So, you’ve decided to buy a Supermicro X11 Xeon E3 v5/6 board...

[Ericloewe]

It was just my idea because the X11SSZ-TLN4F is easily available in contrast to the x11ssh-tf and cheaper. I want definitely a 10GBit NIC

But you've made a good point with the audio and displayport .

I consciously decided not to contemplate workstation and proprietary form factor boards back when I did the original X10 board guide. It's just too much to keep track of, so I decided to concentrate on the really popular boards.
In the X11's case, the boards aren't popular yet, but these are the boards that are most likely to be popular (to be fair, including them here does introduce a bias towards them). They're also the boards that will work best (once the drivers are in place).

Some other models are bound to be popular, especially if pricing is favorable. The X10SAE was relatively popular because it was cheaper than the X10SLL-F, making it a viable, though not ideal entry-level board.

 

[Rand]

Plus, that Supermicro board (X11SSH-TF/CTF) is not even out yet, so you will have to wait anyways and it might not come out until after FreeNAS 10. Then you will need to wait for a driver or Intel will have a driver for FreeBSD that you can use.
[...]
Plus x550 chip is not compatible with freenas yet and I would recommend x11ssh-tf if you want a 10gbe board but nothing wrong with the x11ssh-f or x11ssm-f.

Latest vendor supplied date is end of February for both of them. I guess FreeNas 10 will be a while longer.
I still am unsure between those two, just thinking that a 8port 12G interface for 80 bucks is worth it (future proofing, I can drop one of the 6G cards for it when its supported).
Same with the 10GbE interface - can use my old card until the X550 is supported which I assume to be sooner than v10.
Will have to be content with 14 disks in the meantime due to lack of PCIe Slots (8 from 6G HBA, 6 from SATA ports, stupid XHCI issues) though, but that should work.

Edit: O/c i don't need to rush to update; just was planning to use the old board for a Sophos machine... could simply use the new one though until v10 is available ... hmmm ... total overkill but would work

 

[religiouslyconfused]

Intel still has not released drivers or even cards with the X550 chip yet. I cannot seem to find them, though it could be using X540 drivers, but I expect it to use its own driver. Then again, Intel still has not yet released a FreeBSD driver for i219-V Gigabit LAN chipset.

 

[Ericloewe]

Then again, Intel still has not yet released a FreeBSD driver for i219-V Gigabit LAN chipset.

That's on purpose. Only i217/218/219-LM are supported outside of Windows and Linux.

 

[bucarr]

Hope no one minds if I post my experiences here - there doesn't seem to be an official Supermicro mobo forum.

New build, X11SAE, Xeon E3-1275v5, 64Gib DDR4 Samsung RAM described in the QVL. Want to use this as my replacement desktop, but am struggling. Learned all about using DISM to install USB3.0 and RAID drivers into Win7 and successfully got Win7 installed, rebooted, the works. I have a how-to I've written for this, if anyone needs it. Now at the point where I'm doing Windows Update stuff. The system locks up often, with no apparent reason and isn't related to doing Windows Update. I can't see a pattern yet; sometimes it will run an hour before the lockup, sometimes only a few minutes. Ran Memtest86+ for hours - memory is fine. New PS (Seasonsic X-650) is loafing along. Latest BIOS 1.0a is installed. Tech support hasn't known much about what to do, "This mobo is very new to us."

Presently trying to install FreeBSD 10.2 from a USB stick and it is SLOWWWWWWWW. Unbelievably so. If I can get to the install screen, I'll install and set it to run 'top' all night to see if it locks up. I'll report more.

Comments welcome.

 

[DJ9]

Just a guess, but I'd bet it was the Intel® HD Graphics P530, especially under FreeBSD. You should have perhaps went with a non "5" part number and just tossed in a Nvidia GPU. See here: http://ark.intel.com/products/family/88210/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3-v5-Family#@All

 

[bucarr]

Just a guess, but I'd bet it was the Intel® HD Graphics P530, especially under FreeBSD. You should have perhaps went with a non "5" part number and just tossed in a Nvidia GPU. See here: http://ark.intel.com/products/family/88210/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3-v5-Family#@All

Hmmmm. I'll test that theory (sounds good) with a PCIe nVidia card I have. Need to look up how to disable the onboard video. I'll report back.

 

[bucarr]

Hmmmm. I'll test that theory (sounds good) with a PCIe nVidia card I have. Need to look up how to disable the onboard video. I'll report back.

Okay, shut off the on-board video and put an nVidia card in a PCIe slot. So far, no Win7 lockups and Windows Update proceeding. Called Supermicro and the tech said, "The video isn't likely isn't the problem."

