Supermicro 6028U-TRTP X10DRU-i Barebone $349

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mmo

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i am also considering this server, but have concern with it's noise. Does anyone know if the major noise are from the mid 4 fans or PSU and how bad it is. I definitely dont want a jet engine around the house :).
 

BlueFox

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The Supermicro Ultra line (which this server is part of) are not really designed to be quiet. I would probably go for something else if noise is a major concern. The fans are PWM and will throttle, but that only goes so far (mine sit at ~4000 RPM at idle). You also cannot swap the PSUs for SQ models (since they don't exist).

Part of the problem is just how much power the server uses (it is aiming for top performance after all). I have a single E5-2678v3, 2 DIMMs, LSI 9341-4i, 2 SAS SSDs, and a 1TB hard drive in mine, but it still sits at ~115W with minimal load (CPU throttled to 1.2ghz).
 

Bert

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BlueFox, from where did you buy, serverstore or esiso? Esiso has several builds and it seems like Esiso is charging $33 for the trays, OK price for 12 trays.


I think with the dropped price from esiso, I am now considering to purchase these servers, primarily due to FOMO as once this batch got sold, I doubt we will see such low prices agains. I already have Quanta D51B-2U server which are quiet and fully loaded with 10GB copper/fiber and SAS3 expansion card, yet I like supermicro servers. Is there any advantage of SuperMicro over Quanta servers?
 

BlueFox

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I bought from eSISO directly via email. Their eBay listing says no trays, but the server I received included them and I was not charged extra for them.

As for Supermicro vs Quanta, I think part of it may be support and parts availability? I'm biased towards Supermicro though. I think given how capable this server is, it's really hard to beat for the price, especially with how cheap E5-2678v3s are.
 
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britinpdx

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Is there any advantage of SuperMicro over Quanta servers?
Absolutely...

Modularity
IMHO the #1 benefit for Supermicro systems are their modularity. The Ultra range are a little more ""targeted" to performance compared to the "mainstream" line, but they are still very configurable.
Take a look at the details of the ultra series from the Supermicro landing page. Filters allow you to look for x10, 2.5" vs 3.5" etc

For example, narrow down to a link to the SYS-6028U-TR4+ Scroll down too the bottom of the page and expand the "parts list" and you will get details of each p/n in the configuration, right down to the cable details.
Note that these are for the "standard commercial" configurations, there are specific custom configurations for target customers that don't show in the list.

It becomes quickly apparent that the items such as the backplane, cabling, I/O & network risers are different between configurations yet generally based on the same chassis. Here's the consolidated high level data from the landing page for the 3.5" bay configs ...

1609722868635.png

Note that there are also "custom" configurations with SAS3 expander backplanes.

Not noted in the table above are the WIO risers (supported by CPU 1). Ultra risers are supported by CPU 0. Head over to the Riser Card Matrix and filter for Ultra, 2U, LHS and now you get a list of the interchangeable riser cards for the WIO slot, so you can choose the RSC-R2UW-4E8 if you want 4x PCIe x8 slots, or the RSC-W2-66 if you want 2x PCIe x16 slots.

Bifurcation Support
The Supermicro Ultra series provide excellent bifurcation support for both the Ultra and WIO risers. I've used Supermicro AOC-SLG3-2M2 cards in x8 slots and an ASUS Hyper M.2 card in a x16 slot.
The Quanta units do not support bifurcation.

Parts Availability
Tons of parts available on eBay, don't forget about the Supermicro eStore that has a lot of accessories at really good prices.

Support
Supermicro provide excellent aftermarket support with a full compliment of technical manuals, downloads for BIOS / IPMI & drivers etc as well as a support team that you can email with questions.

For example, I received an Ultra chassis that had a missing bracket for the "internal" slot where you would mount an SAS 3008 HBA. I reached out to the technical support team, exchanged a few emails and photos and they provide me with the p/n (which was not on any of the configuration parts lists that I could find.) BTW, it's MCP-120-82921-0N should you need one. Tech support suggested I could contact the Supermicro RMA dept but I found one on eBay.

I've used Supermicro systems for many years and not only are they highly configurable, but they are exceptionally well engineered.
 

