Is this a decent server?

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Red Squirrel

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My current server is a Core2Quad with 8GB of ram. Ram is my major limiting factor as I do lot of VMs and plan to expand that by making some training environments and what not. I need more ram, but 8 is the max I can go.

I'm toying with buying this:


Supermicro 5016T-MTFB


6 x Kingston 4GB DDR3-1333 PC3-10666 ECC


1x Intel Core i7 960 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 3.2GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S

Comes up to $1,806.24 total

I don't have that money right now, so I would be buying this in at least a couple months from now, and maybe it will go down even more by then.

Also, anything else I need to buy or is that all I need for a fully working system? I have a feeling I'm missing something here. The rails usually come with SM barebones right?

edit: links should be going to N C I X .com
 
Skip the i7, go for the xeon version of that. You're already buying ECC memory so might as well get the xeon.
 
I was thinking that too, is the xeon that much better for servers? If the motherboard has that socket is it assumed it will support any cpu of that socket? The page only mentions i7.

The nice thing with the i7 is that each core is actually 2 cores. Is it still better going with a xeon? Doubt they make 8 core xeons yet and if they do they are probably very pricy. Or do the xeons have HT as well?
 
Each core is 1 physical core and 1 hyper-threaded core=4 cores w/ hyper-threading. Yes xeons have them. AFAIK only the xeon can take advantage of ECC memory.
 
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=39721 I believe that is the xeon version of the 960.
AFAIK sc0tty8 is right, only xeons can take advantage of ECC mem. I also believe only xeons can do vt-d (passing pcie device to a VM) if you ever wanted to take advantage of that. But I'm not 100% sure on that, I do know that you need a server motherboard for vt-d and am pretty sure you need a xeon
 
liveify said:
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=39721 I believe that is the xeon version of the 960.
AFAIK sc0tty8 is right, only xeons can take advantage of ECC mem. I also believe only xeons can do vt-d (passing pcie device to a VM) if you ever wanted to take advantage of that. But I'm not 100% sure on that, I do know that you need a server motherboard for vt-d and am pretty sure you need a xeon
Click to expand...
VT-d is not limited to Xeon processors, however none of the Core i7 9xx CPUs support it (except for the mobile ones).
 
Oh so if I went i7 then the ECC memory would not work? Then yeah guess that's out then. I've never built with ECC memory before, but next server I want to do it right and have ECC memory. So Xeon it is.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Oh so if I went i7 then the ECC memory would not work? Then yeah guess that's out then. I've never built with ECC memory before, but next server I want to do it right and have ECC memory. So Xeon it is.
Click to expand...

why build ? You could buy a nice dell rack server..
 
Just a side note, might want to check your ram config with that setup, i don;t think you can use 1333 memory x 6.
 
dashpuppy said:
why build ? You could buy a nice dell rack server..
Click to expand...

That will be like 10k for the amount of ram I want. Dell will rape you on ram and disk space. I do like their servers but I'd only buy one if I don't need much disk space and ram. Even a base server usually starts around 2-3k.
 
Red Squirrel said:
That will be like 10k for the amount of ram I want. Dell will rape you on ram and disk space. I do like their servers but I'd only buy one if I don't need much disk space and ram. Even a base server usually starts around 2-3k.
Click to expand...

I just configured a R310 with 1 gig ram xeon processor and 4 250 gigers with raid and it was 1200$ of course i'm smart to buy my ram some where else :)


Plus the dell is quieter, matters TONS to me, but might not to you.

I was just reading the manual, http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCcQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.supermicro.com%2Fmanuals%2Fsuperserver%2F1U%2FMNL-1102.pdf&ei=3Q7rTcDFBa_XiALG76niCA&usg=AFQjCNEKhUjdmsytUsWhklvdcYXV_WXTmw

and shows that it will take 6 4 gigers BUT doesn't show what speed they have to be at.

Hummm...
 
Wait, so with the dells you can use 3rd party ram? I figured you had to use their ram. That's the part that usually costs the most.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Wait, so with the dells you can use 3rd party ram? I figured you had to use their ram. That's the part that usually costs the most.
Click to expand...

screw that, they use generic ecc memory, personally i use Kingston in the dells.

Just looked in my training material, looks like they still use hynex stuff..
 
