I am looking to purchase a couple of 1U servers and wanted to get some recommendations. I am currently leaning towards a barebones system from either Supermicro or Intel. I wanted to stick with an IDE based system but none of these companies offer swappable HD with their IDE platform. I may have to go with SCSI.

Has anyone have any experienced with either of these companies? Should I be looking at other companies? If, which ones?

Thanks in advance.

I don't have any experience with Intel or Supermicro, but I have a wonderful experience with Tyan motherboards. Extremely high quality, both in manufacturing side and the performance result.

We have several servers with Tyan motherboards and no problem whatsoever. Very stable and I highly recommend it.

If you want to get host swappable (assuming that you want RAID as well), go with 3WARE for RAID EIDE solutions. I've been extreemly happy with the performance and stability as well. They have a clear listing on HD compatibility list, and the support has been very helpful.

Hot swappable 1U rackmount case is easy to find. You can go to http://www.rackmountpro.com or http://www.rackmountnet.com to get a good 1U EIDE hot swappable case. :)

I would also suggest http://servercase.com that sell all-kind of rackmount cases for good prices. They are located in California. Very good service.

www.qsol.com

I got a really quality made box from awega.com - Contact them and see if they have any ebay auctions running. You can possibly get a really good deal for 50% off the normal selling price. Brand new custom built too.

http://appro.com

Anyone who can put 4 HDs in a 1U gets my vote

jt

Wow this one is simply amazing. I wonder what the cost would be though? http://appro.com/1224x.html

Originally posted by phpjames
Wow this one is simply amazing. I wonder what the cost would be though? http://appro.com/1224x.html

Looks snazzy, must cost a ton though =/ Too bad they don't have pricing on their website. I find that pretty annoying.

I reccomend rackmountpro.com, they offer nice product at a very cost effective price point.

The new line of ISP servers from Intel will support removable IDE drives "cold swap" or SCSI drives "hot swap".

Personally, be wary of any 1U that puts a regular motherboard in it. Best to have a motherboard designed for a server which, among other things, has no audio circuitry and the memory slots are more carefully designed to fit the height restrictions of a 1U chassis.

Intel server motherboards for their 1U have a "low-profile" PCI slot along with a regular size one. This lets them squeeze 2 slots into a 1U. Since they also make or OEM raid cards, and Gigabit Ethernet cards that fit into the "low-prof" slot, you can truly take advantage of the higher density.

A lot of the no-brand chassis have questionable engineering. There really are people that "bend sheet metal", call it a chassis, and have never done even basic thermal on it.

Just throwing fans into a box is not "cooling analysis". Sometimes, less fans, properly placed, and the right vents or air dams (BLOCKING and channeling the airflow) make a big difference.

For 1U, I would stay with a reputable brand, for 2U and bigger, thermal is less of an issue and "bent metal" vendors might be a good savings.

Originally posted by spiv
The new line of ISP servers from Intel will support removable IDE drives "cold swap" or SCSI drives "hot swap".

Personally, be wary of any 1U that puts a regular motherboard in it. Best to have a motherboard designed for a server which, among other things, has no audio circuitry and the memory slots are more carefully designed to fit the height restrictions of a 1U chassis.

Intel server motherboards for their 1U have a "low-profile" PCI slot along with a regular size one. This lets them squeeze 2 slots into a 1U. Since they also make or OEM raid cards, and Gigabit Ethernet cards that fit into the "low-prof" slot, you can truly take advantage of the higher density.

A lot of the no-brand chassis have questionable engineering. There really are people that "bend sheet metal", call it a chassis, and have never done even basic thermal on it.

Just throwing fans into a box is not "cooling analysis". Sometimes, less fans, properly placed, and the right vents or air dams (BLOCKING and channeling the airflow) make a big difference.

For 1U, I would stay with a reputable brand, for 2U and bigger, thermal is less of an issue and "bent metal" vendors might be a good savings.

Than what do you suggest. I work with some people that sell electronics and that's the only thing they don't sell. I need a very good 1U Case I might be able to get the CPU, Motherboard and RAM for dirt cheap. I want the raq to come with fan and such.

