Quiet, cheap, reliable servers - what do you suggest?

[katit]

With the Fixed Power supply P4000M cases you will need a 24 pin power extensions. You can also get rails to rack mount them.

Got everything from your list ordered. Now I just have question. Do you remember what other small bits and pieces will be needed? Right now I'm just going to set them side by side without rack. Decided to build them both with 128Gb. Definite overkill but my time will be worth more if I have to deal with it later...

1. How long power extensions do I need?
2. I ordered shrouds and Intel heat syncs. What is BCM and how do I set them up?
3. Any pointers on what's available right now storage-wise? What kind of deals I can get on 1TB industrial SSDs?


Any links on similar builds? I'd like to get them both setup and configured asap so I know everything works before NATEX warranty runs out.

 

[TType85]

Got everything from your list ordered. Now I just have question. Do you remember what other small bits and pieces will be needed? Right now I'm just going to set them side by side without rack. Decided to build them both with 128Gb. Definite overkill but my time will be worth more if I have to deal with it later...

1. How long power extensions do I need?
2. I ordered shrouds and Intel heat syncs. What is BCM and how do I set them up?
3. Any pointers on what's available right now storage-wise? What kind of deals I can get on 1TB industrial SSDs?


Any links on similar builds? I'd like to get them both setup and configured asap so I know everything works before NATEX warranty runs out.

Here is a build with the S2600CP and P4000M Intel S2600CP w/ Intel P4000 Case

I had a 12-14" one here and it worked. If possible you want to route the power around the front near the drive bay area. For some reason the fixed power supply version of the case has a shorter 24-pin cable than the one with the hotswap power supplies.

The BCM is what controls the fans and stuff like IPMI. This thread has some of the info about setting up the fans. Motherboard/CPU/Memory Bundles for sale The BCM will put the fans to full speed if there is a fault (no RPM signal from a fan it expects to be there)

Not sure on the storage, keep an eye on the deal forum, enterprise SSD stuff comes up a lot.

The cases usually come with a mini-sas reverse breakout cable so you can hook 4 drives up to the motherboard. You may want to get a hold of a few HBA (Dell H310/LSI 9211i) and the mini-sas cables if you got the case with the 12 hotswap bays. You can find the cards for about $50 each or so on ebay.

There is not much more you need, just your drives and software. Be sure to get the latest updates for the bios and BCM from intel's site.

 

[katit]

You may want to get a hold of a few HBA (Dell H310/LSI 9211i) and the mini-sas cables if you got the case with the 12 hotswap bays. You can find the cards for about $50 each or so on ebay.

Thanks for all the info. Reading all I can find on those MB/CPUs and so far looks like I made a good choice (free electricity )

Maybe little off-topic, but can you explain why do I need HBA card? Why can't I just use on-board stuff? I understand if I need RAID and want hardware RAID. I do that in current server, LSI with RAID1, but completely clueless on what I will do if card fails. At home in FreeNAS server I have LSI chip on board and flashed it in IT mode which pretty much ignores LSI firmware if I understand correctly.

So, what is the advantage of using HBA card?

 

[TType85]

Thanks for all the info. Reading all I can find on those MB/CPUs and so far looks like I made a good choice (free electricity )

Maybe little off-topic, but can you explain why do I need HBA card? Why can't I just use on-board stuff? I understand if I need RAID and want hardware RAID. I do that in current server, LSI with RAID1, but completely clueless on what I will do if card fails. At home in FreeNAS server I have LSI chip on board and flashed it in IT mode which pretty much ignores LSI firmware if I understand correctly.

So, what is the advantage of using HBA card?

the 2600CP2J has 6 onboard SATA ports. The hot swap bays that the system uses are Mini-SAS, (2x Mini-SAS for each 8 bays). You can do the breakout cable and hook one of them up (4-drives) but if you want to hook up the other 12 drives you need more ports. The HBA cards commonly used are flashed to IT mode (no raid) so they present the drives directly to the system. The system I am putting together with the 2.5" hotswaps has 2 Dell PERC H310 cards flashed to IT mode. My other system has 1 H310 flashed to IT mode for it's 8 hot swap bays.

 

[katit]

Ok, if I don't need more than 4 drives - I'm basically OK? Do HBAs have better performance then onboard SATA?
For us - we do software, no crazy storage needed as I mentioned, 1TB so I doubt there will be more than 2x drives in RAID1.

 

[TType85]

Ok, if I don't need more than 4 drives - I'm basically OK? Do HBAs have better performance then onboard SATA?
For us - we do software, no crazy storage needed as I mentioned, 1TB so I doubt there will be more than 2x drives in RAID1.