Red Squirrel said:
Wait, so with the dells you can use 3rd party ram? I figured you had to use their ram. That's the part that usually costs the most.
Click to expand...

Wait, what?

I bought an R710 from the outlet and brought about 20 gigs of ram to the party on my own:)

If your seriously going to build your own, do some reading, I like the supermicro boards, I have one with IMPI which is a life saver.

I think I did the board, 16gb ram, xeon, norco case, 850w psu, 14 2tb drives, sas expander and RR4320 for something like $3200 USD. It is a storage server + hyper-v box and seems to do alright for what I need.

What are you planning on doing with this server? The Dell R210's are pretty cheap. I bought a few for work for about $600-800, one had one of those low power xeons, 4gb ram, 2x 250gig drives and I think the raid option? They make great little UT boxes.
 
The server will probably be a ESXi server, or I may stick to my current hybrid VM setup. My main stuff is done on the host (email, file, etc) while other stuff like test environments is in VMs.

We had an IBM server with Hynix ram at work. We had to order ram a couple times before we finally found a type that actually worked. The ram that would fit was like 3k a stick. It was not your standard DDRx ram, it was completely different.
 
Red Squirrel said:
The server will probably be a ESXi server, or I may stick to my current hybrid VM setup. My main stuff is done on the host (email, file, etc) while other stuff like test environments is in VMs.

We had an IBM server with Hynix ram at work. We had to order ram a couple times before we finally found a type that actually worked. The ram that would fit was like 3k a stick. It was not your standard DDRx ram, it was completely different.
Click to expand...

ibm's are way more picky.

I an tell you now, that dell servers use hynex ram :) Kingston also has a memory finder that lists their ram sticks that work with each product.
 
If I can use my own ram, then it does indeed seem cheaper to go with a R210. I just put together a server on the Dell site:

Code: 
BASE	PowerEdge R210 Chassis w/up to 2 Cabled HDs and Quad-Pack LED Diagnostics	edit
PROCESSOR	Intel® Xeon® X3470, 2.93 GHz, 8M Cache, Turbo, HT	edit
OPERATING SYSTEM	No Operating System	edit
MEMORY	1GB Memory (1x1GB), 1333MHz, Single Ranked UDIMM	edit
HARD DRIVES	250GB 7.2K RPM SATA 3.5" Cabled Hard Drive	edit
HARD DRIVE CONFIGURATION	RAID 1 - Add-in SAS6iR or H200 (SAS/ SATA Controller), 2 Hard Drives	edit
PRIMARY CONTROLLER	SAS 6iR SAS internal RAID adapter, PCI-Express	edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE	DVD-ROM Drive, SATA	edit
POWER CORDS	Power Cord, NEMA 5-15P to C13, wall plug, 10 feet	edit
SOUND CARD	Bezel	edit
RAILS	2/4 -Static Post Static Rails	edit
NETWORK CARD	On-Board Dual Gigabit Network Adapter	edit
EMBEDDED MANAGEMENT	Baseboard Management Controller	edit
SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION	Electronic System Documentation, OpenManage DVD Kit with DMC	edit

Comes up to $1,848.68 without the extra ram. So add maybe $500 for ram to fill the slots, not sure how many or what type it takes so I'd only find out once I order. It supports up to 4x4GB according to the options so I'm guessing it has 4 slots.

My Super Micro build with that Xeon processor comes up to $3,159.28. Though that's with 24GB of ram too.

And where I work, I may potentially get a discount with Dell. So think I will actually consider Dell now, had no idea it would end up being cheaper.
 
Red Squirrel said:
If I can use my own ram, then it does indeed seem cheaper to go with a R210. I just put together a server on the Dell site:

