Boston GP 1120-T review

Remote management is present and correct as the F' variant of this motherboard has an embedded RMM and dedicated network port. This allows the server to be remotely accessed via a tidy web browser interface offering plenty of operational information.

You can keep an eye on a range of sensors for critical components and have full control over the power supply. For access security you can use LDAP or RADIUS servers for external authentication to the remote controller and decide what each user is allowed to do. KVM-over-IP is a valuable feature as this allows you to access the BIOS setup menu and OS remotely and designate devices on remote hosts as virtual media.

The GP 1120-T shows clearly Supermicro's commitment to AMD and from our experience it'll be a while before we see any other vendors releasing similar products to market. Boston also sets a high standard as it packs an impressive processing density into a compact 1U rack server and combines this with good expansion potential and remote management features.

Verdict

As the first example of AMD’s new 12-core Opteron 6100 to market, the Boston GP 1120-T delivers plenty of processing power in a compact 1U chassis.

Storage and RAID options aren’t particularly exciting but it offers a high core count, modest power demands and is competitively priced.

Chassis: 1U rack

CPU: 2 x 2.2GHz AMD Opteron 6174

Memory: 24GB 1333MHz DDR3 expandable to 256GB

Storage: 4 x 500GB WD Enterprise SATA hard disks in hot-swap carriers

RAID: Embedded 6-port SATA controller

Array support: RAID0, 1, 10

Expansion: UIO slot, PCI-e 16X 2.0 slot

Network: 2 x Gigabit

Power: 2 x 650W hot-plug supplies

Management: Embedded RMM with 10/100 port

Software: Supermicro SuperO Doctor III