Smallest NUC-like SuperMicro with IPMI?

[codinghorror]

Long time reader first time poster, I've gotten so much great advice from STH articles over the years!

We're looking at replacing our remote access boxes, which are currently scooter computers, with very similar boxes but they now need to be IPMI capable with at least two ethernet ports, one port dedicated to IPMI remote access.

Does SuperMicro (or any vendor really) make a NUC-like SFF box with IPMI support on a dedicated ethernet?

There are some half-depth 1U chassis we already use that do have IPMI (the SuperMicro 5019S-L) but I'd really prefer for this to be a NUC-like form factor if we can get it..

Thanks for any and all advice!

 

[codinghorror]

Ah wait maybe I can answer my own question..

Supermicro | Products | SuperServers | Mini 1U | E200-9A

 

[BlueFox]

If you want smaller and lower power, have a look at the E200-9AP.

 

[BoredSysadmin]

If you want smaller and lower power, have a look at the E200-9AP.

Doesn't seem to have IPMI though

 

[BlueFox]

Doesn't seem to have IPMI though

Seems looking at photos isn't enough anymore as what I thought was a NIC is just a serial port. Well, the E200-9B uses the same smaller chassis and does have IPMI.

 

[Patrick]

Ah wait maybe I can answer my own question..

Supermicro | Products | SuperServers | Mini 1U | E200-9A

Those are a bit bigger than a standard NUC.

Welcome to the forums!

There really is not much in the more standard NUC form factor. The BMC, flash ROM, and RAM for IPMI takes up quite a bit of room.

 

[MiniKnight]

If that's the real @codinghorror then someone died a little inside making a post on XenForo

 

[ullbeking]

I'd actually like to go the other way around... and ask if there are designs for SBC's to "wire them in" to server-like computers, such as workstations, which don't necessarily have proper IPMI and endow them with some basic sort of out of band management. Does anybody know of a use of an SBC like this?

 

[BlueFox]

You would be looking at something like this plus a managed PDU so that you can power cycle if needed: https://www.lantronix.com/products/lantronix-spider/

It's not going to offer nearly the level of functionality that IPMI would, but better than nothing.

 

[ullbeking]

I actually have a Lantronix SpiderDuo and it sounded like a great idea but I am having the most frustrating time trying to figure out how it works.

• The documentation, software, and firmware, hasn't been updated in years.
• I don't know if having PS/2 mouse+keyboard connectors on the cables is mutually exclusive with USB functionality on those cables.
• I don't know if I am supposed to run their software, an HTML5 webage, or a Java app to access the admin interface.
• Can it be used from Linux? Mac OS X? A VT100?

I wrote to tech support quite some time ago but never heard back. I think it's time to try again, and be a bit more pushy this time.

It's a great idea for a product but it's either gotten very out of date or was poorly executed from the beginning.

Do you have one @BlueFox? What are your opinions of my complaints?