I'm going to be building a new server (will eventually be 20 HDDs) and would love to use IPMI.  I'm curious if there are any motherboards that stand above the rest and are also sub $200.  Also, what's the cheapest mobo solution with IPMI that can also support 20 drives and would be stable?  I'm looking for an inexpensive solution but I also want it to last and be reliable. 

 

Thanks for all of the help!

The cheapest option I've seen is the SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIL-F-O.  It will support 20+ drives, and it can also take an i3 CPU, so it is pretty much perfect for unRAID.

I'm going to be building a new server (will eventually be 20 HDDs) and would love to use IPMI.  I'm curious if there are any motherboards that stand above the rest and are also sub $200.  Also, what's the cheapest mobo solution with IPMI that can also support 20 drives and would be stable?  I'm looking for an inexpensive solution but I also want it to last and be reliable. 

 

Thanks for all of the help!

 

sub $200 for the board (excluding CPU, RAM, add. SATA controller(s)) could be met, if you are lucky.

For example, since the Supermicro ATOM boards line is beefed up, the "older" ones should get cheaper.

I've seen the X7SPA-HF for around EUR170 (including VAT which is approx USD238) at

this side of the world (and currently USD220 at newegg) ..rock solid board and price is including CPU.

However it comes with only one expansion slot, which would give you 6 onboard + 8 on ext. controller ports for HDD use.

If you are lucky you might be able to pickup a cheap IP KVM from ebay.  Thats what I did,  would have preferred a supermicro board but they are pita to get in europe, added advantage that I can now control my other nas too.

Raj is right, although you can use a G6950 to save a bucks over the i3. Check ewiz w/coupon for the best deals on Supermicro boards (with the exception of the C2SEE).

That SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIL-F-O looks like the board for me.  I was just curious if there were any cheaper boards but if that is the best board to go with for a solid unRAID box then sounds good.  Thanks for all of the help!

That SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIL-F-O looks like the board for me.  I was just curious if there were any cheaper boards but if that is the best board to go with for a solid unRAID box then sounds good.  Thanks for all of the help!

 

Having just made the same choice a few weeks ago I can say with total and complete confidence---GREAT choice!! 

 

In all seriousness its a great board--perfect to build around and its been absolutely rock solid.  The worst part was finding compatible memory and waiting the extra couple of days for it to arrive.

Oh yeah, that board is also at Level 2 (this is good).

Can you run a server headless without IPMI? Since I'm new I don't have any experience with IPMI and not sure if it's over my head.  I do however want to use the i3 540 and be able to run my server headless. Thanks for the help.

Running a server headless is just fine. Just be ready with a way to plug in a keyboard and monitor for troubleshooting.

Running a server headless is just fine. Just be ready with a way to plug in a keyboard and monitor for troubleshooting.

So if you can run a server headless without IPMI, does IPMI just give you the ability to troubleshoot without adding the monitor and keyboard? I'm sure I'm over simplifying things.

Running a server headless is just fine. Just be ready with a way to plug in a keyboard and monitor for troubleshooting.

So if you can run a server headless without IPMI, does IPMI just give you the ability to troubleshoot without adding the monitor and keyboard? I'm sure I'm over simplifying things.

IPMI lets you configure BIOS settings remotely or run the MEMORY test in the boot menu remotely.    You can reset the boot device to be the flash drive remotely.  You can see the BIOS messages that appear on the system console remotely.

 

You can troubleshoot almost anything else without IPMI if unRAID is running and the telnet server is available.

Running a server headless is just fine. Just be ready with a way to plug in a keyboard and monitor for troubleshooting.

So if you can run a server headless without IPMI, does IPMI just give you the ability to troubleshoot without adding the monitor and keyboard? I'm sure I'm over simplifying things.

IPMI lets you configure BIOS settings remotely or run the MEMORY test in the boot menu remotely.    You can reset the boot device to be the flash drive remotely.  You can see the BIOS messages that appear on the system console remotely.

 

You can troubleshoot almost anything else without IPMI if unRAID is running and the telnet server is available.

Joe thanks for the info. Since IPMI can do things like show you temps recorded by the sensors on the motherboard and send you alarms when something is wrong, can this be done without IPMI? Are the hard drive temps reported by the motherboard or just cpu temps? I see that you can power the server on and off with IPMI, how is this different from a wake on lan function? Would they not both need to leave some networking capabilites on to listen for a request? Thanks again. Never mind I found what I was looking for.