Bradford

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May 27, 2016
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Absolutely...

Modularity
IMHO the #1 benefit for Supermicro systems are their modularity. The Ultra range are a little more ""targeted" to performance compared to the "mainstream" line, but they are still very configurable.
Take a look at the details of the ultra series from the Supermicro landing page. Filters allow you to look for x10, 2.5" vs 3.5" etc

For example, narrow down to a link to the SYS-6028U-TR4+ Scroll down too the bottom of the page and expand the "parts list" and you will get details of each p/n in the configuration, right down to the cable details.
Note that these are for the "standard commercial" configurations, there are specific custom configurations for target customers that don't show in the list.

It becomes quickly apparent that the items such as the backplane, cabling, I/O & network risers are different between configurations yet generally based on the same chassis. Here's the consolidated high level data from the landing page for the 3.5" bay configs ...

View attachment 17013

Note that there are also "custom" configurations with SAS3 expander backplanes.

Not noted in the table above are the WIO risers (supported by CPU 1). Ultra risers are supported by CPU 0. Head over to the Riser Card Matrix and filter for Ultra, 2U, LHS and now you get a list of the interchangeable riser cards for the WIO slot, so you can choose the RSC-R2UW-4E8 if you want 4x PCIe x8 slots, or the RSC-W2-66 if you want 2x PCIe x16 slots.

Bifurcation Support
The Supermicro Ultra series provide excellent bifurcation support for both the Ultra and WIO risers. I've used Supermicro AOC-SLG3-2M2 cards in x8 slots and an ASUS Hyper M.2 card in a x16 slot.
The Quanta units do not support bifurcation.

Parts Availability
Tons of parts available on eBay, don't forget about the Supermicro eStore that has a lot of accessories at really good prices.

Support
Supermicro provide excellent aftermarket support with a full compliment of technical manuals, downloads for BIOS / IPMI & drivers etc as well as a support team that you can email with questions.

For example, I received an Ultra chassis that had a missing bracket for the "internal" slot where you would mount an SAS 3008 HBA. I reached out to the technical support team, exchanged a few emails and photos and they provide me with the p/n (which was not on any of the configuration parts lists that I could find.) BTW, it's MCP-120-82921-0N should you need one. Tech support suggested I could contact the Supermicro RMA dept but I found one on eBay.

I've used Supermicro systems for many years and not only are they highly configurable, but they are exceptionally well engineered.
That bracket allowed you to install a regular pcie hba where you otherwise couldn't? Does yours come with a sas3 expander? I bought from esiso today, they accepted 220 over email. I'm not excited about the noise but this is a box I'm eventually going to colo.
 

Bradford

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One more question - will i need a sas3 hba or can I continue using my sas2?
 

BlueFox

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The bracket is required to install an HBA in the PCIe slot that does not have rear IO access. You can still use the other PCIe slots for an HBA. You should be able to use your SAS2 HBA, though SAS3 ones are fairly cheap.
 
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Bert

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That bracket allowed you to install a regular pcie hba where you otherwise couldn't? Does yours come with a sas3 expander? I bought from esiso today, they accepted 220 over email. I'm not excited about the noise but this is a box I'm eventually going to colo.
Are the one from ESISO missing any important piece to be able install full size cards? How many full size cards can we install? It looks like this chassis is special and it can take many full size cards and close to 80 pcie lanes are supported by motherboard. Is this correct? Supermicro web page gives 7 PCI-E 3.0 x8 slots (5 FH, 10.5" L,1 LP, 1 Internal LP) for 2028U.

Are the fan speed set by bios? I had bunch of supermicro servers, the fan speeds were always dynamic for them as they stay relatively quiet unless temps go up. Is this not the case for this server somehow?
 
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BlueFox

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No, they're actually set up for GPUs with custom risers. You could easily put in 3 Tesla GPUs (just need some inexpensive power cables). You will have 3 x PCIe x16 double height, 1 x PCIe x8 LP, and 1 x PCIe x8 (internal only, meant for HBAs). You could swap the risers out if you want a different config as well, for example change 2 x PCIe x16 for 4 x PCIe x8 (since that's a single riser).