SuperMicro? I need power for broadcasting and looking into at least 1.5 GIG or RAM and 1 Pentium 4 2.0 or higher. I even considered dual. And about 2 x 40 gigs IDE Drives...

SuperMicro is a reliable name. Why take a risk?

There are plenty of options, we build every system ourself. What has been popular recently is the Dual AMD Athlon systems, but if you want IDE it has to go into a 2U server. P4 1U are also popular and everything nowadays is very cheap to build. If you want please give me a call when you are ready to build! If your looking for some colocation we build all systems at wholesale cost to our customers!

And believe me people out there markup these puppies 200% or more!

Looking forward to talking to you!

Originally posted by ClusterMania
SuperMicro is a reliable name. Why take a risk?

I have a link to www.pricewatch.com with few SuperMicro servers:

SuperMicro Sales - PriceWatch.Com (http://www.pricewatch.com/1/95/3987-1.htm)

I do not want to spend more than 1,000$ for the server. I have to leave room for the $500.00 that will cost me to install PLESK control panel.

I am open to other servers that might handle dual cpu with lots of RAM ECC or other.

I want to buy one within one week and have it setup before my lease on my cobalt raq 4 goes up.

I want this to be able to broadcast and host 10 or so sites with lots of traffic/video/d/ling and uploading alot. Mostly for personall use with the option of loading Win2K server if RedHat 7.2 is not working out. But if I was to buy Plesk I am stuck with UNIX.

If you have the time to go through the listings I would highly appreciate it.

Focus:
- Pentium 2.0+ GIG MHZ or Similar Speed.
- RAM - I am looking into having 1.5 or 2 gigs of RAM
- I've got 4 HDs IDEE around the house or I can buy 2 (80 GIG Drives).
- CD-ROM and Floppy (Combo)
- Maybe a Motherboard with a built in Ethernet card they say it's good.
- Maybe USB? Might be usable if Win2k Server running on it.


Thanks...

I suggest you go with a brand name SYSTEM - not a clone builder - just add extra ram and drives yourself, but get a system completely assembled, tested, and DESIGNED by a major manufacturer, not thrown together in someone's back room.

Hint - you'll never see these vendors soliciting here. Anyone that trolls here for customers one server at a time is not a system designer - just a screwdriver operation. Sure they can offer cheap prices, but their narrow margins mean they may be gone in a day, a week, a month, or a year from now when you NEED support.

When's the last time Compaq, IBM, SuperMicro, Dell, Intel, or anyone of that caliber post here?

Originally posted by spiv
I suggest you go with a brand name SYSTEM - not a clone builder - just add extra ram and drives yourself, but get a system completely assembled, tested, and DESIGNED by a major manufacturer, not thrown together in someone's back room.

Hint - you'll never see these vendors soliciting here. Anyone that trolls here for customers one server at a time is not a system designer - just a screwdriver operation. Sure they can offer cheap prices, but their narrow margins mean they may be gone in a day, a week, a month, or a year from now when you NEED support.

When's the last time Compaq, IBM, SuperMicro, Dell, Intel, or anyone of that caliber post here?

I found:

ACME Server (http://www.8anet.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=117&step=4) selling SuperMicro for a very reasonable price.


Product Code: BB-SM-5012BE
-----------------------------------------------------------
Product Description:
SUPERSERVER 5012BE / Black 5012BEB
1U Rackmount (425 x 44 x 560 mm)
P4SBE - Single Intel 478-pin Pentium 4 microPGA processors
at 2.2+ GHz - 1.4 GHz, 400 MHz FSB
Intel 845 chipset
Supports PC133/100 unbuffered SDRAM in 3 DIMM sockets
1 32-bit, 33MHz PCI slots
2 Intel 82559 Ethernet Controllers onboard
ATI VGA onboard with 8MB display cache
Dual channel Ultra DMA/100 IDE controller w/100MB/s burst data transfer rate
2 x 3.5" drive bays
1 floppy drive INCLUDED
1 slim CD-ROM drive INCLUDED
250W power supply
1 x 10cm blower fan
Price: $ 563.00 / Each



I just need the CPU and RAM. Check it out guys and let me know if it's a good buy.