Taken out of active use due to this being declared a discontinued product in 2012 and very shortly ALL GSA software will be deemed as non-supported Google product (2019)
HOWEVER this is a very popular appliance for "re-purposing" using Linux especially.
Google Search Appliance (GSA)
Made by Super Micro Computer Inc (USA)
Model: MINI0020 (otherwise known as the Blue Box for obvious reasons)
1RU appliance originally designed to provide small business with extensive web search facilities
Released to market around 2007 - discontinued in 2012
All of Google's Search Applicances have now been declared "end of life" in 2019 and software licences are no longer available
Runs Linux Red Hat (customised version)
3Ghz dual core Pentium 4
2Gb ram
SATA hard drive interface
I have undertaken considerable testing of this appliance to check its current condition and suitability for a "re-purposing" project
If you don't know just how to proceed with re-purposing one of these appliances, this blog site is a great insight into what to do...
http://midnightcheese.com/2010/10/how-to-turn-a-google-mini-into-a-home-server/
As this is such a popular choice for custom server/workstation projects, there are tons of other sites discussing these appliances and their "rebirthing"
This appliance is supplied with the original GSA software installed although of course the crawl/search no longer works because the licence has expired.
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Superficial mark or scratch "here and there" but nothing of any concern - no dents!
All ports are undamaged
Front panel on-off button is fine
TESTING:
It has been a while since this appliance was removed from service, after which it was kept in the store room unused.
Powers up without any problems, booting with the Linux Red Hat software.
The complete start up process is SLOW - it takes around 10 minutes for all of the boot up tasks to be completed. No errors reported
It then goes into a plain GUI and awaits the login and password.
I then went into the system using "installation mode" via 192.168.255.1:1111 - no problems. I made various changes to the system, more to check the system response from a user than actually set up the equipment properly. I did NOT connect the WAN side, I couldn't see much point as this appliance will most likely be re-purposed.
You can easily see this in the screen shots during installation with the error messages such as "unable to find gateway, time server etc"
Just for interest sake I have included screen shots of the various boot up sequences and installation pages accessed via the applicance IP address.
The only comment I would make regarding the hardware is that it is a pretty noisy beast - no fault with the fans but they ARE noisy and sound something like an aircraft engine!
My judgement is that there are no issues with the hardware supplied and the software (such as it is) also is responding correctly.
Nice 1RU unit for a new workstation/server custom project.
Although these are commonly found on other sites, I believe the asking prices are way too high.
Sure, these were released as a very cut down version of Googles own equipment and priced at a point to attract the small business market. At release in 2007 these cost US$2990 with a 2 year search software licence up to 50,000 pages or US$9990 for the package up to 300,000 pages.
We believe at our asking price, the "bare bones" appliance is pretty good value - especially when others are asking up to US$1495 for these! Just crazy in our opinion.
