Sweet little barebone.. what can it do?

G

Greatone123

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
May 10, 2006
Messages
1,293
I'm sure you've seen it before, I haven't and I just came across it.

http://www.provantage.com/supermicro-sys-5015a-h~7SUP91AQ.htm


very small, low power, 1U, has an PCIe 8x slow for the riser, Dual Gigabit NICs

http://www.provantage.com/supermicro-cse-rr1u-e8~7SUPM17N.htm



I know it's a general question, but the duties of an average network (domains, databases, AD, remote stuff... websites..) could this handle any of the tasks and not have to really worry about it?


say, a very small business, 5 - 10 users

Needs say:

domain
AD
dns
website
database
exchange


I'm not asking if it can handle everything, but I think it would be a nice low power solution for something at all?

I'm gonna start my business next year, I won't even have 5 people probably ever honestly... but I'd like to keep everything as low power as possible until I actually need something worth really spending money on.
 
For a DC running basic infrastructure...active directory, DNS, DHCP, group policies, print server..it would do fine.

Database...depending on which database and how large it was and how many users 'n stuff...it wouldn't be a ball of fire, as well as your choice of disk system.

Exchange...same as database...probably heavier..much of this depending on your disk system too.

Adding file storage to that, depends on the performance of the disk system you put in her.

I don't see hardware RAID options, I'd want hardware RAID for Exchange and Database. For just a DC under that light load you could software RAID it without worry.

Nice little box for a UTM appliance like Untangle or Endian.
 
Kinda a lightweight for the price IMO... you could pick up a fairly robust used server off of eBay for about the same amount.

Of course, if you're specifically looking for a quiet, slim, efficient machine, it looks like it will do the job well.
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
Nice little box for a UTM appliance like Untangle or Endian.
Click to expand...

That was my second thought since it had dual gigabit built in and all...


I do wish it had some sort of airflow tho... would be a neat little system to hide up under a desk with a wireless kb/m makes for a clean looking desk area

maybe a PCI slot exaust fan in slot on the back...
 
Greatone123 said:
I do wish it had some sort of airflow tho... would be a neat little system to hide up under a desk with a wireless kb/m makes for a clean looking desk area

maybe a PCI slot exaust fan in slot on the back...
Click to expand...

Yeah but that means fans..which means more noise, and cost. It's an Atom processor...designed for low wattage, low heat output in ultra small form factors and netbooks and the likes.
 
I would say this machine would serve as a perfect DC for you. However, anything more than that, I feel that it may not be up to the task
 
since i would be starting from nothing. should i go with 2003 or 2008 ? i know 8 is newer but how would the hardware handle it?
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
Greatone123 said:
since i would be starting from nothing. should i go with 2003 or 2008 ? i know 8 is newer but how would the hardware handle it?
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
Click to expand...

As far as just a DC goes, for your small amount of users, I don't think you'll see a difference in performance. 2K8 may take a hair longer to boot up..but a server generally stays running 24x7 so that's not usually a concern.
 
I wouldn't use that for much more than an appliance device. A Linux based firewall or IPS would be perfect for that thing. Personally I would put SQUID or Smoothwall / Dansgaurdian on it.

I mean if your user base is never going to change and it worked alright as a DC sure but you have to prepare for the future if your network is going to grow.
 
I wonder how many users an atom 330 could satisfy under untangle.

I see this as a nice little nas box.
 
witha pcie 8x slot u could fit a hardware raid card with external ports to expanders couldn't you? welll i guess that would put a bit of heat on it... maybe an esata controller and just some external boxes for simple storage...


think i'll get one and see how well it handles....
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
sc0tty8 said:
I wonder how many users an atom 330 could satisfy under untangle.

I see this as a nice little nas box.
Click to expand...

Probably depends on amount of traffic..if there's a mail server onsite that has a lot of mail volume, if you're using the OpenVPN, if you have VoIP passing through it, etc.

I know on Untangles forums it seems like a "Gotta have a quad core and 4 gigs of RAM" battle, but honestly I've had solid experiences with just a good business grade desktop..Intel chipset motherboard, older P4 H/T, a gig of two of RAM, and good NICs like Intel onboard and an Intel or 3COM PCI. I have some units like that serving up 50 and 70 node networks on 10 and 20 meg internet connections..and they fly 24x7x365.

