Do I really need IPMI?

[shawly]

I need a new motherboard because my Z87 board doesn't support ECC, so I'm looking for a board with a C226 chipset, because I need atleast six SATA3 ports.

If I look for boards with IPMI, then my variety is pretty much limited to boards in the 200-300€ range, even used boards with IPMI go over the 170€ mark and are hard to find, since only a few people even sell these boards.
I've seen some good offers on classifieds pages, but the sellers don't even reply anymore.. Since I live in the EU it wouldn't make sense to buy something from outside of the EU, because of the shipping costs and the 19% import sales tax I'd have to pay in my country. I'd have to pay as much as for a new board.

The ASRock Rack C226M WS doesn't have IPMI and is almost 50€ cheaper than a Supermicro X10SLH-F, so I wanna know, if I really need IPMI?
Or is the ASRock a bad choice because it's a workstation board?

TL;DR I need a C226 board, but boards with IPMI are more expensive, so do I really need IPMI? Or can I get the ASRock Rack C226M?

 

[hugovsky]

well... imagine this cenario: You're in the desert and have 2 options: a car without AC and a car with AC but it will cost you a bit more. which will you pick?

basically, I think once you try it, you will never leave it. Even home users.

 

[INCSlayer]

Why do you need the ports to be SATA3? are you using 6xSSD for storage?

 

[TXAG26]

Yes. You need IPMI. Once you get it all set up, you'll wonder why you didn't make the switch years ago.

 

[jgreco]

Generally speaking, the question here isn't "IPMI or not". It's "server grade or not."

The IPMI is an air-conditioner style feature, as @hugovsky suggests. And he's right that many people absolutely adore it. Some of us can't even work without it; the side effect of being nearly a thousand miles away from the machines you're managing.

But the real question isn't whether or not you've got AC in the desert (which you shouldn't be running in any case if you're in a desert). It is whether you've got a car which easily overheats. To that end, a proper server-grade board is simply outfitted with features that are more appropriate to server style use, and this usually includes IPMI. The cost differential between a workstation grade board and a server grade board is usually zero.

Once you decide on getting a decent server-grade board, the IPMI decision is probably made for you, so don't obsess over that. Focus on getting an appropriate board.

 

[shawly]

Well, in the desert I almost need the AC. Which would mean having IPMI is almost necessary?
Cause my homeserver with Debian has served me now for almost 2 years without IPMI.. I'd think it would come in handy if I really need remote access, but I want to set my server up and then leave it.
It's already hooked up to a kvm so if I ever need to access the BIOS or anything else there'd be no problem. And there'd be no situation where I need to have access to the features IPMI provides, when I'm not at home.

So, do I need an AC if I live in a colder country where the summers last about a month?

Why do you need the ports to be SATA3? are you using 6xSSD for storage?

That's actually quite a good question, at the moment I'm not using 6xSSDs for storage and if I really did I would probably have enough money for a board with IPMI. In fact, it's not really about having the money, it's more like, is IPMI worth the extra money for a simple NAS at home with just some movies and tv shows stored.
But you're right, my WD Reds probably won't ever exceed 3Gb/s (probably not even 1,5Gb/s), so I could go with SATA2 and for my 1Gb/s network it wouldn't even make sense.. Never really thought this through, I'm sorry

 

[jgreco]

The fastest drives out there right now push a little north of 200MBytes/sec, or slightly more than 1.6Gbps. But the controlling factor is that your network connectivity is probably gigabit (1Gbps) ethernet.

 

[shawly]

Generally speaking, the question here isn't "IPMI or not". It's "server grade or not."

I actually only need ECC, if it wouldn't matter I'd even say I'll use FreeNAS with my Z87 board, but looking at the cases where data was lost because of non-ECC RAM, I'd prefer to go "safe" and go with a board that supports ECC.

 

[danb35]

Do you "need" IPMI? No, you don't--the server will run just fine without it. If you have a KVM already set up, and will be keeping a keyboard and monitor collocated with your server, it may not even provide you with a significant benefit (though its ability to mount virtual media over the network is also pretty handy, particularly if your FreeNAS server, like mine, lacks an optical drive). Bear in mind that the remote console is Java-based, which can be a real pain in the neck sometimes.

Really, only you can decide if it's necessary for you. For some, like @jgreco, it's essential. For others, like me, it's merely a convenience--but enough of one that I don't plan to run another server without it. For you, it may be of minimal, or even no, benefit.

 

[shawly]

I've trimmed down my needs and reduced my search on a board with six SATA ports (since I actually really don't need SATA3).
And then I've found an ASUS P9D-X for 135€ (B-Stock), an ASRock E3C222D4U for 138€ (B-Stock) and an Intel S1200RPS (also B-Stock) for 140€.

Since the Intel only costs 5 bucks more than the ASUS, I'll go with that one, since it even has IPMI. :)

 

[jgreco]

Well, in the desert I almost need the AC.

Which would mean having IPMI is almost necessary?

No. But consider that if you have to do an OS install and you don't have a CD drive in the machine or a USB CD drive handy, suddenly you have an issue. The IPMI is a nice way to virtualize not just the console but also access to media. For example, everything here is stored on the fileserver, so we don't even HAVE install CD's for a lot of things. We either install a VM (which uses a virtual CD backed by an .iso file) or we install via IPMI (which also uses an emulated CD backed by an .iso file).

Cause my homeserver with Debian has served me now for almost 2 years without IPMI.. I'd think it would come in handy if I really need remote access, but I want to set my server up and then leave it.
It's already hooked up to a kvm so if I ever need to access the BIOS or anything else there'd be no problem. And there'd be no situation where I need to have access to the features IPMI provides, when I'm not at home.

So, do I need an AC if I live in a colder country where the summers last about a month?

It's debatable. But the feature only adds a few bucks, and I think that some of the newer boards don't even come in a variant without IPMI. It's the modern version of FM radio and power windows.

That's actually quite a good question, at the moment I'm not using 6xSSDs for storage and if I really did I would probably have enough money for a board with IPMI. In fact, it's not really about having the money, it's more like, is IPMI worth the extra money for a simple NAS at home with just some movies and tv shows stored.
But you're right, my WD Reds probably won't ever exceed 3Gb/s (probably not even 1,5Gb/s), so I could go with SATA2 and for my 1Gb/s network it wouldn't even make sense.. Never really thought this through, I'm sorry

 

[shawly]

The question about needing SATA3 or SATA2, indirectly resolved my question about the need of IPMI, because the S1200V3RPS I want, also has IPMI, so I have it even if I don't need it. :D

Thanks for your support guys!

 

[jgreco]

Well, be sure to set it up and try it, you may not like it the first few times, but soon you'll be wondering if the KVM switch is too much like effort. ;-)