ASRock C2550D4I Reliable?

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brashquido

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Hi All,

Looking at basing my new FreeNAS box of the ASRock C2550D4I motherboard (failing that the Asus P9A-I/C2550/SAS/4L). Have read quite a few forum threads around the net which seem to indicate there have been a number of people having issues with this board with disks dropping off the Marvell controllers (especially on the unRAID forums). Just wondering how owners of the ASRock C2550D4I have found their experience while using FreeNAS?
 

Ericloewe

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Hi All,

Looking at basing my new FreeNAS box of the ASRock C2550D4I motherboard (failing that the Asus P9A-I/C2550/SAS/4L). Have read quite a few forum threads around the net which seem to indicate there have been a number of people having issues with this board with disks dropping off the Marvell controllers (especially on the unRAID forums). Just wondering how owners of the ASRock C2550D4I have found their experience while using FreeNAS?

The higher-end version of that board is used in the FreeNAS mini and a few more people. Haven't heard any complaints recently.
 

wintermute000

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I've just run up a new build using that exact mobo and 16Gb Kingston DDR3L ECC. Seems to work fine, except I've only got my SSDs going (scratch disk / transmission jail / iSCSI), spinning platters are still in the post.

Can comfortably get 100MByte/sec writes, copied 100Gb over as a test, no hiccups.
Transmission jail seems to work fine too.
Can't wait to build the main storage array and give it a spin.
 

jgreco

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Be cautious about extending experiences with Linux (unRAID) to FreeBSD. Different drivers, different OS entirely.

If the Marvell controllers actually turn out to be a problem, something I haven't seen on the C2750D4I here, there's always a slot for a trusty ServeRAID M1015. Not ideal but at least a path forward.
 

DarkStar

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I built a system based around this board and i'm REALLY pleased.

Currently populated with: 8GB ECC + 6*500GB Z2 (A few drives are bigger than this but that's my array). It's been running for a few months now as my XBMC Backend. Jails running couchpotato/sickbeard/sabNZB/Plex


I haven't moved any of my critical data to it yet (pictures/work docs etc) so i can feel free to break stuff :) (Still learning here). i can't say I saw any issue or difference between the two controllers. In fact during my "Lets see what'll happen" phase, I shut down the server to clean up airflow issues. Unplugged all the SATA cables and replugged them in to better optimize routing and open space. I made no attempt to notice where any drives were plugged in before or after. Happy as a clam.

Next "Test" will be to expand the array up to 6*1TB one drive at a time. Fun :)

Note: if i were putting one of these in at work, I'd be looking at super-micro. Asrock still doesn't "get it" when you talk Enterprise. I noticed that the firmware on my board was newer than the one published on their web site so I sent an email asking what was the deal. What is the current firmware, why is this one not on the website etc.....

here's the response:

Hi Michael,



We regularly perform inspection and benchmarking test on random server boards pulled from the stock. When we do it, we also update all the BIOS, BMC firmware, other hardware firmware if they are available, even internally. The BMC firmware came with your C2550D4I is probably a 0.18.0 which hasn’t been released to the public. However, such update is pending to be released soon. And you just happen to have the privilege to use it first.



Best Regards

William XXXXXX


(note i specifically told them i had 0.16 on my board. 0.14 is what is available on their website. I'd prefer not to "Have the privilege to use it first" on a mission critical server with a wierd random unpublished BIOS.)

-DarkStar
 

AlainD

Contributor
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I built a system based around this board and i'm REALLY pleased.

Currently populated with: 8GB ECC + 6*500GB Z2 (A few drives are bigger than this but that's my array). It's been running for a few months now as my XBMC Backend. Jails running couchpotato/sickbeard/sabNZB/Plex


I haven't moved any of my critical data to it yet (pictures/work docs etc) so i can feel free to break stuff :) (Still learning here). i can't say I saw any issue or difference between the two controllers. In fact during my "Lets see what'll happen" phase, I shut down the server to clean up airflow issues. Unplugged all the SATA cables and replugged them in to better optimize routing and open space. I made no attempt to notice where any drives were plugged in before or after. Happy as a clam.