You can adjust the fan speed in the BIOS (or via IPMI). The fans are PWM, but this is meant to be a high performance server (as is the entire Ultra line). Noise was not a consideration as far as design goes.
 
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Bert

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No, they're actually set up for GPUs with custom risers. You could easily put in 3 Tesla GPUs (just need some inexpensive power cables). You will have 3 x PCIe x16 double height, 1 x PCIe x8 LP, and 1 x PCIe x8 (internal only, meant for HBAs). You could swap the risers out if you want a different config as well, for example change 2 x PCIe x16 for 4 x PCIe x8 (since that's a single riser).

You can adjust the fan speed in the BIOS (or via IPMI). The fans are PWM, but this is meant to be a high performance server (as is the entire Ultra line). Noise was not a consideration as far as design goes.
Ah thank you now I get it. And I assume the bracket to hold the internal LP card is missing based on the previous messages.

I am looking at the pictures more and I think I see space for 4 double height cards. Two on the right, one in the center and one in the left above power supply. Description also says 72 PCI-E lanes for ultra lines.

Do I misinterpret the pictures?
 

BlueFox

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You're close, but a little off. The center riser (on the right side) does not have that slot populated, so you cannot put a 4th GPU there (or anything for that matter). 2 GPUs on the far left and 1 above the PSUs. Center has just the two PCIe x8 slots, of which really just one is usable.

The bracket for the internal PCIe slot is not included and pretty hard to find. You are probably best off using the other PCIe x8 slot for the HBA.

There are still 72 usable lanes. 48 from the PCIe x16 slots, 16 from the PCIe x8 slots, and 8 go to the 4 x 10GbE NICs.
 
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Bradford

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I got my case today and I'm really happy with it.

The packing job was awful - just foam forms on each end but the rails were rattling around. I picked up the box and thought something had broken during shipping.

Mine had all but 2 of the caddies, and two of them had 2.5" tool-free adapters (see pic)! My riser is a AOC-2UR6-I4XT - 10GBx4.

Regarding the adapter for the HBA, it's available here for about $10 shipped, but backordered. I don't think I'll use it, since the low profile slot isn't used by anything else.

It won't turn on without CPU/FANs? It didn't for me, I wanted to get a feel for its noise level. I took a picture of the fans inside as well as the PSUs. I will eventually colo mine but until then I don't want to hear it all day in the house.

Awesome value for $220 - looks like they're out of stock, I would have bought another.

Pictures:
 

Bradford

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The only power supplies I could find with the same dimensions and fingers (25), were these:

I suppose there's no reason to believe any of these other PSUs would be quieter than what's in there.
 

BlueFox

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PWS-1K62A-1R fits too. None of them are particularly quiet.
 

dreamkass

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Aug 14, 2012
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Sorry to necro post. Have just ordered one of these servers, and I have two questions

does it boot from a NVME M.2 SSD card on the Supermicro carrier ?

does the bmc support html5 for kvm, I’m getting tired Of trying to find browsers and Java versions which work
Its does have a HTML5 and Java KVM, choose your poison sometimes the JAVA works better for mapping remote ISO.
 

sboesch

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Aug 3, 2012
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Sorry to necro post. Have just ordered one of these servers, and I have two questions

does it boot from a NVME M.2 SSD card on the Supermicro carrier ?

does the bmc support html5 for kvm, I’m getting tired Of trying to find browsers and Java versions which work
It will not boot from NVME. The BMC does have support for HTML5 KVM.
 

Bradford

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May 27, 2016
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I reached out to the technical support team, exchanged a few emails and photos and they provide me with the p/n (which was not on any of the configuration parts lists that I could find.) BTW, it's MCP-120-82921-0N should you need one. Tech support suggested I could contact the Supermicro RMA dept but I found one on eBay.
I got my MCP-120-82921-0N and cannot for the life of me figure out how to mount it. Did you succeed?
 

Bradford

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Ok i did figure it out. I'm not sure it's the right way, but it secures my hba which is all I need. I had to disassemble the riser card a bit and bend the bracket i bought (to accommodate the 4x 10Gbe heatsink), but it works pretty well. Pictures show what I had to do and the end product.


I got mine from here, which was only around $10 but it took a few weeks to get to me.