Code: 
BASE	PowerEdge R210 Chassis w/up to 2 Cabled HDs and Quad-Pack LED Diagnostics	edit
PROCESSOR	Intel® Xeon® X3470, 2.93 GHz, 8M Cache, Turbo, HT	edit
OPERATING SYSTEM	No Operating System	edit
MEMORY	1GB Memory (1x1GB), 1333MHz, Single Ranked UDIMM	edit
HARD DRIVES	250GB 7.2K RPM SATA 3.5" Cabled Hard Drive	edit
HARD DRIVE CONFIGURATION	RAID 1 - Add-in SAS6iR or H200 (SAS/ SATA Controller), 2 Hard Drives	edit
PRIMARY CONTROLLER	SAS 6iR SAS internal RAID adapter, PCI-Express	edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE	DVD-ROM Drive, SATA	edit
POWER CORDS	Power Cord, NEMA 5-15P to C13, wall plug, 10 feet	edit
SOUND CARD	Bezel	edit
RAILS	2/4 -Static Post Static Rails	edit
NETWORK CARD	On-Board Dual Gigabit Network Adapter	edit
EMBEDDED MANAGEMENT	Baseboard Management Controller	edit
SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION	Electronic System Documentation, OpenManage DVD Kit with DMC	edit

Comes up to $1,848.68 without the extra ram. So add maybe $500 for ram to fill the slots, not sure how many or what type it takes so I'd only find out once I order. It supports up to 4x4GB according to the options so I'm guessing it has 4 slots.

My Super Micro build with that Xeon processor comes up to $3,159.28. Though that's with 24GB of ram too.

And where I work, I may potentially get a discount with Dell. So think I will actually consider Dell now, had no idea it would end up being cheaper.
Click to expand...

remember there are 2 r210s theres r210 A and the R210II

WHy not a 310 for the extra 50-60 $ R310 has 4 drives R210 only has 2.

Dash.
 
dashpuppy said:
remember there are 2 r210s theres r210 A and the R210II

WHy not a 310 for the extra 50-60 $ R310 has 4 drives R210 only has 2.

Dash.
Click to expand...

This.

If you are talking VM's, you need more spindles, you could do external storage...
 
Oh yes external storage is in the plan. That's why I only went with 2 small drives. I could probably even just boot via USB and not even have drives but that's a gamble, not all bioses support it.

Idealy what I eventually want as my setup is a home built SAN (easier to maintain, no proprietary parts) and then servers would use it as external storage through iSCSI or NFS. 2 or 3 identical servers would be nice too but I can't even afford a single one right now. :p This is all just wishful thinking / future planing.

I just wish I could add more ram in my current server as that's really all I need.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Oh yes external storage is in the plan. That's why I only went with 2 small drives. I could probably even just boot via USB and not even have drives but that's a gamble, not all bioses support it.

Idealy what I eventually want as my setup is a home built SAN (easier to maintain, no proprietary parts) and then servers would use it as external storage through iSCSI or NFS. 2 or 3 identical servers would be nice too but I can't even afford a single one right now. :p This is all just wishful thinking / future planing.

I just wish I could add more ram in my current server as that's really all I need.
Click to expand...

The r210, has 2 built in usb ports on the inside right behind the front bezel :) take off the top and you will see 2 usb's for booting off of, ie usb thumb drive for esxi or what ever eles you want :)

see : ( taken from my training stuff )
dellr210usb.jpg
 
SAS drives or SSDs are much better for I/O performance and I recommend Xen or Vmware ESXi Hypervisors. Both of these run "bare metal" so you don't need a bulky host OS for those. You get much better performance and less overhead.

I would also recommend at least 4GB of RAM if you are planning to do VMs as well.
 
remixedcat said:
SAS drives or SSDs are much better for I/O performance and I recommend Xen or Vmware ESXi Hypervisors. Both of these run "bare metal" so you don't need a bulky host OS for those. You get much better performance and less overhead.

I would also recommend at least 4GB of RAM if you are planning to do VMs as well.
Click to expand...

Read his first post! He wants 24 gigs!
 
BASE PowerEdge R210 Chassis w/up to 2 Cabled HDs and Quad-Pack LED Diagnostics edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Xeon® X3470, 2.93 GHz, 8M Cache, Turbo, HT edit
OPERATING SYSTEM No Operating System edit
MEMORY 1GB Memory (1x1GB), 1333MHz, Single Ranked UDIMM edit
HARD DRIVES 250GB 7.2K RPM SATA 3.5" Cabled Hard Drive edit
HARD DRIVE CONFIGURATION RAID 1 - Add-in SAS6iR or H200 (SAS/ SATA Controller), 2 Hard Drives edit
PRIMARY CONTROLLER SAS 6iR SAS internal RAID adapter, PCI-Express edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE DVD-ROM Drive, SATA edit
POWER CORDS Power Cord, NEMA 5-15P to C13, wall plug, 10 feet edit
SOUND CARD Bezel edit
RAILS 2/4 -Static Post Static Rails edit
NETWORK CARD On-Board Dual Gigabit Network Adapter edit
EMBEDDED MANAGEMENT Baseboard Management Controller edit
SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION Electronic System Documentation, OpenManage DVD Kit with DMC e
Click to expand...

is what I saw LOL... thanks.
 
