Supermicro A2SDi-8C+-HLN4F (Denverton: Atom C3758 w/ Gigabit)

[johnp4]

Hi, everybody!

I was interested in building a new server based on the Supermicro A2SDi-8C+-HLN4F. However, I think this platform requires an Intel X553 driver (generally required for 10G Ethernet, but I believe it's also required for Gigabit on this platform.) It's my understanding that this driver is included in the latest release of FreeBSD, but might not be in the latest for FreeNAS. Is that accurate? Is there a timeline for when it will be included in FreeNAS?

Like many, I've been waiting for Denverton for many years now, and am excited to finally get my hands on a board, but I want to make sure the software's ready before purchasing.

Thanks!

 

[Inxsible]

When it comes to 10Gbit, Chelsio is the preferred brand around here. However, there are a few people who have tried the Intel NICs. You might have to search the forums for those threads. If you do get the board and FreeNAS plays well, then do report back because that might be useful to others.

 

[johnp4]

Sorry if I wasn't completely clear: I want to use the integrated 1G Ethernet on the motherboard, but I think it requires the Intel X553 driver.

Thanks for the feedback on Chelsio.

If I do get it working, I'll definitely report back.

 

[Inxsible]

Sorry if I wasn't completely clear: I want to use the integrated 1G Ethernet on the motherboard, but I think it requires the Intel X553 driver.

Thanks for the feedback on Chelsio.

If I do get it working, I'll definitely report back.

I see. That's a very new board, so I doubt many have used it for FreeNAS. You might have to be the trailblazer here. :)

 

[johnp4]

I was afraid that might be the case.

I might get it and pray that it works. I could get a PCIe Ethernet adapter if the driver situation doesn't work out, but obviously I would rather it work out-of-the-box.

 

[Inxsible]

If you are going to install FreeNAS on bare metal, quad NICs are pretty useless for a FreeNAS application unless you use LAGG. But then you need to have a decent managed switch etc. to see the benefits of LAGG.

If you going to run a lot of VMs where you could dedicate NICs to individual VMs, I can see the point of having multiple NICs, but then I doubt the processor (Atom C3xxx) is powerful enough to do multiple VMs.

All in all, I think there might be other better choices out there.

 

[johnp4]

There is a version of that motherboard that has two 10GBase-T ports: Supermicro A2SDi-H-TF, but it's somewhat more expensive and harder to find.

The C3xxx series is surprisingly capable for virtualization. Most support VT-x and VT-d. Obviously not suitable for HPC, but pretty great for a lot of applications.

What's your suggestion for better choices? I'm planning on a 6-disk system (RAIDZ2)

 

[Inxsible]

There is a version of that motherboard that has two 10GBase-T ports: Supermicro A2SDi-H-TF, but it's somewhat more expensive and harder to find.

The C3xxx series is surprisingly capable for virtualization. Most support VT-x and VT-d. Obviously not suitable for HPC, but pretty great for a lot of applications.

What's your suggestion for better choices? I'm planning on a 6-disk system (RAIDZ2)

Are you stuck on ITX because of your case? If not, there is a plethora of Supermicro boards in the X9/X10/X11 series that can support 6 or more disks easily. You haven't described your entire use case, so it's hard recommend you a particular board.

 

[Ericloewe]

If it isn't already supported, it should be with 11.1.

 

[diskdiddler]

If it isn't already supported, it should be with 11.1.

Is that a should, or will? :)

 

[Ericloewe]

Should, until someone with the hardware tells me that it works.

 

[diskdiddler]

I look forward to it.
Unless they replace the Xeon D with some low power alternative at 10nm and reasonable price, the cXXX series Atom is going to be my next FreeNAS machine (and I expect many others too)

 

[jbtbnl]

I was able to buy this board in the Netherlands a week ago. Got it up and running with freenas 11.1 beta :)

 

[diskdiddler]

I was able to buy this board in the Netherlands a week ago. Got it up and running with freenas 11.1 beta :)

How is it? Performance good?
I'd be most curious to know how it performs with plex, assuming you use that.

 

[Paul van der Zwan]

I was able to buy this board in the Netherlands a week ago. Got it up and running with freenas 11.1 beta :)

Where did you buy it? Tweakers.net price watch did not show any sellers.

Paul

 

[jbtbnl]

How is it? Performance good?
I'd be most curious to know how it performs with plex, assuming you use that.

I can't really say anything about performance except that it feels responsive. A network transferred file did around 110 MB per second, for sure limited by the gigabit ethernet router.

 

[jbtbnl]

Where did you buy it? Tweakers.net price watch did not show any sellers.

Paul

I bought it from Gigaserver.nl, they can pre-order articles in their back-office so that you are first in line when it's back it stock. You can contact them via email!

 

[diskdiddler]

I can't really say anything about performance except that it feels responsive. A network transferred file did around 110 MB per second, for sure limited by the gigabit ethernet router.

That's twice the speed, if not 3 times the speed I get - but mine is literally 92% full and very, very old hardware now.

EDIT: This post is old but it seems FN11.1 may have incredible performance increases, or perhaps it's just cache - but I seem to be able to write again, at 110MB/s rather than the 25MB/s I was at previously for over a year, despite a 91% full array on a 'weeny' CPU.
I made a post about this, not sure if it's just me but it seems much better for sustained xfers.

 

[diskdiddler]

I can't really say anything about performance except that it feels responsive. A network transferred file did around 110 MB per second, for sure limited by the gigabit ethernet router.

Hey, so it's been a few months now, how are you finding this piece of hardware?

 

[jbtbnl]

Hey, so it's been a few months now, how are you finding this piece of hardware?

It's working great, I've got two VM's and four disks in RAIDZ2 with FreeNAS 11.1 stable. Nothing to complain about!