[geeks] Nifty NAS board (Atom-based FlexATX from Supermicro)

[Lionel Peterson]

On May 20, 2009, at 11:49 AM, Joshua Boyd <jdboyd at jdboyd.net> wrote:

> On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 09:32:40AM -0400, Lionel Peterson wrote:
>> There is a brand-new Intel Atom 330-based MB out there that looks  
>> nice
>> on several levels - the Supermicro X7SLA-H - a "FlexATX" MB.
>>
>> What sets this board apart from other Atom-based MBs are the  
>> following:
>>
>> - Dual Realtek Gigabit Ethernet ports
>> - Dual memory slots (with 2 Gig limit, but dual-channel supported)
>> - Four ICH7R SATA ports (supports RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 under Windows)
>> - On-board USB "Type A" connector (use standard flash drive for  
>> boot media)
>> - One PCI-Express x8 slot
>> - One PCI-Express x4 slot (in an x8 socket)
>> - One PCI slot
>> - Atom 330 CPU (1.6 GHz, dual core, hyperthreading supported, faux
>> quad-core, x64 supported but no Virtualization Support)
>> - Intel GMA 950 integrated video
>>
>> And the price is around $135-175, depending on vendor (scarce at the
>> moment, just released)
>
> Have you looked at the Via Nano?  It is at the lower end of that price
> range.  It doesn't have as many slots, but it does take more memory  
> and
> it has virtualization support.  It doesn't do dual core though, it  
> does
> do hyperthreading, and it has one 1 gig-e port and 2x sata.
>
> http://www.compumusic.com/p532205.htm
>
> I'd love to get one of each and test them both out under Solaris,  
> Linux,
> and maybe FreeNAS (which is starting to get ZFS support, BTW).

The dual core Atom is a serious chip, I don't have that same  
impression of the VIA chip. Also, the Supermicro MB has an x8 and an  
x4 PCI-E slot, really opening up RAID card options. Two Gigs of RAM  
should suffice for single-role server application, no matter the OS.

The advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and the price difference  
looks to be around $20-30, not too significant for one-off purchases.

>
>> MFG URL: http://supermicro.com/products/motherboard/ATOM/945/X7SLA.cfm?typ=H
>>
>> This thing was made for a small server with lots of room for growth -
>> I can see this as an ideal platform for Windows Home Server.
>>
>> Wonder how it would do as a Solaris ZFS fileserver...
>
> Hopefully very nice.

I don't know what processing load ZFS puts on the system... I assume  
an Atom dual core would suffice...

>
>> Here's a perfect chassis for the above MBs (in tower form), it lists
>> for about $100 including a 300 Watt PS from Supermicro:
>>
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811152123
>
> I wouldn't call that perfect, but perfect might not exist.  The  
> Chenbro
> ES34069 chassis would be close to what I'd call perfect, but it is
> Mini-ITX, not Flex-ATX.  However, perhaps adding a SATA card to a Via
> Nano would go nicely in that chassis...

The benefits are the four HD bays and the price...

>
> But hey, at least this time I'm not arguing that perfect would be a  
> rack
> mountable case.

Go to eBay and google "SuperMicro atom" you'll see this board in a  
shallow 1u rack chassis for around $300, but no hot-swap, just one  
3.5" or dual 2.5" SATA drives...

Lionel