We started buying some Supermicro this year ... several different models - a few orders of stand alone servers but mainly everything was blade systems. X10 Microblade systems and more recently Microcloud systems.
While their pricing is really good - I am less than impressed in other areas. Numerous IPMI firmware issues, power redundancy issues, and support response times are very long. -----Original Message----- From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rory Conaway Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2015 11:26 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT - 8 core ATOM server Ken, did you notice the temperature rating? Rory -----Original Message----- From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ken Hohhof Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2015 9:23 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [AFMUG] OT - 8 core ATOM server I know you may scoff at the idea of a server based on a lowly ATOM chip. And the idea of paying around $545 for one, plus RAM and HDD. But I am putting a couple Supermicro 5018A-TN4 servers into service, and so far I'm pretty impressed with them. I just pop in an 8 GB stick of DRAM and a 256GB 850 Pro SSD and then load CentOS 7. I think these could even be used for virtualization, if you don't need hot plug HDD or hardware RAID, like maybe you have a SAN. These are in a short depth 1U chassis that easily mounts to a 2 post rack, no need for a rail kit. The CPU has a passive heatsink, there is a chassis fan but I suspect everything would be fine if the fan died, the power consumption seems negligible under normal load. It's as if it generates zero heat. So with an SSD, there is little to fail, it's probably down to the power supply. Despite the compact size, nothing inside is crowded. The chassis seems to be a dedicated design for this server, not one of their multipurpose chassis. My only complaint is there's almost no room on the front for any labels, unless you cover up the logo and serial number. Some highlights: 2.4 GHz 8 core ATOM C2750 SOC (8 physical cores) up to 32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 ECC SO-DIMM (yes, ECC memory) 2 x 3.5" or 4 x 2.5" HDD bays 4 x GbE interfaces plus IPMI 1 PCI-E slot Doesn't make much sense as a desktop, definitely a server. I wondered about the 8 physical cores without hyperthreading support, I kept thinking that was equivalent to a 4 core CPU with HT. But I did a little reading, and realized you don't just count virtual cores to estimate performance, especially if the tasks are computation intensive not memory intensive. There is also a 5018A0TN7B model for network security appliance use, based on the C2758 SOC which includes encryption support. 7xGbE with software controlled bypass, and up to 64 GB of UDIMM. That's a lot of memory.
