It might be time to upgrade my server. It might not be too … but a guy can dream!
Current server is in my sig under a spoiler tag and I want to reuse hardware as much as possible. The storage will transition (boot pool, data pool, backup pool) as will the case and psu). My current server is running TrueNAS Core. New build will be running TrueNAS Scale.
Everything else is optional.
Use cases
data storage for pics, manuals, software installs, important documents, etc
As long as you think you can get enough air flow in that case for the upgraded components, I think you will be okay.
Have you computed out the power consumption of the new components with the new components you’re adding or replacing?
I am currently researching about moving the plex metadata to an SSD. Initially, I was going to use the two m.2 slots for my mirrored OS drives and just connect the spinning disks via sata using the HBA … but if can expect a lift from moving the plex metadata to an SSD then I might keep the OS on 2.5" SSDs until I can figure out the MICO connectors (and U.2 drives get cheaper).
Not joking about airflow. Enough people have trouble with HBA cards, etc and not being in server cases. A lot of the server related innards are designed with expecting higher velocity or have spot cooling. It is always a consideration. I don’t know if you have changed things from a stock case setup or added additional fans
Xeon Scalable for storage? That’s overpowered, not particularly efficient (Sapphire Rapids is certainly NOT known for that), and in that class of motherboards, at least the previous generations could have something like 12 SATA ports.
How many drives actually?
And you are NOT going to power that from a 550 W PSU…
For that use case, the x10sdv-2c-7tp4f still strikes me as a better solution, even if it’s embedded. 20 SATA ports for lots of drives, built-in SFP+ for 10GbE networking, a 2.2-2.6GHz 2-Core CPU optimized for SMB in a SOHO setting, all for $550 + memory. It will sip power, serve files all day, and it’s very reliable.
As for wife + you being in different universes re: laptops, I’d stick to hosting just SMB shares. AFP has been deprecated for a while (though it works).
For SMB file storage of Apple files with fun names you may have to enable Apple Charset Compatibility in the datashares for the shares she uses (and do this up front, when you set up the server) or filenames with non-NTFS compliant characters will get mangled. These settings can be found in the Advanced section of the datashare SMB settings.
Fair enough. I do have a HBA card in this case and I did notice it was getting hot while I was testing adding it / testing it. I added a graphics car fan cooler blowing right on it.
The front of the case has 4 x Rosewill Hot-swap HDD Cages. They all have 120mm fans that cool the drives and are quiet.
There are tons of other fan options (both sides, top) that I aren’t using.
Thanks for this comment. I mean it. I am taking this as a suggestion that the mentioned CPU (and, maybe, motherboard?) might not be the best fit for my use cases. I will do some more research.
Currently - 14. 2 x SSD, 12 x HDDs.
Just looked at the actual PSU in the server … it is a 750W Seasonic.
Thanks Stux for the reading and the comment.
How do they optimize CPUs for different things. Here is one optimized for sharing. Others are optimized for data processing … how can I read up on the CPUs and make a reasonable selection?
SMB for me the whole way. Thanks for the comment about Charset compatibility.
I trialed this for a while … it seemed to lose connection to the mac and needed to be set up from scratch again.
Presently, SMB is a single-threaded process on a per-user basis. So, for a household with few users, a higher-speed, fewer-core CPU is better for simple SMB applications than other CPUs. Way back when, I thought my embedded board might be able to run ZoneMinder, etc. so I opted for a slower, higher-core version of the -2C- board, featuring a D1537 w/8 cores.
It was a mistake since ZoneMinder doesn’t work well in my experience and a VM on CORE didn’t have the PassMark scores to deal with BlueIris running Windows 11 either. So my CPU idles away at <2% utilization 99% of the time, which was a waste of $500 and likely costs me a few watts more re: power consumption.
There are other boards out there in the 10 and 11 generation that allow for removable CPUs in case you think that may be necessary. They generally do not include HBAs like the above board but they are very inexpensive compared to a 13 generation board and I don’t see the major benefit in a SOHO setting to go newer. The current boards seem to be optimized around things other than storage servers, which may explain why SM is still making new 10th gen file-server-oriented motherboards with ancient D-15xx chips.
For fun, I had a look around to see what kinds of server-grade motherboards could potentially include QuickSync, since that’s a very powerful feature in a BlueIris application to throttle GPU/CPU consumption.
Trouble is, Intel makes very few CPUs with a server focus and Video features like QuickSync. The Xeon W 1390T is but one of few examples with a low base frequency and a high turbo range that is perfect for BlueIris while also doing well in a server setting.
Were my motherboard to die today, I could consider this chip with an general-purpose motherboard (workstation or server) that can handle this chip, along with adding a HBA and a SFP+ PCIe card. But it’s very unlikely to be more power efficient than my current setup.