I'd suspect the unit would run Untangle fine for a network of moderate use and say under 25 users, if they're not using the VPN and have no VoIP flowing through it...and light e-mail (the spam filter can get busy with heavy e-mail flow). One thing that may hold them back a hair is the realtek NICs.
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
Probably depends on amount of traffic..if there's a mail server onsite that has a lot of mail volume, if you're using the OpenVPN, if you have VoIP passing through it, etc.

I know on Untangles forums it seems like a "Gotta have a quad core and 4 gigs of RAM" battle, but honestly I've had solid experiences with just a good business grade desktop..Intel chipset motherboard, older P4 H/T, a gig of two of RAM, and good NICs like Intel onboard and an Intel or 3COM PCI. I have some units like that serving up 50 and 70 node networks on 10 and 20 meg internet connections..and they fly 24x7x365.

I'd suspect the unit would run Untangle fine for a network of moderate use and say under 25 users, if they're not using the VPN and have no VoIP flowing through it...and light e-mail (the spam filter can get busy with heavy e-mail flow). One thing that may hold them back a hair is the realtek NICs.
Click to expand...

I have an atom setup at one of the sale's guys house here. I had it at my place with gaming traffic w/o issue.

At the office I got an old dell desktop running a 2.8 p4, 2gb ram, 250 ide, prior to last reboot, 42 days up. We do not use the mail filtering built into it, or, openvpn.

Next year I want to upgrade the ut box here, something rackmounted. We have about 25 users here, not sure what our email traffic is. Our email server is on site, but we don't use ut to filter. May look at that, we use securance now to filter spam.
 
This is pretty cool, I wonder if they just sell the Atom CPU + mobo together? I would like to put this cpu/mobo combo into a nice supermicro 3U, plug in my RAID 5 array and use it as an ISCSI SAN :)
 
If you're interested Newegg has the same system which is $10 cheaper since it ships free (at least when shipping to WI, YMMV)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816101262

EDIT: There's also a combo deal on that page that has the server, 2GB of RAM, and a 1TB WD Green HD for $320 which ships for $6, making the total $326.

EDIT x2: I also see I just missed YeOld's post about the same deal...
 
Last edited:
`danny said:
This is pretty cool, I wonder if they just sell the Atom CPU + mobo together? I would like to put this cpu/mobo combo into a nice supermicro 3U, plug in my RAID 5 array and use it as an ISCSI SAN :)
Click to expand...

The CPU is embedded into the mobo.

I got a jetway one in my whs/fileserver box, then I got one out in the wild in a UT box.

The form factor for the itx boards is amazingly small.
 
I have one and I use it for a pfsense box. I am using 11% of my memory and about 1 percent of my cpu. This is with heavy torrenting.

The box is quiet and cool, the switch that I have sitting on top of it puts out more heat than this little unit.
 
I was thinking about getting this for a low power seedbox.

I REALLY wish they had put room for a second 3.5in drive, I would like to have dual 1.5 or 2TB drives in there...

Other than that, I'd say this is no doubt a solution for a small business of 5-10 users for almost everything. If you put like pfSense on it, I'd say it could handle quite a bit (maybe even 200-250 users). I have a 1GHz PIII with like 512 RAM that runs a 25/25line maxed out on multiple torrents, and still prioritizes game and voice traffic over everything like a champ. An Intel Atom would no doubt be an upgrade.
 
Brak710 said:
I was thinking about getting this for a low power seedbox.

I REALLY wish they had put room for a second 3.5in drive, I would like to have dual 1.5 or 2TB drives in there...

Other than that, I'd say this is no doubt a solution for a small business of 5-10 users for almost everything. If you put like pfSense on it, I'd say it could handle quite a bit (maybe even 200-250 users). I have a 1GHz PIII with like 512 RAM that runs a 25/25line maxed out on multiple torrents, and still prioritizes game and voice traffic over everything like a champ. An Intel Atom would no doubt be an upgrade.
Click to expand...

I think NE has one that holds 4 drives in a 1u form factor...
 
Buy a 1u Norco 4 drive hotswap case, 1u psu and a supermicro atom motherboard if you want a 4 drive 1u atom server. It would still be pretty cheap.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top