Supermicro SC846 PTJBOD-CB2

[Sjöhaga]

Hi guys.

Looking for a bit of help that google (and reading the manual) could not provide.

In my effort to find a new home for the drives for my FreeNAS build I recently come across a second hand SC846 chassie not too far from home.
Turns out the chassie hasnt even been used, the plastic shield on the outside is still there and I am pretty sure we'll live happy ever after togheter.

Except for one thing, this box comes with the CSE-PTJBOD-CB2 control board.



I'm thinking this means I have no control over the fans, but I hope someone will prove me wrong? Please :)

and if not, what would be my best option?

I would like to reduce the fan speed for two reasons, I'd sure like to cut a few decibels off it, but almost as important is that right now during the winter the fans are cooling the drives way too much (I have HDD temps reporting 20 C and even below that when the system is idle). The rack is in my basement and its on a nice temperature of 10C-15C as of now ;)

Getting a CB3 board would be neat of course, but they dont come cheap so hoping for some input.

 

[mjt5282]

I also have purchased a couple of the CB2 boards and finally a CB3. The SM 3U chassis' fans only blew heavy & loud when the CB2 was installed. The CB3 moderated the airflow and the noise, provided a simplified IPMI way to remotely turn on & off the "disk shelf" and report on temps and fan status. Although yes, it was 2 or 3 times as expensive. And having the cat5 snake into the chassis to the CB3 IPMI always seemed untidy to me.

 

[Ericloewe]

Is this going to be a JBOD or the full server? In the former case, the newer -CB3 boards are said to work well (see example above) and should be controllable in a similar way to motherboard BMCs. In the latter, sell the board and plug in your fans to the motherboard.

 

[Sjöhaga]

Thanks for the replies Eric and mjt5282 :).

The plan was for the box to be an extension to my home nas, a Proliant ML10 v2, which currently has more drives than fits inside it.
It wont work to put that modo in the supermicro box, I guess its possible to hack it in there, but it doesnt come with fan headers so it is of no use in this case.

I found a decent deal on new X10SLA-F (at least I think €100 is ok for a brand new card even if it is a bare card). But that only has one PCI-E 3.0 x16 and one PCI-E 2.0 x4 and while that should work as I only have the two cards (a hba and a 10gb nic) it isnt really an upgrade compared to the HP I already have.

The good thing is ofc that I can use the CPU and ram I have and everything should fit right away.

A CSE-PTJBOD-CB3 I should be able to get for €140

Not really sure what to do right now ;) I wasnt really planning to spend more money right now on computer gear :P
and I did not expect it should run so cold, that really need to be fixed before I start using it.

so far I see my options as:
* makeshift an arduino into a fan controller
* buy a fan controller
* buy a CB3
* buy the cheapest possible mobo that will get the job done
* figure out which of the socket 1150 boards are the best option and get that
* spend way too much money and get something new, nah - not going to do that right now.

and ofc I do keep a close eye on the second hand market but it is limited around here (but if anyone has something to offer ;) I do live in Sweden though, looks like I forgot to put that in my signature.

 

[mjt5282]

I have been very happy with my CB3, it is running in my remote offsite location, and I can remotely check temperature, fan status, turn on JBOD and turn it off with IPMI. The fans were controlled and appropriate, not running full-on like with the CB2. I have rarely/never seen a CB3 on the used market.

 

[Sjöhaga]

Nah I can't recall seeing a CB3 on sale either. Don't see much supermicro stuff at all actually.

I have at least made some sense in the different available models from Supermicro, X10SLM-F and X10SLM+-F looks like the better option, with X10SLH-F as a slightly more expensive alternative. The X10SLL variants seems a moot point as the X10SLM-F is actually cheaper (and in stock at a few reliable resellers).

As the X10SLM-F is the only one that looks to be in stock I guess that'll be the one to choose ;) . Anyone has any reason for NOT going with that one?

 

[Ericloewe]

Why X10? X11SSx models make a lot more sense with the extra two SATA ports.

 

[Sjöhaga]

Main reason for the X10 is that I can reuse the CPU and ram I already have and don't have to buy new.
And with the hba connected to the backplane will give me 24 drives I have no need to prioritize many satas on the mobo.

Just getting a X10 board and reuse the rest will cost me around €210.

I have been really happy with the server as it is, the plan was to just move the drives into the SC846 and hook it up to the hba.
But the low temps was not part of the plan :(

I suppose another option is to place a small heater in the bottom of the rack and put some blankets over the rack during the winter period :D and use the time to do some more serious research/planning for new gear.

 

[Ericloewe]

Main reason for the X10 is that I can reuse the CPU and ram I already have and don't have to buy new.

That's fine then. Perfectly reasonable.

 

[Sjöhaga]

To follow up, now a few days later I have migrated my nas onto a brand new Supermicro X10SLM-F that I was able to get for €100 (I also happened to get myself a second hand E3-1220 v3 that is on its way here ).

I am now re-reading https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?resources/fan-scripts-for-supermicro-boards-using-pid-logic.24/ and https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...nge-ipmi-sensor-thresholds-using-ipmitool.35/ :) .

The transition from the HP onto the supermicro went well. I had a few issues importing the old settings but solved most of them. or not with the import itself, but how the affected the new install.