Next "Test" will be to expand the array up to 6*1TB one drive at a time. Fun :)

Note: if i were putting one of these in at work, I'd be looking at super-micro. Asrock still doesn't "get it" when you talk Enterprise. I noticed that the firmware on my board was newer than the one published on their web site so I sent an email asking what was the deal. What is the current firmware, why is this one not on the website etc.....

here's the response:

Hi Michael,



We regularly perform inspection and benchmarking test on random server boards pulled from the stock. When we do it, we also update all the BIOS, BMC firmware, other hardware firmware if they are available, even internally. The BMC firmware came with your C2550D4I is probably a 0.18.0 which hasn’t been released to the public. However, such update is pending to be released soon. And you just happen to have the privilege to use it first.



Best Regards

William XXXXXX


(note i specifically told them i had 0.16 on my board. 0.14 is what is available on their website. I'd prefer not to "Have the privilege to use it first" on a mission critical server with a wierd random unpublished BIOS.)

-DarkStar

ouch, ASRock Rack inc. are only in business from 2013, but this is really scary and even unbelievable.
 

wintermute000

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Darkstar that reply is hilarious. If this was a prod vendor in my workplace we'd throw the book @ them!!!
Nonetheless I feel the same way (so far fingers crossed!!!) - 16Gb ECC, 6x4Tb HGST in RAIDZ2, 1x256Gb SSD for scratch/jails, 1x256Gb iSCSI extent, copies @ 95-100MB/s (SMB2) or 100-110MB/s (SMB3), bmc works a treat (though I'm only on measly version 14 hah), CPU pegs at around 45% when doing a 100MB/s copy, all good here
 

jgreco

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ouch, ASRock Rack inc. are only in business from 2013, but this is really scary and even unbelievable.

Huh? ASRock's been around at least a decade. Their server stuff is much more recent but I assume is built using the expertise they have from all those years.

I do favor Supermicro but I also like competition, and right now ASRock appears to be *the* ticket: they're thinking about ZFS and what makes a good ZFS box.

Supermicro's done all sorts of vaguely strange stuff over the years too, so I'm not inclined to take a prerelease ASRock BIOS appearing on your board as a sign of anything significant. You actually got a lucid response from them as to how that came to be.
 

cyberjock

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Actually, if I'm not mistaken there's 2 entities at work.

Asrock is their consumer division. They disappeared in 2006 or so due to financial problems but they appear to be back. I know back then they were one of the better companies (in my opinion anyway).

Asrock Rack is their server division. They're very new (2013 or so) and is one of the reasons why I'm not personally going with them... yet.

Yes, I do own a Mini and I love my Mini. But, the long-term quality and such hasn't been proven. These may end up sucking really badly. We've got a thread of people that are having network problems (which we wouldn't expect). Yes, the Marvell causes some problems for some people. But I don't consider that the fault of Asrock Rack because we don't have reason to think this is an Asrock specific problem. Marvell has been a problem for FreeBSD for quite a while, long before the new Atoms hit the market.
 

jgreco

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Actually, if I'm not mistaken there's 2 entities at work.

Asrock is their consumer division. They disappeared in 2006 or so due to financial problems but they appear to be back. I know back then they were one of the better companies (in my opinion anyway).

Cite? That seems to bear no relationship to reality. They were spun off from ASUS in 2002 and acquired by Pegatron in 2009-2010. The server division is 2012 from what I can tell. There seems to be stuff released yearly through the late-noughties.
 

AlainD

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Cite? That seems to bear no relationship to reality. They were spun off from ASUS in 2002 and acquired by Pegatron in 2009-2010. The server division is 2012 from what I can tell. There seems to be stuff released yearly through the late-noughties.
The website from ASRock Rack Inc. mentions a 2013 start.
They may have experience in consumer products, but it's another world to support and testing.

