Home server build (X9SCM-iiF, E3 1220v2)

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Neme

n00b
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Jan 19, 2010
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Looking at putting together a home ESXi/storage server soon, so far looking at the following:

Norco 4224 (maybe Xcase RM 424 Pro)
Supermicro X9scm-iif
Xeon E3 1220 v2
4x 8GB ECC RAM (probably samsung M391B1G73BH0-CK0)
Crucial M4 256GB (Boot and VM OS drive)
3x IBM M1015 Flashed to latest IT firmware (passed through to the FreeNAS VM)
12x WD red 3TB (running ZFS raidz2, future upgrade to 24x drives)
Intel PRO/1000 PT quad port NIC (passed through to pfsense VM)
PSU (see questions below)

Running:
ESXi 5.1
FreeNAS 8.3.0
pfSense 2.0.2
Windows Server 2012
Assorted proof of concept/testing VMs

Now on to the questions:

1. Having read around i see that supermicro boards can be a little fussy over power supplies so I am looking for suggestions (preferably from people who are running similar kit) taking into account the above spec and the following criteria:

- ATX non hotswap
- Reputable brand
- Modular to keep cable clutter down and allow me to more easily make some custom cables to power the backplanes
- Relatively quiet, though I realise this server will not be silent i want to keep components quiet where i can
- May have to be capable of spinning all 24 drives up from cold boot if i can't get staggered spin up running (see below)

2. Staggered spin up, has anyone had any luck getting staggered spin up using the M1015 with IT firmware and/or WD RED drives, i have read that using HDAT2 (http://www.hdat2.com/) and setting the PUIS feature might be an option but if the hardware will support it without any messing then all the better.

Open to any other comments/suggestions from people running similar setups.

Thanks for any information.
 
Your setup looks fine. I would get the 1230v2 over the 1220v2, the 1220v2 does not support hyperthreading. You could think about a I350 four-port ethernet controller over the older pro/1000, it consumes less power and has more features.

I personally only use Seasonic PSUs for a few years now and cannot say bad things about them. I have several 350W to 850W PSUs from them and only a single one died till now... during a thunderstorm.

I could not get staggered spinup to work with newer SATA HDDs, including the WD Reds. They seem to simply ignore that setting. PUIS is not to be confused with staggered spinup, from my experience a drive with enabled PUIS will not be correctly detected on LSI controllers. I had to put them on an Intel port to disable the feature again.
 
omniscence said:
Your setup looks fine. I would get the 1230v2 over the 1220v2, the 1220v2 does not support hyperthreading. You could think about a I350 four-port ethernet controller over the older pro/1000, it consumes less power and has more features.

I personally only use Seasonic PSUs for a few years now and cannot say bad things about them. I have several 350W to 850W PSUs from them and only a single one died till now... during a thunderstorm.

I could not get staggered spinup to work with newer SATA HDDs, including the WD Reds. They seem to simply ignore that setting. PUIS is not to be confused with staggered spinup, from my experience a drive with enabled PUIS will not be correctly detected on LSI controllers. I had to put them on an Intel port to disable the feature again.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input, will probably throw 1230v2 into the mix (good catch), went for the pro/1000 as it is a card i already have in hand, also it is supported natively on FreeBSD 8.1 (pfsense) I have read of people having issues getting the I350 cards to work.

Have heard good things about Seasonic will try and find any sucess stories with the X9SCM-iif and large numbers of drives

Totally appreciate the difference between PUIS and staggered spinup, thanks for feedback of your experience, figure at this stage i might just have to oversize the PSU spec to cater for the large spinup current draw, though getting the +5v current required might be a pain.

Thanks again.
 
My server uses a 500 or 550W supply with 16 drives, I did not look at current ratings at all. Maybe I should have, but I did not encounter any issues yet.

Staggered spinup not working is really a pity. I used several Samsung F2EG drives which supported staggered spinup just fine, but that feature was missing from the F3EG drives and any drive I bought later, including WD Green, WD Red, several Seagate and Samsung drives.
 
Neme said:
1. Having read around i see that supermicro boards can be a little fussy over power supplies so I am looking for suggestions (preferably from people who are running similar kit) taking into account the above spec and the following criteria:

- ATX non hotswap
- Reputable brand
- Modular to keep cable clutter down and allow me to more easily make some custom cables to power the backplanes
- Relatively quiet, though I realise this server will not be silent i want to keep components quiet where i can
- May have to be capable of spinning all 24 drives up from cold boot if i can't get staggered spin up running (see below)
Click to expand...
I've got a Seasonic SS-400FL2 fanless power supply on my X9SCM-F (Older version of the -iiF) and it's freakin' beautiful. Granted, I'm only powering 6 HDDs, not 24, but I don't think I've ever seen it pull more than 180W from the wall with an E3-1230v2 and 32GB. The full system idles under 100W. If 400W's a little on the low side for ya, they also make a 520W version. If you absolutely must have overkill, check out the Seasonic X-1050 or similar. The fan doesn't even turn on until the PSU heats up, so it's basically silent.

I've used all manner of PSUs in the past. If Seasonic keeps up with their current level of awesome, I doubt I will ever purchase another brand. They really are that good.
 
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omniscence said:
I would get the 1230v2 over the 1220v2, the 1220v2 does not support hyperthreading.
Click to expand...

According to ark.intel.com, the E3-1220L v2 does support hyperthreding. 2 cores, 4 threads.

I have been considering this exact same build for ZFS (OpenIndiana though) and pfSense with a couple testing vms as well.

I struggle going from the ultra low power 1220v2 (17W) to the 1230v2 (69W). I have personally been considering the E3-1265L (45W) as middle-ground. It's a little more up front, but some extra power savings in the end.
 
dsumike said:
According to ark.intel.com, the E3-1220L v2 does support hyperthreding. 2 cores, 4 threads.

I have been considering this exact same build for ZFS (OpenIndiana though) and pfSense with a couple testing vms as well.

I struggle going from the ultra low power 1220v2 (17W) to the 1230v2 (69W). I have personally been considering the E3-1265L (45W) as middle-ground. It's a little more up front, but some extra power savings in the end.
Click to expand...

The L-version is a dual core CPU, while the non-L version is a quad core model.

And do not confuse TDP's with actual power consumption. At idle (which is where our CPU's spend the most of their days (please stop the Fresh Prince jingle going on in my head)) the variance in power consumption within any given CPU family is negligible.
 
spazoid said:
The L-version is a dual core CPU, while the non-L version is a quad core model.
Click to expand...

Ahh, good call. I saw what I wanted to see since that's what I was looking at myself I guess.

spazoid said:
And do not confuse TDP's with actual power consumption. At idle (which is where our CPU's spend the most of their days (please stop the Fresh Prince jingle going on in my head)) the variance in power consumption within any given CPU family is negligible.
Click to expand...

Is that just generally assumed for idle usage? Or is there some stats on that? This could make my CPU purchase a lot easier with some hard evidence to support the idle wattage.
 
A single of those LSI controller microprocessors will consume already more power than all these CPUs in idle.
 
dsumike said:
This could make my CPU purchase a lot easier with some hard evidence to support the idle wattage.
Click to expand...

I have 2x X9SCM systems right now. One with a 1230, one with a 1230v2. Neither have any sort of power saving feature on. Both are booted into ESXi 5.1. Both of them, combined, are using 106W according to my APC BackUPS. Call it 50W per system. The numbers on STH don't match mine exactly, but they're pretty close. If I pulled a couple RAM sticks, unplugged the fans, and set the box in BIOS, I could probably see 35W.
 
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