I’d love to consolidate my BlueIris server into a VM running on the NAS but between the passmark scores and the lack of QuickSync, I doubt the rig wouldn’t start dropping frames, even with direct-to-disc encoding, sub-stream use, etc.
Interesting contraption… (In Europe it’s available from euroharry.com.)
What’s your use case? For now I see serving files to two users, with SMB (single threaded per user) and some Plex serving with transcoding.
So: Few cores (SMB + minimal apps), decent clocks (SMB), and PCIe lanes needs that would still fit with desktop CPUs (HBA, 10G NIC, dGPU).
Your X11SSL + i3-6100 fits the description (although two more cores might not hurt, just in case), and I see no urge to upgrade.
A X13SEI-TF and 4410Y would do for serving lots of slow storage as well as fast NVMe-based storage to a small to medium size business or workgroup. (“Business” part being required to justify using over 100 W just idling.)
I could see, howerver, the use of a second NAS so the backup would not be in the same case and same location as the primary. As a benefit, that would reduce the number of drives in each NAS and you could do without a HBA.
For that, I would look either at a X10SDV-#C-7TP4F, as suggested by @Constantin tough I would prefer at least a D-1518 over a D-1508 if there’s more than pure storage, or at a slightly more recent version of your first NAS, with, say, a C246 motherboard (X11SSH-F, or, more available, AsRock Rack E3C246D4U2-2T, and a Core i3-9100).
That’s just fine for 12 HDDs and your class of CPU. Throw a Scalable in the mix and/or try to use all ports on a -16i HBA and you’re in for a PSU upgrade.
Akasa AK-MX304-08BK (80/92 mm) and AK-MX304-12BK (120 mm). Thanks for the references!
I do have a box full of spare fans, but the pre-mounted bundle is commendable.
My current production motherboard is an X11SSL-CF. I would like to add a GPU (x16 slot required), a dual NVME PCIe card (x4 but more like a x8 would be better) and keep my current HBA in play (PCIe x8).
Let’s look at the supermicro motherboards that can provide those expansion slots and see how much hardware from my X11SSL-CF I can keep …
X11 with the same CPU as what I have …
X11SSW-F, 1 PCI-e x16 (in a riser)
X11SCW-F, 1 PCI-e x16 and a x4
X11SCM-LN8F, 1 PCI-e x16
X11SCM-F, 1 PCI-e x16
X11SCL-LN4F, 1 PCI-e x16
It doesn’t look like my needs / wishes can be met staying in the X11 with the same CPU socket family.
Next! X11 and releasing the CPU socket …
X11SPM-TPF, -TF, -F, 2 x x16 and an x8
X11SPI-TF, 2 x16 and others but it looks like you can’t have all lanes
X11SPH-nCTPF, similar to above
There are some definite options here. The -T is very appealing too.
X11SPI-TF looks like a candidate. I would need a new CPU (LGA-3647, P socket) but the RAM … both are DDR4 but my current set is UDIMM (unbuffered) and the SPI-TF is asking for RDIMM (registered) - can I use UDIMM in a RDIMM motherboard? The manual is silent on use of UDIMM. I am taking that as a NO.
So, motherboard, new CPU, new RAM.
CPU needs to be a LGA 3647 socket. Found this web site that lists options and provides an Amazon link.
This is the bundle I originally got. You will need DDR4 RDIMM RAM on top and a better cooler. The included one works, but is loud.
Also no 10GBit ethernet on board. But the 4x slot is enough for one.
The 6136 offers a higher base clock of 3GHz compared to the 6138, but less cores.
The GPU can work with x8 electrical, but consumer-style CPUs only have 16-20 CPU lanes so you have to move NMVe connectivity off the CPU to keep enough CPU PU lanes for HBA and GPU. (That’s why I suggest having two distinct NAS, less drives in each, and doing without a HBA.)
Far starting point, but once you’ve found some options, don’t forget to look at similar hardware from AsRock Rack, the server arm of Gigabyte, and other manufacturers. Supermicro has a comprehensive catalog but is NOT the only manufacturer of server motherboards.
To keep your Skylake CPU (LGA1151), you have to look at X11SS_ boards.
X11SC_ is for Cascade Lake, which uses the similar but incompatible LGA1151**-2** socket.
Oh, and X11SSW boards use a proprietary form factor which will only fit corresponding Supermicro chassis, but not your giant ATX case.
That’s hardly an issue because second-hand DDR4 RDIMM is plentiful and very cheap. Second-hand LGA3647 CPUs are also cheap, especially 1st generation Xeon Scalable which may go for under $100 by now.
But mind that the Xeon Scalable platform comes with 50-60 W idle power instead of < 10 W for Core/Xeon E.
You absolutely do not need magical letter ‘F’ (Fabric for an extra connector).
