Server with PCI Port

PCI cards will go in a PCI-X slot - it's just that they don't make use of all the available bandwidth. You could, for example, order a 2900 III or 2950 III with a PCI-X riser option, then use your PCI card in a PCI-X slot.

Not every PCI Card can run in a PCI-X Slot. Only the 3.3V models can be used there. And the Standard PCI Cards work with 5V. I have never heard about a PCI-X riser card from DELL in which I can install a normal PCI Card. Can you give me a link ?

I feared that you were going to ask for a 5V PCI port. In that case, you are probably going to struggle, as most current servers are designed around an all PCI-Express chipset. The PCI-X risers typically use a PCI-Express to PCI-X bridge such as the Intel 41210 to provide one or two PCI-X slots. The 41210 supports PCI 2.3 as well as PCI-X - but PCI 2.3 forbids cards keyed for 5 volts.

 

I believe that the main aim of these risers was to allow the use of expensive PCI-X RAID and network controllers in new servers. That doesn't prohibit their use for PCI cards - but it isn't going to give you a solution for a PCI card that requires 5V.

 

Most PCI cards designed recently are 3.3V cards. If your existing hardware requires a 5 Volt PCI slot, it's probably time to replace the peripheral hardware, I'm afraid. Before giving up, check the keying on the card's connector to be sure that it needs 5V and won't work in a 3.3V slot.

 

What PCI card are you trying to use, anyway?

it's a old network adapter from 3COM called 3C905B-TX. I need it because there are some licensing informations on it and it can't be upgraded to a usb dongle or something else.

This card is very old so I assume it works with 5V.The card has 2 keys but that doesn't mean for 100% that it is a 32Bit Universal Card. I've read somewehere that this card is not a 3,3V card although it has 2 keys. And if I don't know for 100% what it is, I won't test it because I have a very big problem then if it will be damaged by the PCI-X bus.

 

 

If a card is keyed universal, it should work at 3.3V - though there's always the possibility of a card that's keyed universal that only works at 5V. The chances are that too low a voltage level on the PCI bus (note - the 3.3V and 5V is the level of the logic signals, not the power supply) will do no more than jam the bus without causing hardware damage, but there's no guarantee.

 

It's a shame that it's a 3C905B-TX; the 3C905C-TX is explicitly documented by 3Com as working in a 3.3V slot.

 

 

I'd start by contacting 3Com to see if you can get an answer about 3.3V compatibility. Failing that, there should be loads of 3C905B-TX cards out there, for example on eBay. You could always get another card and try that in a 3.3V only slot. If it works, there's a pretty good chance that your card with the MAC address that your software is licensed to will also work at 3.3V - though no absolute guarantee.

 

 

Hardware protection can be a nuisance. I'd have thought any software old enough to be locked to a 3C905B-TX may not be that far from throwing up some sort of issue with modern operating systems or hardware. The protection will probably prevent you from virtualising this software.

 

 

I would have hoped that the original vendor would not be completely unbending if you needed to move the licence to different hardware, or upgrade the software. Maybe the vendor has gone out of business.

 

Hardware does die - I have a damaged 3C905B-TX in a retired firewall, though I realise that you may not need the network interface itself to work. if you can move the licence to a 3C905C-TX card, your problems should be over for now - though PCI and PCI-X slots will not be around forever. Indeed, I expect them to disappear fairly quickly on servers over the next couple of years.

I don't think it's his 905B failing. He has some licensed software that's licensed to a MAC address I suspect and changing to another card would probably require buying a new license, or possibly the company that made the software no longer exists and they can't move the license to a new MAC address anymore.

I've contaced 3Com about the PCI-X problem.I hope they will give me an answer.

 

different question:

Can the standard raid controller in  the 2900 III run 2 Raid 1 Systems: 2 HDDs  with raid 1 for the system and 2 HDDs with raid 1 for the data. Is that possible ?

By standard RAID controller, do you mean a SAS 6/iR, or a PERC 6/i?

 

The PERC 6/i can do what you want - and much more besides. You can have as many different flavours of RAID as you have drive slots for. Though Dell don't support it, you can have a mixture of SAS and SATA drives in the same system - though you must have all the same type of drive in one virtual disk. The controller supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50 and 60.

 

The SAS 6/iR is much more limited - you can only have two virtual disks in the system, and each must be RAID 0 or RAID 1. It would be able to provide two RAID 1 virtual disks, as you outline, but that's the maximum it can manage.

 

 

If you're going to buy a machine with as many drive slots as a 2900 III, I would seriously consider going for the PERC 6/i option.

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@Dev Mgr wrote:
I don't think it's his 905B failing. He has some licensed software that's licensed to a MAC address I suspect and changing to another card would probably require buying a new license, or possibly the company that made the software no longer exists and they can't move the license to a new MAC address anymore.

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Whilst I might not have been completely clear, I'm suggesting that if it comes down to 'test it and see', getting another 3C905B from eBay and testing that first is probably a good idea, rather than risking the card with the licence attached to it.

 

The chances are that if the eBay card works, the one with the precious licence attached will also work - but there's no guarantee, of course.