
So, what am I planning to do with it? The plan is to repurpose the chassis and replace the internals with more modern hardware. This won't be an easy feat, as Dell designs their servers in a proprietary way. You can't simply place any motherboard in it... It will take some time, but I believe the end result will be worth it.
