Cobalt RaQ
| Company type | Private (before acquisition) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer hardware |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Fate | Acquired by Sun Microsystems |
| Successor | Sun Microsystems |
| Products | Cobalt RaQ servers, Cobalt Qube |
| Owner | Sun Microsystems (after acquisition) |
The Cobalt RaQ represents a series of 1U rackmount servers created by Cobalt Networks, Inc., which was later acquired by Sun Microsystems. These servers operated on a tailored version of Red Hat Linux and featured a proprietary graphical user interface designed specifically for server administration. Initial RaQ units were powered by MIPS RM5230 or RM5231 processors, before transitioning to AMD K6-2 CPUs and eventually adopting Intel Pentium III chips.
This product line was introduced as Cobalt Networks' follow-up to their original offering, the Cobalt Qube.
Server specifications
The following table summarizes the primary specifications of various Cobalt RaQ models:
| Model | CPU type | Default CPU Speed |
|---|---|---|
| Cobalt RaQ | RM5230 | 150 MHz |
| Cobalt RaQ 2 | RM5231 | 250 MHz |
| Cobalt RaQ 3 | AMD K6-2 | 300 MHz |
| Cobalt RaQ 4 | AMD K6-2 | 450 MHz |
| Cobalt RaQ XTR | Intel Pentium III | 733 MHz or 933 MHz (initial) 850 MHz or 1 GHz (reissued) |
| Cobalt RaQ 550 | Intel Pentium III | 1 GHz or 1.26 GHz |
Through an OEM partnership, Seagate manufactured the RaQ 2 under the name Seagate NasRaQ.
Enhanced versions of the RaQ 3 and RaQ 4 included models such as the RaQ 3i/4i, which introduced features like SCSI support, dual Ethernet ports, and a PCI slot. The RaQ 4r variant offered software RAID functionality utilizing a second IDE channel alongside SCSI. A minimalistic "bare bones" version of the RaQ 4 featured a single Ethernet interface, lacked external SCSI connectivity, and contained only one hard drive.
The RaQ 3 was shipped with Chili!soft ASP capabilities following Cobalt's acquisition of the technology shortly before Sun Microsystems purchased the company. PHP support was incorporated starting with the RaQ 4.
Notably, the RaQ XTR was the first server in a 1U form factor to accommodate four hot-swappable hard drives. However, hardware complications led to a recall coinciding with Sun's acquisition, postponing its reintroduction by more than half a year. This model did not achieve widespread adoption in the marketplace. Its management interface merged the newer PHP-based Sausalito system with legacy Perl-based tools from earlier RaQs.
Symantec’s Veloci Raptor firewall appliances were built upon the RaQ XTR hardware platform and featured an additional two-port network card alongside two onboard Ethernet interfaces, resulting in four total network connections.
The last model released, the RaQ 550, brought in Java support and exclusively utilized the Sausalito user interface originally developed for the Qube 3.
After Sun Microsystems acquired Cobalt Networks, all products in the Cobalt line were phased out, with End of Life announced for every model. Support and software updates for RAQ1 through RAQ4, XTR, RAQ550, and Qube3 ended by late 2007.
On December 23, 2003, Sun Microsystems published the source code for RAQ550/Sausalito under a BSD license. Since then, various developer communities have continued to maintain related projects such as BlueQuartz, BlueOnyx, and RackStar, often supported by former Cobalt consultants and ex-Sun engineers like Tim Hockin and Patrick Baltz.
While standard Linux distributions can be installed on more recent x86-based RaQs, installing Linux kernel versions beyond 2.6 requires either replacing the ROM firmware or employing chain loading techniques due to non-standard BIOS implementations. Utilities such as CoLO assist users in performing these procedures.