Powering up the IBM Z890 mainframe and teardown - (PWJ148) 

Take a look at my icon/avatar. IBM 360/44 in 1967 - Built like a tank, weight of a car, sounds like a plane and performance of a modern watch (probably less). But we were doing particle physics research. I LOVED IT.

TheTaleteller quite a bit faster and more capable than a raspberry pi

​@@latentexistence A raspberry pi also does not have the virtualization capability to run multiple VMs with little slow down. The IBM Z line which is still produced are able to replace an entire room of PC servers.

I was really wondering how it compares to present day computer. hahahahahaha, rasberry Pi level at 700KG

@@renderdreality well if it is how it was then my pc would destroy it but if that thing was fully connected to everything my pc would not stand a chance im pretty sure i dont know much about servers (my pc specs intel core i5 7400 3.00ghz 4 core 8gb xfx radeon r9 390 16gb ram 2133mhz if i had correct board 3000mhz) i kinda wonder if it would stand to that server if that server could run windows

1k... 2k... 3k... 4k... I wonder how long it takes if you upgrade such an old PC to 4 Jiggabytes

@@PlaywithJunk Well I remember upgrading countless PC's and XT's, and I can tell you... forever lol. Thank doG for the quick boot option on later BIOSes and automatic configuration (no mobo switches!)

@@Masp89 good lord... I worked for IBM for a minute... that's right.. .it's an IPL

So you're saying that having sex wasn't as satisfying as upgrading your RAM? 🤔🤭

​@@shinigamilee5915it depends how much RAM is being added really

🤝 The best comment!

In fact, a computer produces absolutely nothing except heat. Even the sound that is kept in a closed room will heat up the air.

100% efficient

Yeah :-) The problem is that when you don't fix the date and time, it will probably not start up correctly. And I wanted to show how it starts. I even tried to fix the power supply but was not successful.

you didnt scrap the service elements did you? A shame to see vintage hardware die

Post some more stuff you’re messing with! I’m fascinated by this aircraft carrier sized gear, and have super envy of you guys. And zero use case for the machine, but, hey it’s fun, right?

Hi there, nice to read you :-) It's fascinating, when I google "Z890" the first dozen of results is about you and your andveture of buying a mainframe. I can fully understand why you did that. When I was a child, I saw an ad in the local newspaper. It said that a "NCR Mainframe System" (don't ask me what type) was given away for free. I called the company and luckily the guy there realized that I was only a child with no idea what to expect. I thought I could store it in the basement for a while.... downstairs! I'm happy that I didn't got it. I think my parents would have freaked out :-) I have also seen you presentation at the hackers convention (?). While the story alone is interesting, your kind of presentation was also quite entertaining... well done. So I hope you still have fun with your Z890. I personally wouldn't know what to do with it... It would be interesting to know how it compares to a modern desktop computer in terms of speed, benchmarks. Have you done something like that?

Sure it's fun. This is stuff you're normally not allowed to touch...

First I thought the one in the lambo :D

I watched your presentation video about this mainframe, very entertaining. It's interesting how quickly the latest top of the range tech soon becomes obsolete junk that is difficult to give away ...👍😎 Having said that I still work on an old P4 PC that runs windows XP, the software I use only works on that OS, it all works fine and does everything I need. I now have picked up 3 other old P4 PCs for spare parts, for free lol 😁 I do enjoy firing up an old machine and find it fascinating when they start up fine with no errors! A bit like starting up an old car in the first turn of the key 😎👍 I've also picked up some old pocket PC computers, a bit like calculator sized devices, with a one line dot matrix LCD display, they used to sell very cheaply on Ebay, they used to be £100s when new, bought it just to use as a retro calculator, not sure why, when I have a samsung galaxy s9 smartphone that does pretty much all my computing needs🤔😁

Thank you.... you're welcome!

Yes! Very old indeed. We replaced an aging Cray that took up a whole building with a SGI Challenge that had 1Gb of ram, and was about the size of a refrigerator.

Only 200k?

with only 1 pu book i would guess 800-900.000 usd new

and you could upgrade to the zAAP processor for only $125,000 each.

Did you know that IBM is only one letter in the alphabet apart from HAL ?

@@PlaywithJunk i had heard that in a video. pretty Awesome!

@@GothGuy885 Yeah and IBM sponsored "2001" heavily. All the graphics have been made on IBM machines.

Does this need three phase power supply?

@pixelflow You're getting what you're paying for with these machines.

oh sorry i dropped the laptop when i was stressed out fixing this $5M computer that your 10000 employees are waiting to use again. i can't work now since i broke the $1000 thinkpad. not over engineered.

yes. a kind of increasing noise level "mainframe ready for take-off"

😂😂

A beast that built like a tank, weight of a car, sounds like a plane and performance of a raspberry pi 4 . :-)

@Fabian Matias Greevey I can believe someone could trash it. A few years ago I saw a mainframe that looked pretty similar to this being sold at a local computer store. I didn't have the space for it else I probably would have bought it.

@@TonyLee_windsurf and the electricity consumption of a small city ;-)

Or seeing FreeBSD install in 4 minutes compared to Windows 40 minutes.

