Supermicro BigTwin SuperServer 220BT-DNC8R

Description

Designed for use in all-flash hyperconverged infrastructures, storage area networks, and for use in object storage, each server node on the Supermicro BigTwin SuperServer 220BT-DNC8R supports 3rd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors. The system has 24x hybrid storage bays up front supporting SAS, SATA and or NVMe storage devices. An advanced I/O module provides optional network connection speeds depending on your workload needs.

*This system is only sold completely assembled with a minimal configuration that includes 2x CPUs, 2x DIMMs and 1x NIC, per node.

Performance

Each of the two hot-pluggable server nodes has two sockets populated with 3rd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors with up to 40 cores and 80 threads. The motherboard has been completely reworked to support not only the slightly larger CPU with a new P+ (LGA 4189) socket, but also support for PCIe 4.0. The processors also support more memory channels with 8x per processor compared to only 6x memory channels on the previous generation Intel Xeon Scalable Cascade Lake CPUs.

Memory

With 8x memory channels to work with, each processor supports 10x memory module slots for 20x active memory module slots with both processors installed. For each socket, 8x memory module slots are allocated for standard or 3D registered (RDIMM) or load reduced (LRDIMM) memory modules, while the other 2x memory module slots are dedicated for support of persistent memory 200 series modules, or PMem. Depending on processors and memory modules, memory can run at speeds of up to 3200MHz.

Storage

Twelve of the 24x hot-swap drive bays are assigned to each of the 2x dual processor server nodes. The hybrid backplane supports SAS, SATA and or NVMe drives. SAS drives will require a discrete HD controller for 12Gb/s access speeds. The system will support SATA3 and NVMe drives natively. Two NVMe or SATA3 M.2 drives can be installed on the system using a default carrier. An optional dual socket M.2 carrier is also supported. Another option for support for SSD drives is through a virtual RAID on CPU (vROC) key, which connects to the system board and provides limited RAID functionality with three flavors of performance, premium, standard, and Intel SSD only.

Expansion

The Supermicro 220BT-DNC8R server offers 2x PCIe 4.0 expansion slots on the back of the system, 1x x16 LP slot and 1x x8 LP slot. There are also dedicated slots on the motherboard for support of an Advanced I/O Module (AIOM) providing a selection of different connection ports and speeds. An optional M.2 boot controller is also available, plus an optional Broadcom 3816 for SAS storage support.

Management

A dedicated RJ45 baseboard management controller (BMC) large area network (LAN) port provides network access to the ASPEED AST 2500 management module for remote management of the server. Remote management does require Supermicro’s Out of Ban (OOB) license. At-chassis management is from the front of the system using a crash cart. Additional applications like SuperCloud Composer, Supermicro Server Manager (SSM), and Intel Node Manager provide additional tools for managing the server.

Summary

With 2x separate dual socket server nodes, the Supermicro BigTwin SuperServer 220BT-DNC8R is an excellent platform for hybrid storge applications like all-flash hyperconverged, all-flash storage area network, and all-flash object storage. It offers a wealth of new technologies all supported by the 3rd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors with support for more memory, faster memory, and PCIe 4.0.