AUGD: G5 XServe Rack Kit Help Needed
AUGD: G5 XServe Rack Kit Help Needed
- Subject: AUGD: G5 XServe Rack Kit Help Needed
- From: Greg Sharp <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2007 22:05:38 +1100
- Thread-topic: G5 XServe Rack Kit Help Needed
Back in October 2005 I bought a couple of G4 XServe's, a rack, managed
switches etc second hand on eBay. When they arrived they had no Rails Kit
for fitting in the rack but I was able to pick some up of a local reseller
after having to provide their hardware serial numbers for checking for
eligability/security first. These cost around $65 Australian each. These
machines were for my business. My MUG sites have been hosted on an old Dual
500 MHz G4 desktop since March 2004. I run this network from home in a
specially constructed Server area under the house.
In October 2006 when Apple announced that an Intel based XServe would be
available the following month it presented me the opportunity to pick up a
number of G5 XServe's for a good price second hand from a major
international company upgrading their infrastructure. These XServe's came
with Panther Server & included Premium AppleCare until October 2007. I
bought new copies of Tiger Server and was excited at the thought of being
able to finally upgrade the old G4 desktop that I had been using to server
our MUG and a couple of other MUG groups sites.
Of the 5 G5 XServe's I bought only 3 had Rails Kits for installing in racks.
I decided to upgrade my business servers using these 3 XServe machines and
demoted the 2 old G4 X Serve's for use on my local home network and I would
order 2 Rack Mount Kits for the last 2 G5 X Serve's which would then be used
solely for MUG business.
I attempted upgrading my network with these new servers but lets just say
the support I received was less than I'd expected (this story deserves an
article all to itself) and over the following months I got nowhere. To make
things worse in early 2007 I commenced a 2 year full time System
Administrators Diploma along with my 19 year old son and the following month
the store that hosted our MUG meetings closed its doors.
Anyway back to the crux of the matter I was eventually ready to organize
installing the last 2 G5 X Serve's for MUG use and around 6 months ago
attempted to purchase the required Rail Mounting Kits for these 2 servers.
Well, what had been a simple process a year earlier was now a whole new ball
game.
The reseller where I had ordered the 2 Rail Kits previously stated they
could no longer supply this part. I tried dozens of other sources and got
the same story from each of them. Even Apple's own online store admitted
they were unavailable after selling me 2 Intel Rail Kits and insisting they
would fit a G5. They had to be returned when they didn't fit. The fact was
despite making a half dozen phone calls to Apple I didn't find a single
employee who even knew what this part was. Over the following months I saw
numerous posts on various server mailing lists complaining of the same
problem. People with X Serves they can't use because there is no way to
install them in a rack without these Rack Mounting Kits. These kits worked
with both G4 & G5 X Serves.
It turns out the moment the Apple Store upgraded to selling the new Intel X
Serve Rail Kits they stopped carrying the old versions. I find it hard to
comprehend that such an essential spare part is unavailable for a product
that up until November 2006 was the current model X Serve.
After 6 months of effort the only suggestions I have received is to either
replace my G4 X Serves with these 2 G5 ones (making the G4 s worthless) or
give up on being able to use them. Appealing to this list is my final last
straw attempt at asking for help.
Does anyone in the MUG community have any idea where I could source these
Rail Kits from and have them posted to Australia?
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