You would need a LOT more supporting hardware to get anything done. There is no disks attached hence no O/S

I know a kid whose parents let him have these things in their basement.

@Michael Hansen Sorry, you are wrong. I worked at a major UK bank in the late 90s and it was used directly on ATMs

Grammar bub.

When you don't posess the machine, you won't need the license anyway.

@@PlaywithJunk Don't get me started on that. Once phoned ibm from theatre to get a medical database off one of those and they gave a sh*t because "the license expired" ;) It's not like it was a couple of million bucks in the first place so they could at least forward me to a technician and bill us into oblivion ... but nooo ... No license -> You're f-ed... Hard. MacGyver-ed it myself to at least print the stuff we needed though :D

@@wissemaljazairi Not that easy in an active warzone. Especially if all those contractors the occupying army brought in cared more about their pound of flesh rather than keeping that important database up. My company fixes those disasters. Even in a red zone :) IF they're fixable.

@@wissemaljazairi **shrug** somebody's gotta do it ;)

Are they really laptops? Because a laptop wouöd have its own os, own everything, and these one look and behave like a rack console in the form of a thinkpad notebook

IBM training is so awful, they never really explained to us what a SFP was, you just learn to type commands and call engineers when it goes tits up.

from a command centre by the way, where I worked remotely.

@@legominimovieproductions Those are bog standard Thinkpad T30s connected to the mainframe via Xircom cardbus ethernet cards by the looks of it (I recognize those dongles). Those T30 Thinkpads are also pretty damn rare as it was the *only* Pentium 4 Thinkpad ever. There's only this one T30 model, unlike the series before it (T20/21/22/23 with various iterations of Pentium 3) or after it (T40/41/42/43 with various iterations of Pentium M and built in flexing problems across the board)

Well, I think that one would be a little bit louder :-)

Very true! In forty-odd years there might only be a handful left on the planet for folk to look at (like the old ones on curiousmarc's channel). This IBM deserves a bit of love and preservation :)

Two of my servers run an updated version of Warp (eComStation). Rock solid for what they do. Last reboot - a year ago. :-)

I use them as portable compters for the workshop. Stuff like firmware updates or configuration of switches and servers.

Yeah I guess the error messages are pretty cryptic.... Something like "ERROR 056725 IN DEVICE 0201" ...?

@@PlaywithJunk Not really if you got the books translating those. IF you can still find one that's not completely bleached out ;) Or if you can find one of the old (as in ancient) ibm guys knowing those by heart ;)

Rectifier circuit maybe? Capacitors? Just an idea ;) If it's unstable i mean ...

@@peterpain6625 The code at the side of a message will also tell you where it came from, the sequence of the message and the type of message.

@@peterpain6625 I remember the documentation for our mainframe; it was like a library with 300 thick volumes requiring its own dedicated room.

That's easily possible when it's run 24h per day. The max. power is 4.2 kW, that's 100 kWh per day. One kWh here in Switzerland costs 10 to 40 cent.

@@PlaywithJunk 40 cents...that's insane.

@@douro20 Germany is worse, they want to get CO² neutral but with almost only renewable energy, no nuclear power "Energiewende" and we already got the second highest cost per kWh in worldwide comparison, save the environment at any price while the rest of the world (except a few other european countries but these won't abandon nuclear power) continues without listening to these FFF-fanatics.

@@kuchenblechmafiagmbh1381 in short we will all in EU eat grass, like in North Korea, because of their stupidity

You do, I'm the guy he mentioned in the video and well I work at IBM now and we have a raised floor with literally over 100 of these machines from different generations. You definitely need hearing protection, but there have been louder and quieter machines through the generations.

Conmega Oh wow you work at IBM now? That's awesome! I remember your story, so it's cool to know you actually get paid to work with that stuff now haha If you don't mind me asking, did you go to them or did they find you?

@@leisergeist So at the convention I gave my original talk at I was approached by two people from IBM. Which I later found out was a high ranking executive and someone high ranking in the education sector of things. They were asking me why I was interested in the machines and such. I then asked if I could get a tour of the Poughkeepsie, NY plant. To which they looked at each other and confused asked how I knew about the place. Which of-course I knew about because I knew the history of the machines, this is where they have been making mainframes since the first S/360s. Anyway they said sure! Since I later found out that is why they came to me, to offer me a tour and at the place offer me a supplemental position. Which turned into a full time position when my skills were proven during the year long supplemental. Also you can thank that executive for my talk being on RU-vid in the first place. He said the talk should be on RU-vid and I mentioned that I don't even think they were planning on recording my talk. Which he instantly went and talked to the right people and got a crew rushed in last minute to get the thing recorded. The room was filled out the door, which this is the first time I actually gave a talk outside of a public speaking class in college so it was nerve wrecking to say the least. At the end of the talk the executive stood up, said some nice things, then mentioned that this video should be on RU-vid in a week. And oh yea... That talk was up a week later.... No other talks from the show were I don't think. Just this one because well, the entire conference was for IBM Mainframes, so when an executive from the ranks of the IBM Mainframe development sector says make it so I suppose it happens. Quite funny how it all unfolded, but man it all happened pretty quick. But of-course I'll doing all the same things I would have with or without the job. Still getting weird hardware/computers/etc and playing with them in my free time. Though I don't really need to get another mainframe due to well having access to literally hundreds of them at work :)

Conmega that's fantastic, thanks for sharing!

