3

I just bought the following server IBM System x3950 Server, 4 x 3.0GHz Dual Core, 32GB, 6 x 73.4GB 10K SAS RAID, 256MB BBWC, 2x Power, CD-RW/DVD

When i boot it up, it says "Searching for secondary server" and hangs their for almost 10 mins. After 10 mins, it says timeout on searching chassis 2. But after this it proceed to boot the OS properly. But my frustration, i need to wait for almost 15 mins to boot everytime. How do i prevent this error message.

user1241438
  • 157
  • 5

1 Answers1

3

You have encountered a merged server -- there's all sorts of info about them in this IBM RedBook (Chapter 4).

It's been a while since I worked with this technology, but I believe you can avoid the merge process by either (a) reconfiguring all the partitions on the system as "standalone", or (b) removing the ScaleXpander Key from the motherboard (which disables the scalability (merge) functionality).

I would suggest taking a backup before doing either of these things if the system has any important data on it.

voretaq7
  • 79,879
  • 17
  • 130
  • 214
  • 1
    I'm curious... is that machine somehow similiar to the HX5 blade? – Alexander Janssen Nov 02 '12 at 22:29
  • @AlexanderJanssen I'm not sure - I don't have much experience with the HX5 systems but I'm pretty sure the underlying technology is different - The x3950s are cabled together in a 2/3/4 node stack, where the HX5s appear to be either single, stacked double, or single + RAM but can't scale across blades in other configurations. – voretaq7 Nov 02 '12 at 22:44
  • I literally removed all the parts but could not find ScaleXpander key, Can you elaborate little bit on how to reconfiguring all the partitions on the system as "standalone" – user1241438 Nov 03 '12 at 00:04
  • @user1241438 If there is no ScaleXpander key you may have something else going on -- to check the partitions though connect to the RSA/HMC (default IP is 192.168.70.125 but it may be changed - check your BIOS settings). The instructions on what to change are in Chapter 4 of the RedBook I linked, and if the RSA gives you trouble Chapter 6 (6.2) can probably get you out of it (if it can't you may need to call IBM - most of what I know comes from the RedBook series and it's never really fallen short for me :-) – voretaq7 Nov 05 '12 at 19:00