Supermicro server with X7DA8 mobo

[ChiknNutz]

I have found a local-ish chap that has a Supermicro server case that has the subject mobo in it. He is not certain of the exact model, we have been exchanging emails to try and determine exactly what he has. We believe the model is this one: http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/4U/7045/SYS-7045A-8.cfm

If so, this seems like a nice starting point for a relatively decent FreeNAS box. It comes with 8GB of RAM and dual quad-core 2GHz Xeons and the mobo has the Intel NIC. Yes, I get that this is some older kit, but the price is right ($150). My plan is to use 4 - 3TB SATA drives in RAIDZ2 configuration.

One question I have is this. If this is the exact model, the specs say it has, "Dual Channel U320 SCSI with 8 (4+4) Hot-swap Drive Trays" and I of course will not be using SCSI. Can these only be used for SCSI drives? Is this a deal breaker? The specs also say it also has 6-SATA ports.

 

[danb35]

If it has a SCSI backplane, the hot-swap bays won't work for SAS/SATA. The SATA ports on the motherboard would work fine, but you'd need to either replace the backplane or come up with another mounting solution for your drives.

The problem with the X7 systems is that they use a front-side bus between the CPU and the RAM. Since ZFS has so much RAM traffic, this will really be bad for performance.

 

[ChiknNutz]

Well cr@p.

 

[JDCynical]

Also, per the fine print on the board, it's a workstation board and doesn't include IPMI. It can be added, but it's an add-on card via a dedicated slot and doesn't support KVM over LAN.

For a dedicated server, KVM over the LAN is the only way to go IMO.

 

[ChiknNutz]

I cannot confirm, but based on the actual pix of the box, it looks like it has the extra IPMI card. Probably a moot point now anyway, given the SCSI backplane and FSB. Bummer, thought I had found a little gem. Glad I asked. I forgot about the FSB being a bad thing and I just noticed that my current rig has that (am not yet running FreeNAS as I have parts incoming). So, looks like I'm gonna need to get the whole f'n works now in order to run the ZFS file system. How big of a deal is the FSB?

Regarding IPMI, do you use a separate LAN cable along with the normal LAN cable?

 

[JDCynical]

I cannot confirm, but based on the actual pix of the box, it looks like it has the extra IPMI card. Probably a moot point now anyway, given the SCSI backplane and FSB. Bummer, thought I had found a little gem. Glad I asked. I forgot about the FSB being a bad thing and I just noticed that my current rig has that (am not yet running FreeNAS as I have parts incoming). So, looks like I'm gonna need to get the whole f'n works now in order to run the ZFS file system. How big of a deal is the FSB?

This I can't really speak to as my first 'real' install is on the system listed in my sig (Xeon with a FSB and a SM board limited to 8 GIG of RAM), but I can say that it's not the fastest thing on my network.

Regarding IPMI, do you use a separate LAN cable along with the normal LAN cable?

Depends on the implementation. For example, most current SM boards that have it built on will give you a choice, use the dedicated port or share one of the LAN ports. Choice is good as you might want to put your management access on it's own dedicated subnet/LAN for security reasons. Most home users don't have a need for this level of para...err, security. :)

 

[cyberjock]

How big of a deal is the FSB? If you don't plan to do more than about 100MB/sec over the LAN (assuming the CPU is doing no other work and has compression disabled or at lz4), you'll be fine. If you have any plans to be upset if you can't saturate Gb LAN, transcode stuff from Plex, etc, then FSB is not for you.

The vast majority will probably be disappointed with a system that has FSB (which is why I don't recommend them at all) because your basically opting for a system that is going to be very limited in performance, very high in power draw, very limited in the amount of RAM it can hold, and adding any RAM to the system is going to be very expensive. If none of those downsides are ever going to bother you, go for it. Most people will not be happy with at least 3 of the 4.