Question 1

Does this item include the rails?

Accepted Answer

Yes it does. Note these rails are very basic as you can only slide the unit securely in the rack. However, they will not hold the chassis suspended outside the rack.

Question 2

Do it includes the  12 CPU's modules? (without the CPU/Ram/Hd). Whole Module's Enclosure + CPU Modules?

Accepted Answer

includes the chassis, 12 blades, 12 heat sinks, 2 power supplies, mounting rails, backplane and all internal cables.  full parts list can be found on supermicro site at products/system/3u/5038/SYS-5038ML-H12TRF.cfm

the only additional parts to purchase are the CPUs, memory and disks.  if you want to install two SSDs you'll need to get creative with some velcro or purchase the optional drive tray for each blade (which is an overpriced piece of bent metal that really should have been included).

Question 3

What is included with this item? What do I still need to purchase to ensure item is usable?

Accepted Answer

Minimum is CPU and RAM so you can boot each node. Storage is optional if you can network boot and you have a distributed filesystem. My setup is a Xeon 3.3Ghz with 16GB of ram per node with two nodes having a small USB stick, particularly:

1 x Intel Xeon E3-1230 v3 Quad-Core Processor 3.3GHz
2 x Kingston ValueRAM KVR16LE11L/8 DDR3L-1600 8GB/1Gx72 ECC CL11 **Very Low Profile Server Memory**
1 x Mushkin Enhanced atom 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Mode

PS: In case you are wondering these are *extremely* loud (100db) measured with my iPhone.

Questions & Answers