@@Conmega1 Dude, you are a legend! It has been 3 years and your story still pops up randomly in conversations among IT students and professionals. A couple of times I've had drinks with classmates and later colleagues and someone would say "Hey, have you heard about that guy who bought a mainframe?" May I ask what is it you actually do at IBM? Do you design electronics or write software? Or maybe you do networking?

I know telephone support ;-)

@VIDEOSUPERHIGHWAY So the CPU runs at a default low speed until you get a special code to make it work harder? It kind of fits what I've heard about one paying for CPU cycles used, or something. I've heard IBM has crazy licensing terms for their mainframes.

Now we know were Elon got the idea for the Teslas.

Keysight does the same with their oscilloscopes.

Or F1

you mean just like in cpu sockets that have been around forever?

@@firecrow7973 since the P4, hardly forever. My first pc used a super socket 7 - an amd k6-2 400mhz. Also intel and amd still use alot of licenced tech from IBM even in their current cpus

@@firecrow7973 forever for who? PCs? Because of the hundreds of connections to each CPU module, IBM didnt use sockets, they used tiny gold bumps that mated with other gold bumps. The CPU modules were fastened down in thier respective locations by various means (clamps, screws etc) CPUs were not just one chip like PCs. A maimframe CPU was made of modules.

Watch the video of "the mainframe kid" on RU-vid.... that's exactly the story.

Yes and some people still use them....

How about TIC-TAC-TOE with zero players...?

Today I have 32GB in one DIMM module... and two dozens of those in one server for $20,000

It's like many other stories.... A good product does not take off because manufacturers did not recognise the potential or it just came at the wrong time. Like Xerox who invented the mouse and the GUI. It could be the biggest company on earth now.

@@PlaywithJunk I think in the case of Xerox Park, the main company didn't really appreciate the full significance of what their west coast lab was creating and sold those things off cheap.. Hindsight is 20-20.

These are my fav kind of videos..ipmi remote kickstart!!!!! Awsome z9 bro

Pxe gang

We have a big cargo elevator (4000kg)

Well, go by and pick it up. I am sure your cat wouldn't worry about it eating up half your garage space while you stare at it lovingly.

@@jeffwads6158 I would if i lived near that guy... i'm not joking. Cat? garage? wah? lol okay I have a big basement that would house this.

@@xMandalorex That's cool. You can setup one of these Z890's in your basement to run a webserver, it will probably do a nice wonderful job, just completely ignore your electric bill and as long as its working everything is fine.

@@yafilmDOTcom Did i say anything about *RUNNING IT* ????

... and that was only the time for selftest. Booting the OS will take even longer. BTW do you know the term "WAF"? The "wife/woman acceptance factor". Large speakers and server racks have a very low WAF. A candlelight dinner has a high WAF. ;-)

@@PlaywithJunk these are amazing machines. This is why UPS’s are around. like many men.. I had to learn it. lol..

This can come true.... write me at playwithjunk@gmail.com ;-)

No Problem. Did It Yesterday 🙏

I Have Been Itching To Tear Into Something 😂

Those are MSA500 and MSA1000 and we still need them. But I'm about to get an EVA8000 rack with LFF fibrechannel drives. If you want some of that stuff.... but first I have to make a video with it :-) If interested send me a message to playwithjunk@gmail.com

The Hitachi blade center is much louder. Well it's also made by IBM but with a Hitachi label...

As far as I can see, the MCM has 5 single core CPU chips with a common L1 cache. There are also data compression and cryptography chips on the module. The clock speed is 1GHz.

No that's the maximum power with all I/O cards installed. For such a machine it's quite a low number.

@@PlaywithJunk and that NOT considering all the peripherals either!! Mainframes would sequence power in to various devices as to not cause a power surge in the building!! I worked in. HUGE mainframe data center

To have it at home I would call it a nightmare.... not a dream :-)

Google "IBM Z890 Redbook" and "IBM Z13 Redbook" (or z14) and then compare the data....

@@PlaywithJunk I was more thinking like, compared to a new Xeon based server or something like it :)

That is not a dumb question... Those mainframe systems are still used everywhere where a huge number of transactions come together. For example credit card companies, banks, insurance. Just think Amazon on a Black Friday.... millions purchases and orders per day. Even the fastest PC would break down under that load. While mainframes are not super fast from a CPU point of view but they have hundreds of I/O ports that work simultaneously.

@@PlaywithJunkthank you! I find this type of systems incredibly interesting and am trying my best to learn more about them. Appreciate the content it was excellent

Well... I found a tiny bit of dust at the lower edge of the CPU cooler. :-) These systems are used in air conditionned server rooms. There is simply no dust.

Play with Junk How much ram does this have