Supermicro X11SSM-F-O build advice

[Stux]

The board wouldn't even post and so you couldn't update the BIOS unless you installed a compatible CPU first.

There is another way. You can buy a license key to allow bios updates via IPMI. I think you don’t even require a cpu then.

 

[Beemer533]

I looked around a bit and it looks like the license to activate the BIOS update functionality via IPMI is only $18, so I guess if it comes to that it won't be the end of the world..
https://www.cdw.com/product/Supermicro-OOB-BIOS-Management-license/3099805?

Apparently you can also request an eval license from Supermicro for a one time use: https://www.supermicro.com/SwDownload/UserInfo.aspx?sw=1&cat=SUM

So, hopefully not a big deal.

All my parts arrived, so as soon as I get back home at the end of the week I'll be assembling everything and hopefully start burning in the drives..

 

[dvand]

I've had around 4 usb drives fail in the last two years. Luckily I had them mirrored but it's still a pain. Bought a SSD that will be going in next time I decide to tweak the system and my next build would have SSD to start.

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[Beemer533]

Well, good news.... It boots! The BIOS build date is from March (V2.1a), so that may have something to do with it.

I am currently trying to figure out the installation via IPMI (which I have only been using for 10 minutes and now feel like I can't live without it...)

BTW, I am trying out 11.2-BETA3 as I want to play around with plugins.. Should I be using that for operation or 11.1 (which says storage only)?

 

[dvand]

Installation via ipmi is worth every penny and I'd never go back to no ipmi.

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[Beemer533]

For sure very useful!

Finally installing now... I had set the boot mode to UEFI and kept getting stuck in the EFI shell... Once I set the boot mode to Dual, I was able to select my USB drive...

 

[Beemer533]

Another bit of info for anyone that may be using this SuperMicro board; I'm not sure if it is my hardware combo or what, but once I changed the boot mode to Dual as mentioned in my previous post, I had no problems installing FreeNAS onto my Kingston SSD which was plugged into SATA 0. All my other 6 WD reds were available as well (Plugged into SATA 2-6).

However, once I pulled the USB installation drive and rebooted, the SSD disappeared (would not show up on the boot list in BIOS) and I was stuck booting into the EFI shell.. The only drive that was visible was the WD Red that was plugged into SATA2.

I swapped the SSD into SATA2 and the WD red into SATA0 and then the SSD appeared in the BIOS and I was able to boot from it.. No idea why at the moment, but everything is working fine now, and all 6 WD reds are showing up to add into a pool. Hopefully this will help if someone runs into the same issues.

I am currently 27 hours into my HDD burn in, so I haven't had a chance to do anything else yet, but hopefully in the next few hours it will be ready to go.
Is there anything else anyone would recommend prior to migrating data? After 30 ish hours of HDD stressing I can't think of anything (assuming none of them fail).

 

[Ender117]

Another bit of info for anyone that may be using this SuperMicro board; I'm not sure if it is my hardware combo or what, but once I changed the boot mode to Dual as mentioned in my previous post, I had no problems installing FreeNAS onto my Kingston SSD which was plugged into SATA 0. All my other 6 WD reds were available as well (Plugged into SATA 2-6).

However, once I pulled the USB installation drive and rebooted, the SSD disappeared (would not show up on the boot list in BIOS) and I was stuck booting into the EFI shell.. The only drive that was visible was the WD Red that was plugged into SATA2.

I swapped the SSD into SATA2 and the WD red into SATA0 and then the SSD appeared in the BIOS and I was able to boot from it.. No idea why at the moment, but everything is working fine now, and all 6 WD reds are showing up to add into a pool. Hopefully this will help if someone runs into the same issues.

I am currently 27 hours into my HDD burn in, so I haven't had a chance to do anything else yet, but hopefully in the next few hours it will be ready to go.
Is there anything else anyone would recommend prior to migrating data? After 30 ish hours of HDD stressing I can't think of anything (assuming none of them fail).

do a smart long test before and after stress test, look for any change in pending sector, error count etc. also make sure to burn in your memory and cpu as well.

 

[Beemer533]

Cool, thanks for the advice!

 

[pro lamer]

I swapped the SSD into SATA2 and the WD red into SATA0 and then the SSD appeared in the BIOS and I was able to boot from it..

Is it the Kingston a400 finally? Do you have any more problems with the SSD? I am considering a purchase...

Sent from my mobile phone

 

[religiouslyconfused]

I run this board on my FreeNAS and no compliants.

 

[Beemer533]

Is it the Kingston a400 finally? Do you have any more problems with the SSD? I am considering a purchase...

Sent from my mobile phone

Once I swapped SATA ports it is still working fine. I'm assuming it was something to do with the board, but I haven't investigated further yet.

I don't think you'll have any issues with the Kingston ssd.

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[Maxburn]

I would also suggest a while with memtest 86, whatever the default test is. I read something here about kingston and supermicro not working well together but I can't find it now. Personally I pretty much always go with something on the motherboard approved list which has worked well for me in the past.

I'm getting the same board. I'm going to try really low end with a G3930 as my tasks are similar to yours in just storing files and streaming mkv/iso etc and I can't imagine it uses much CPU.

I'm going to simply go with a USB boot, who is recommending SSD for that? Everything except for this post said that was OK and it's your primary array that takes the logging hit. Maybe I misunderstand.

 

[Beemer533]

Thanks, I do need to run the memory test as well.

As far as usb vs ssd, I don't think anyone is really saying usb won't work, just that they aren't nearly as reliable.



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[iKersh]

Hi Beemer,

i am curious as to how your new setup is going?


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[Beemer533]

Sorry for the lack of response... I've been out of the country for work for several months and have not had much time to play around.

I can say that I haven't had any issues with any of the hardware I went with, very happy so far.