Supermicro X11SSH-CTF: 8 SATA + 8 SAS

[Sphinkx]

Does anyone has experience with above mentioned Super micro mother board?

 

https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C236_C232/X11SSH-CTF.cfm

 

It comes with 8 SATA ports and 8 SAS ports via a LSI 3008 controller on the board. Benefits of this is no fuss with extra card(s) and total price is a bit lower as buying a regular SM board + extra controller. If you buy everything new..

 

But when I search the forum for the unraid compatibility with LSI 3008 controller I have limited answers. Is this board and controller supported by unraid or is it better to go for a setup with a motherboard + extra controller.

 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2017 by Sphinkx

[Sphinkx]

Hmm. Is the board so unpopular or is it to recent that nobody has tested it yet?

 

When I look op some details about it looks like the SAS ports are based on the SAS 9300-8i 12Gb/s SAS Host Bus Adapter. When I look at other topics for controllers is this a card that comes highly recommended and shouldn't be compatible with unraid. It should work right out of the box.

 

 Has anyone else found more details about it this SM board?  Or is somebody using it in his config?  

[Fireball3]

1 hour ago, Sphinkx said:

Is the board so unpopular or is it to recent that nobody has tested it yet?

1. Just a single PCIe x8 slot --> virtualization with passthrough of a better graphics card not possible

2. 10GBaseT is still not that common

3. A board for setting up a file server only can be had for less.

 

[Sphinkx]

16 minutes ago, Fireball3 said:

1. Just a single PCIe x8 slot --> virtualization with passthrough of a better graphics card not possible

2. 10GBaseT is still not that common

3. A board for setting up a file server only can be had for less.

 

Well that is a reply that helps me. Thank you.  :-)

 

I don't think I have the need for virtualization. But maybe it would be best to gather a bit more of information in the forum what the possibilities there are to do virtualization. But I don't think I need a setup with these capabilities. So that's (probably) not an issue for me.

 

10GbaseT is not compatible with my gigabit lan?  I thought it would be compatible with 10/100/1000. I have a gigabit lan network at home.

 

For #3. That depends on how many HD you will have in your file server. This board had 16 ports. So no fuss with additional cards, because these with 8 ports aren't coming cheap either.

 

I'll be running an unraid with 10 drives for start excluding cache or 2nd parity. But I want some expansion capacity for later (cache, extra drive, 2nd parity?).  Because I immediately start with 10 drives I was looking at motherboard + SATA/SAS controller or a board with enough ports.

 

As you know there is limited choice in a motherboard with plenty of ports for not to much €€€. Motherboard + LSI SAS 9300 combi is around the same price the X11SSH-CTF board. So I wanted to go for an easy solution. But maybe the wise choice would be a regular board + extra controller. 

[Fireball3]

Sorry if I can't be of more help...

 

Quote

10GbaseT is not compatible with my gigabit lan?

It is compatible with Gbit LAN, a single 10GbaseT part in the whole
network won't deliver any benefit but increase costs.

Quote

there is limited choice in a motherboard with plenty of ports

There are consumer boards with 8 onboard SATA ports and up to 3 PCIe slots for add-on cards.
8-port HBA cards can be had for ~75$ (highly depending on your location though)
Yesterday we had a discussion about cards here.

I guess the price for such a combo is ~200$.
In my place I can source the X11SSH-CTF for ~480€ on ebay...

 

[Sphinkx]

True that the 10Gbase has no effect. But that's not an issue for me.

 

In my place the X11SSH is around €470 at a regular store, not Ebay.  If you buy everything new it is cheaper to go for that set-up.  If you can find a cheap 8 port HBA cards then you are better of doing that. But choice is limited for me. Bad location for 2nd hand market in Belgium...  But there are probably possibilities in other European countries if they want to send to Belgium and they don't charge to much for postage.

 

I've read that discussion yesterday. At first I intended to buy an SM board X11SSH-LN4F (+/- €270) + combo with an LSI card. But when I found the other SM board with 8 SATA and 8 SAS I started to have doubts..  :-)

Edited May 5, 2017 by Sphinkx

[Vr2Io]

For me, I build a Ryzen system. It also have 8 onboard SATA and 1 NVMe, re-use parts are LSI 2308, 10Gb SFP+ network card etc.

It is most cost-effective way which I got all what I want. ( You shouldn't found a AIO in market for this setup )

 

For a new build and not reuse parts future,  AIO will be fine.

 

I haven't LSI 3008, but unRAID haven't problem with 2008 / 2308.

 

 

[Markus Riekki]

UNRAID with x11ssh-ctf with Xeon e3-1275v6 just build. Perfect motherboard for my usage. No hassle with extra cards. Just updated LSI3008 card from IR mode to IT mode to get direct HBA. Working nicely. 

 

Anyone thinking for this this motherboard should take account that mini SAS hd connector cables are quite expensive. However Fractal Design Node 804 case and 50cm length cables are just perfect match!