Which Motherboards for Headless Unix Servers?

nettdata asks: "So I'm a 'Sun' guy who's looking to build a Linux server. I've got everything picked out except the motherboard, and I need help. I've gone through some hardware sites (Tom's, etc.) but I can't seem to find a 'top 10' list for what I need, so I was hoping some experienced people in the Slashdot forum can help me cut to the chase. This will be my home server, so I want it to be as inexpensive as possible while still being something that will perform well. (Champagne taste on a beer budget). It will be a headless box, so more than anything I want the ability to do command line boot/BIOS control via the serial port to a VT100 session like I can with my Sun boxes. (This will be done via my handy dandy PortMaster). Lights Out Management (LOM) would be an added bonus. Google, Slashdot, and ExtremeTech searches haven't turned up anything usefull. Any thoughts or sites?"

Supermicro

[legend]

I use Supermicro servers, and along with great linux support, they are able to be run headless. You can purchase motherboards only, or, a barebones server from them. I have seen some Intel based designs (Dells, Compaqs) that support serial console as well.

SuperServer 6010 [supermicro.com]

Re:Supermicro

[legend]

Yup, you set COM1 in the bios to whatever baud rate you want, connect a terminal server, or a modem, and EVERYTHING is redirected out the serial port. The bios can be accessed, and you can watch the boot process.

Tyan S2510 (Thunder LE)

[shrike]

We've got several servers sporting a dual CPU Thunder LE mobo at work and they work marvelously, including serial console. Available with or without dual channel U160 SCSI. We're running FreeBSD on them, btw. The biggest downside is the price.

Serial BIOS is the hard part to find..

[Faldgan]

I've use some boards that have it (Intel G440LX series) and it's great.
The problem is (of course) finding a board that has that feature. I'm afraid that most boards in the 'budget' range will not do this.

If you have a bunch of them at a colo, you can daisy-chain the serial ports, (So the console from A is going into B, the console from B is going into C, and so on until the console from X is going into A) The only way to totally lose a machine is to lose ALL of them.