The Intel on-board controller is 4x 3gb/s SATA and 2 6gb/s SATA. If you are going to raid-1 2 1tb drives you are fine (if SSD, use the 2 6gb ports)

 

[katit]

Update
Received fan shrouds today. Box from NewEgg contains shroud, power extension cord, bunch of SATA cables and breakout cable. So, I guess I won't need to buy any additional cables. Got cases too, now just waiting on motherboards

Quick question:
Is it OK to mound heatsinks on provided paste (patch on heatsink). Or should I take it out and use Arctic silver or something?

 

[ColPanic]

Unless you're looking for a DIY project or you need a ton of cores cheap a 2670 is massive overkill for a few VMs and 1TB of storage in a small office. Get a couple of Lenovo TS-140s for $300 each and done. They are great for small offices and virtually silent and an incredible value.

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkServer-70A4000HUX-i3-4130-Computer/dp/B00SS3M3K6

 

[katit]

I have TS-140 as my wife's workstation. Works good for that. This is for IT office. We run database servers, web servers, VMs. Yes, it's interesting to DIY but it's also nice not to wait when project compiles or query runs.

 

[ColPanic]

I mistakenly linked to the i3 version of that server. The E3-1225 V3 used to be available at that price too but is much more now. I've installed several of them in small offices and the price for V3 quad core Xeon can't be beat.

 

[TType85]

Just a FYI. My air shroud came today and included the 24pin extension cable along with some sata cables.

 

[katit]

Just a FYI. My air shroud came today and included the 24pin extension cable along with some sata cables.

Yep. I mentioned this above. Seems like all needed is there already.

 

[TType85]

Yep. I mentioned this above. Seems like all needed is there already.

Yeah. Last time I bought a shroud for one of these it just came with the shroud no other accessories. Gotta love the quality of these Intel cases.

 

[katit]

Yeah. Last time I bought a shroud for one of these it just came with the shroud no other accessories. Gotta love the quality of these Intel cases.

Yes, cases is super nice. I don't need 16 2.5 bays but they sure look good
I built both of them yesterday, just waiting on IPMI modules to come in today and will start testing.

I guess I will be able to mound ISO on IPMI? Plan is not to have any disks. I want to boot into Linux ISO and run CPU/Mem tests first, get all the BIOS/fans stuff setup and only then move on to OS install

I'm thinking about doing some smaller cheaper industrial SSD on SATA2 for OS Host(Win 2012) and then have 2x SSDs in software mirror on SATA3 for VMs and storage.

Do you know if I use breakout cable from 2x SATA3 ports to front panel - can I put 4x drives in?

 

[TType85]

Yes, cases is super nice. I don't need 16 2.5 bays but they sure look good
I built both of them yesterday, just waiting on IPMI modules to come in today and will start testing.

I guess I will be able to mound ISO on IPMI? Plan is not to have any disks. I want to boot into Linux ISO and run CPU/Mem tests first, get all the BIOS/fans stuff setup and only then move on to OS install

I'm thinking about doing some smaller cheaper industrial SSD on SATA2 for OS Host(Win 2012) and then have 2x SSDs in software mirror on SATA3 for VMs and storage.

Do you know if I use breakout cable from 2x SATA3 ports to front panel - can I put 4x drives in?

If you got the full IPMI you should be able to remote mount the ISO's. If you identify which cable in the breakout cable goes to which bay you can put 2 on SATA3 and 2 on SATA2. I haven't tried it but offhand I don't see a reason it wouldn't work.

 

[katit]

If you got the full IPMI you should be able to remote mount the ISO's. If you identify which cable in the breakout cable goes to which bay you can put 2 on SATA3 and 2 on SATA2. I haven't tried it but offhand I don't see a reason it wouldn't work.

I ordered full IPMI, hopefully it will be at least as good as the one I got with Supermicro X10 board.

Why did you say 2x SATA2? There is 4x SATA2 on board, should I be able to connect 4x SATA2 and 2x SATA3 altogether?

 

[TType85]

I ordered full IPMI, hopefully it will be at least as good as the one I got with Supermicro X10 board.

Why did you say 2x SATA2? There is 4x SATA2 on board, should I be able to connect 4x SATA2 and 2x SATA3 altogether?

each mini-sas breakout cable has 4 drives on it, it you use 2 breakout cables yes no problem. I thought you were just using the 4 drives (using one cable).

 

[katit]

each mini-sas breakout cable has 4 drives on it, it you use 2 breakout cables yes no problem. I thought you were just using the 4 drives (using one cable).

I got one cable with case and one cable with fan shroud, have spares

 

[katit]

each mini-sas breakout cable has 4 drives on it, it you use 2 breakout cables yes no problem. I thought you were just using the 4 drives (using one cable).

Do you know what's up with those SAS to SATA cables they include with Case and with Fan shroud? Those are not breakout cables, right? How are we supposed to use them?

 

[markarr]

Do you know what's up with those SAS to SATA cables they include with Case and with Fan shroud? Those are not breakout cables, right? How are we supposed to use them?

The one i got was a reverse breakout cable. SATA connectors from MB to SAS connector on backplane.