Another option for very small form factor units not in a rack and in a more extreme environment is
www.mini-box.com Rory -----Original Message----- From: Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com] On Behalf Of Bill Prince Sent: Thursday, November 26, 2015 9:50 AM To: af@afmug.com Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT - 8 core ATOM server What are you doing with VMs? We bought a few DL380s for between $1200 and $1500, and we run several virtual machines on each one. Cost per virtual machine is less than $300, and we can make a new one in a few minutes. bp <part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com> On 11/25/2015 8:23 PM, Ken Hohhof wrote: > I know you may scoff at the idea of a server based on a lowly ATOM > chip. And the idea of paying around $545 for one, plus RAM and HDD. > > But I am putting a couple Supermicro 5018A-TN4 servers into service, > and so far I'm pretty impressed with them. I just pop in an 8 GB > stick of DRAM and a 256GB 850 Pro SSD and then load CentOS 7. I think > these could even be used for virtualization, if you don't need hot > plug HDD or hardware RAID, like maybe you have a SAN. > > These are in a short depth 1U chassis that easily mounts to a 2 post > rack, no need for a rail kit. The CPU has a passive heatsink, there > is a chassis fan but I suspect everything would be fine if the fan > died, the power consumption seems negligible under normal load. It's > as if it generates zero heat. So with an SSD, there is little to > fail, it's probably down to the power supply. Despite the compact > size, nothing inside is crowded. The chassis seems to be a dedicated > design for this server, not one of their multipurpose chassis. My > only complaint is there's almost no room on the front for any labels, > unless you cover up the logo and serial number. > > Some highlights: > > 2.4 GHz 8 core ATOM C2750 SOC (8 physical cores) > up to 32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 ECC SO-DIMM (yes, ECC memory) > 2 x 3.5" or 4 x 2.5" HDD bays > 4 x GbE interfaces plus IPMI > 1 PCI-E slot > > Doesn't make much sense as a desktop, definitely a server. > > I wondered about the 8 physical cores without hyperthreading support, > I kept thinking that was equivalent to a 4 core CPU with HT. But I > did a little reading, and realized you don't just count virtual cores > to estimate performance, especially if the tasks are computation > intensive not memory intensive. > > There is also a 5018A0TN7B model for network security appliance use, > based on the C2758 SOC which includes encryption support. 7xGbE with > software controlled bypass, and up to 64 GB of UDIMM. That's a lot of > memory. >