I dont have too horribly much into my build. Im gunna an i7 920 w/ 24gb of ram on a Asus Maximus III board and I run vm's all day long in the backround just fine.

I would suggest something like that. or if you wanna get an SR-2 board. couple xeons and 32 gig of ram :D
 
ChRoNo16 said:
I dont have too horribly much into my build. Im gunna an i7 920 w/ 24gb of ram on a Asus Maximus III board and I run vm's all day long in the backround just fine.

I would suggest something like that. or if you wanna get an SR-2 board. couple xeons and 32 gig of ram :D
Click to expand...


More description :) Pictures :)

I believe he want's rack, he has a rack in the basement that he wants to use.

WHOLY SHIT dell has servers half off right now :(

the R210 and 310 have huge savings :( AND free xeon upgrade DAMIT!!!
 
dashpuppy said:
More description :) Pictures :)

I believe he want's rack, he has a rack in the basement that he wants to use.

WHOLY SHIT dell has servers half off right now :(

the R210 and 310 have huge savings :( AND free xeon upgrade DAMIT!!!
Click to expand...

I have no need for one lol.
 
dashpuppy said:
The r210, has 2 built in usb ports on the inside right behind the front bezel :) take off the top and you will see 2 usb's for booting off of, ie usb thumb drive for esxi or what ever eles you want :)

see : ( taken from my training stuff )
dellr210usb.jpg
Click to expand...

Cool that's like our ESXi servers here at work. I'd probably do the same.

And yeah I'd be adding more ram.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Cool that's like our ESXi servers here at work. I'd probably do the same.

And yeah I'd be adding more ram.
Click to expand...

I cant remember if i read this right in the manual, you might be able to raid 2 usb sticks together ill look again if you want me to!

Might just buy a R210 my self now and doa nice storage box, BUT thats a whole different story, learning for me.

How are those HUGE boxes you got doing ? Still using them ?
 
the R310 is actually looking more attractive now. Someone was telling me the R210 actually can't do ESXi. I think because it does not have a true raid controller, only an onboard one. Even if you don't use it, ESXi wants it to be present.

The R310 can also go up to 32GB of ram. :D I don't have the money now, but my credit card keeps shining at me. No, stop me!
 
I paid total ~600 for the one in my sig I think it was. 16GB and 2 x 1TB Hitachi's in RAID1.

I'm not doing ESXI though. But it runs Hyper-V inside 2k8r2 just fine for me. Running a Win VM, and 3 Linux distro VM's with 1-2GB/ea without any issues. (I hate H-V for Linux though, HATE it)
 
Let me know if I can help. I will be ordering 2 R310 soon, hefty discounts. I am Dell reseller and do a good amount of sales which puts me in a nice spot in premier pricing =)
 
Red Squirrel said:
the R310 is actually looking more attractive now. Someone was telling me the R210 actually can't do ESXi. I think because it does not have a true raid controller, only an onboard one. Even if you don't use it, ESXi wants it to be present.

The R310 can also go up to 32GB of ram. :D I don't have the money now, but my credit card keeps shining at me. No, stop me!
Click to expand...

That doesn't make any sense.
 
What part, about the raid controller?

ESXi requires that the machine has a raid controller, and a specific brand/model. The one in the R210 is not supported. At least that's what someone at work was telling me. The R310 is not much more expensive anyway so I'd probably go with that.
 
Red Squirrel said:
What part, about the raid controller?

ESXi requires that the machine has a raid controller, and a specific brand/model. The one in the R210 is not supported. At least that's what someone at work was telling me. The R310 is not much more expensive anyway so I'd probably go with that.
Click to expand...

I've ran numerous esxi boxes w/o a raid controller. As long as the controller is supported it doesn't care.
 
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