They have nice specs on paper, but can they stand the 'heat'.
 

DarkStar

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Huh? ASRock's been around at least a decade. Their server stuff is much more recent but I assume is built using the expertise they have from all those years.

I do favor Supermicro but I also like competition, and right now ASRock appears to be *the* ticket: they're thinking about ZFS and what makes a good ZFS box.

Supermicro's done all sorts of vaguely strange stuff over the years too, so I'm not inclined to take a prerelease ASRock BIOS appearing on your board as a sign of anything significant. You actually got a lucid response from them as to how that came to be.

Well Your right. No Engrish in that email :) (+1 interwebs for ASROCK?)

However, I'm not as onboard with the Explanation. Either the code is released or not.
If it's not: Why is it on boards your selling to the public?
If it is: It should be on every board going out the door.

There's no excuse to have Beta Software pre-installed on a retail board. If they want to make it available to the public do so, but be very clear it's Beta. not release code. And you should have to opt-in.

Proper GxP ensures that your customers get the same high quality experience every time. Sure this comes from my experience dealing with Validated systems in Pharma; but that doesn't mean other industries should short change their customers.

(Lets me be clear though, I've had no issues so far with the board and would ABSOLUTELY recommend it for a similar case load)
 

jgreco

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Did they say it was beta? Because there's a difference beta and prerelease.
 

DarkStar

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Did they say it's pre-release? Maybe it's Alpha and I gave them the benefit of the doubt when I called it Beta. They can call it whatever you want. If it hasn't been approved for release it's not production.

We're not talking a few days here. If they put it on a board or two and left it there knowing the code was about to be released.. that's a bit different(Although still bad SOP. It should go out exactly the same until new process is approved, then they all get the new same code). I purchased the board almost two months ago.

.14 published 1/17/2014 available on website
.16 on my board (never published)
.18 version Support says is in testing and i'm lucky to have

That is a large gap of time (9 months) to have published absolutely nothing but they have at least 3 internal versions of the code that are floating around. And apparently randomly installed on retail bound boards?

____________
I'm not saying this is a reason to not buy the board (in fact i praise the hell out of it to anyone who asks). However, it is a red flag to me if i was building systems i'm putting into paying customer's data centers.

Maybe i'm being too picky; or maybe QA has gone out the window in most places. I wont give free-passes on bad process. BIOS updates and management are critical to stability. If i'm going to build a business around selling someone else's product, I expect them to have the same High Quality standards.

I agree this is not the end of the world. I don't agree that is "nothing".

once again. If the code is "gold" publish it for everyone. If it's not. Don't make me your F"n Beta Tester.

I already did that with Asus+AMD+ VIA Chipset and i had a pile of expensive garbage that never quite worked right due to DMA issues. (more 2 cards in the system would make it puke very quickly)

I understand that this is a small issue and will bother some people more than others. Feel free to not be bothered at all. (if the code mysteriously gets posted on their website soon. Vindication) Until then. i'm very suspect.
 

jgreco

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The website from ASRock Rack Inc. mentions a 2013 start.
They may have experience in consumer products, but it's another world to support and testing.

They have nice specs on paper, but can they stand the 'heat'.

I don't doubt that the server side of things is a recent development, I was asking for a cite as to ASRock itself "disappeared in 2006".

The development of a server business is not shocking, since trends in the tech world do not favor strong growth in the PC world. What impressed me is that when I looked at their offerings, several of them filled a "why the f*** isn't there a" void. The Avoton 1U 12 drive storage box, while I have some doubts about the actual implementation, is one hell of a concept. The 2U storage servers they have are pretty nice for ZFS based storage as well, offering space for SLOG and L2ARC devices.
 

wintermute000

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The C2550 maxes out @ 1 x 1080p stream. I don't use transcoding in prod so it may choke in action scenes.
I'd plunk for i3 or xeon if transcoding, though people on plex forums say C2750D is fine (but for that kind of price you might as well get a xeon...)
 
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