HP 9000/A180 A-Class
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1998 |
| CPU | 1 PA-7300LC 180 MHz |
| Cache | 128 KB L1 1 MB L2 (A180C) |
| RAM | 2 GB |
| Design | LASI |
| Drives | 2 SCSI |
| Expansion | 2 GSC/PCI |
| Bandwidth | I/O 144 MB/s |
| I/O | 100E 2 SCSI serial |
Overview
The HP 9000 A-Class A180 and A180C were among the last 32-bit PA-RISC HP 9000 800 servers, in a small and rack-mountable case.
Designated Enterprise Internet Servers
they were geared towards deployment in rack-space in datacenters and thus do not have video output, only serial console and a web console.
System design was pretty pared down and streamlined, with a simplified 32-bit PA-RISC design not dissimilar to the HP Visualize B180L workstation, minus the graphics and a few of the I/O devices.
| Model | Product | Introduced | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| A180 | A5182A | 1998 | |
| A180C | A5183A | 1998 | $16,000 |
Internals
CPU
- A180: PA-7300LC 180 MHz with 64/64 KB on-chip I/D L1 cache
- A180C: PA-7300LC 180 MHz with 64/64 KB on-chip I/D L1 and 1 MB off-chip L2 cache
The additional 1 MB L2 cache is the only difference between both systems. It was upgradeable through two DIMM slots near the CPU.
Chipset
- LASI chipset
- NCR 53C710 8-bit single-ended SCSI-2
- Intel 82596CA 10 Mbit Ethernet controller
- Dino GSC-to-PCI bridge
- Phantom PseudoBC GSC+ port
- DEC 21142/43 10/100BaseT PCI Ethernet
- Other I/O (serial)
» View a system-level ASCII-illustration of the chipset.
Buses
- GSC+ general system-level I/O bus (probably clocked at 36 MHz — 144 MB/s peak data rate)
- PCI high performance device I/O bus
- SCSI-2 Fast-Narrow single-ended; main storage I/O bus
Memory
- 72-pin ECC EDO SIMMs, 60ns or faster.
- Takes 64-256 MB modules
- Eight slots
- 128 MB (2×64) minimum, 2048 MB (8×256) maximum
Expansion
- Two slots for either GSC (EISA formfactor) or PCI cards
Drives
- One tray for two 3.5″ Fast-Narrow 50-pin SCSI hard drives
External connectors
- SCSI-2 50-pin single-ended
- Serial RS232C DB9
- Fast Ethernet RJ45
- Ethernet RJ45
Web Console
References
Manuals
- A180 User’s Manual (PDF, 0.9 MB)
- HP's HP9000 A-Class A180C Enterprise Server - Designed as a low-cost, high-density Web server, is the A-Class as mean as it is lean? Ralph Barker at Dr. Dobb’s (June 1999, accessed December 2017)
Operating systems
Benchmarks
| Model | SPEC95, int | SPEC95, fp |
|---|---|---|
| A180 | ? | ? |
| A180C | 9.22 | 8.60 |