Also, it turns out the X11SAE and X11SAE-M are "different" electrically. FreeBSD 10.2 works okay on the former once it is installed (takes hours), but is not an approved OS, but it is approved on the -M. So I tried Ubuntu (server and desktop) 15.04 and both installed quickly and properly on the X11SAE.

Pressing on...

 

[bucarr]

More thoughts on the X11SAE workstation mobo...

No more lockups, so apparently the on-board video isn't ready for prime time quite yet (with my setup) - thanks to DJ9 for zeroing in on that as the problem source. The X11SAE appears to require a keyboard (mouse?) to be connected else it gives 5 long beeps at startup and does nothing else - it is a workstation mobo, after all.

Install of everything I have on my [soon-to-be-old] desktop proceeding smoothly.

Initial proclamation: I like this X11SAE / Xeon E3-12xx v5 a lot; it is FAST (old desktop is a Core i7-920 and this Xeon leaves it in the dust!) and easy to work with. More comments will be provided as needed.

 

[religiouslyconfused]

X550 has Linux drivers now but FreeBSD is still in the works. There might be a FreeBSD driver for that chip, but everything is still very new. It is advised to go with a Gigabit board and then upgrading to 10GbE later. I really like the X11SSH-CTF as it has 10GbE and that SAS 3008 controller and once FreeNAS 10 comes out, then it should be a nice board.

 

[Rand]

It was just my idea because the X11SSZ-TLN4F is easily available in contrast to the x11ssh-tf and cheaper. I want definitely a 10GBit NIC
.

Since the CTF is still delayed (samples now, mass production early march) I was considering the TLN4F as well but thats not available either?

An addtional question - M.2 NGFF slot - that one will not take away from the internal SATA ports, right? (Need to be able to pass that to Esx if I follow in @joeschmuck's footsteps)

 

[Nathan Belanger]

So I'm thinking of going X11SSH-LN4F over the X11SSH-F because for $10 you get 2 extra Gb 210 NICs? Any reason NOT to do this?!
Also what was meant on the X11SSH-LN4F when it says "using the two PCI-e lanes leftover from the removal of a slot."? The removal of what slot?
The X11SSH-F Expansion slots:
1 PCI-E 3.0 x8 (in x16),
1 PCI-E 3.0 x8,
1 PCI-E 3.0 x4 (in x8)
The X11SSH-LN4F Expansion slots:
1 PCI-E 3.0 x8 (in x16),
1 PCI-E 3.0 x8,
1 PCI-E 3.0 x4 (in x8)

 

[Ericloewe]

So I'm thinking of going X11SSH-LN4F over the X11SSH-F because for $10 you get 2 extra Gb 210 NICs? Any reason NOT to do this?!
Also what was meant on the X11SSH-LN4F when it says "using the two PCI-e lanes leftover from the removal of a slot."? The removal of what slot?
The X11SSH-F Expansion slots:
1 PCI-E 3.0 x8 (in x16),
1 PCI-E 3.0 x8,
1 PCI-E 3.0 x4 (in x8)
The X11SSH-LN4F Expansion slots:
1 PCI-E 3.0 x8 (in x16),
1 PCI-E 3.0 x8,
1 PCI-E 3.0 x4 (in x8)

The X11SSH boards have only three slots, whereas the very similar X11SSM-F has four of them. The fourth slot is gone, two lanes go to the M.2 slot, the other two are used for the two extra i210s on the -LN4F (unused on the -F).

 

[xhoy]

I am in the process of buying a X11SSH-CTF but since they didn't even start production....

About the X550, when i look at the freebsd commits there seems to be support for the X550.

Am i missing something? Freenas would just need to include the driver?

 

[Ericloewe]

I am in the process of buying a X11SSH-CTF but since they didn't even start production....

About the X550, when i look at the freebsd commits there seems to be support for the X550.

Am i missing something? Freenas would just need to include the driver?

I believe the driver has been backported to FreeNAS 9.3 and is coming in the next update.

 

[Rand]

I believe the driver has been backported to FreeNAS 9.3 and is coming in the next update.

Looks like you're right:)

https://bugs.freenas.org/issues/13485

 

[Rand]

So the -CTF has been delayed once more (end of march) but the TLN4F seems to be available.
It looks catered more to workstation (graphics output & sound) than server but is there a real reason not to choose it if I disable all the stuff i dont need?
I am aware of the differences (SAS, less SATA ports, no M2 Key but +1 PcieSlot + 2 1GB Lan Ports) but I could work around those... I more wonder about its usability with the additional functionality I dont really need

 

[Ericloewe]

It's unlikely to cause trouble.

 

[Rand]

Thats what I thought, thanks

 

[xhoy]

5 minutes ago i ordered a X11SSH-CTF with 64GB and an E3-1245V5. Ill hope to receive it next week ill post the results! :)