Can I link another rack server to my existing one via SFP?

[larssadbro]

Hello. Sorry if this a silly question; I am far from a wizard at this stuff.

To be smore specific, I currently run unraid on an old Dell PowerEdge R430 (8x 2.5in drive model)
I would like to expand the storage for my instance by a significant amount, but unfortunately large-volume 2.5inch drives all seem to be prohibitively expensive. (all of my current drives are 1 TB each)

 

Upon expressing my woes to my co-worker, he seems very confident, despite having no experience with unraid himself, that I can acquire another similar system, like a PowerEdge R720 with 24 drive bays I found on Amazon as an example, and simply link the two servers using SFP 10Gig expansion cards, and the secondary system should be able to show up as another set of however many drives I put in it.

 

I'm curious if this is even possible or even supported by Unraid to begin with. Or if I should just replace my R430 with the R720 and call it a day (this is also acceptable but I dread moving everything over to a new system). I'm aware the secondary wouldn't be able to have an OS on it, but then wouldn't it just get stuck in post waiting to see an OS boot loader?

 

Any alternatives or ideas are appreciated.

[-Daedalus]

What you're looking for is a JBOD, or disk shelf.

 

The idea is that you could have another HBA in your existing server, but instead of internal SATA or SAS connections, is has external ones*. Something like this, for example.

Then, you'd connect that to something like this, which would pass the drives through to your server as additional disks.

 

There are also ways to DIY this though. The main reason to buy the disk shelf is because of the dual SAS controllers - this means that if one controller dies, the other one can still access the drives. If you're not using SAS though that won't be an option anyway, and you'd need an OS that supporsts this, which as far as I'm aware, unRAID does not. So, if you don't need the controllers, all you really need is a box to put the hard drives in, a PSU to power them, and cables to connect them to your server. Here is an example of someone doing that with off-the-shelf parts.

 

Hope that helps!

 

* The only real difference is that external cables are rated for more insertions, etc and are generally easier to work with. You could actually use one that has internal connections, and route them outside the case to the other hard drives, but it's cleaner this way.

[larssadbro]

7 hours ago, -Daedalus said:

What you're looking for is a JBOD, or disk shelf.

 

The idea is that you could have another HBA in your existing server, but instead of internal SATA or SAS connections, is has external ones*. Something like this, for example.

Then, you'd connect that to something like this, which would pass the drives through to your server as additional disks.

 

There are also ways to DIY this though. The main reason to buy the disk shelf is because of the dual SAS controllers - this means that if one controller dies, the other one can still access the drives. If you're not using SAS though that won't be an option anyway, and you'd need an OS that supporsts this, which as far as I'm aware, unRAID does not. So, if you don't need the controllers, all you really need is a box to put the hard drives in, a PSU to power them, and cables to connect them to your server. Here is an example of someone doing that with off-the-shelf parts.

 

Hope that helps!

 

* The only real difference is that external cables are rated for more insertions, etc and are generally easier to work with. You could actually use one that has internal connections, and route them outside the case to the other hard drives, but it's cleaner this way.

I see. I was suspecting JBOD was the intended route to go but wasn't entirely sure.

So, considering I won't be using SAS, just a box with a PSU + drives and putting a PCIe expansion card that includes additional SATA / eSATA ports into my current server would be the way to go?

[-Daedalus]

You could, sure, that would be cheapest. for tidiness, I'd be leaning more towards a box with PSU and backplane (because hot-swap is great, and throw one of these in the back. You can link that to your server with an external HBA.

[larssadbro]

okay so, update.

I tried to get a working solution together with what I have by essentially rerouting the SAS cables from the backplane of the R710 i have to this SAS card in the R430 running my unraid server.

The R710 is stuck in "no bootable media found" which is intended; but I assume the drives are still getting power (though their LED indicators on the front face are inoperable because the SAS cables are no longer plugged into the factory SAS card). 

However, I cannot get the new SAS controller to show up in the R430's inventory despite it currently running, getting power, and the corresponding LEDs being lit.
Normally, to get additional drives to show up on unraid via this server, you have to go into the Device Configuration pre-boot and set all the drives to Non-RAID. However, I only see the factory PERC controller the R430 came with (along with the 8 drives I already have setup), and not the new SAS card. I cannot get it to recognize a hardware change despite giving power to the card. Normally, when a hardware change is detected, it will force boot into the Lifecycle Controller.

 

I've attached pictures. The card is inserted in the first x8 slot; please excuse the janky setup, it is an ad hoc solution until my riser comes in this weekend.

This was my attempt at getting this to work. I thought "this SHOULD work, as all I need the 710 to do is provide power and it can sit there and be stuck in "no media found" while the 430 reads the drives."

 

If anyone's got some expertise on why the 430 won't read the card, I appreciate it. I even tried the 710's factory card and same results. Maybe I'm missing something really simple here.

 

On 6/10/2024 at 11:24 AM, -Daedalus said:

You could, sure, that would be cheapest. for tidiness, I'd be leaning more towards a box with PSU and backplane (because hot-swap is great, and throw one of these in the back. You can link that to your server with an external HBA.

I have a trip coming up next week so I will try your solution when I get back home if I can't get this to work before Monday. The 710 is quite underpowered compared to my 430 so I do not mind shelving it for a proper box (it was a retired system from my work anyway).

Edited June 13 by larssadbro

[Vr2Io]

18 hours ago, larssadbro said:

This was my attempt at getting this to work. I thought "this SHOULD work, as all I need the 710 to do is provide power and it can sit there and be stuck in "no media found" while the 430 reads the drives."

Yes, this no problem, just let 710 power it's backplane.

 

18 hours ago, larssadbro said:

If anyone's got some expertise on why the 430 won't read the card, I appreciate it. I even tried the 710's factory card and same results. Maybe I'm missing something really simple here.

You need focus on why 430 haven't detect the add on SAS controller, your link show it is 8e card but text description said 8i (match your photo), quite confusing.

 

BTW, pls try plug the controller to 710 to ensure it detectable.

 

If two different controller can't detect on 430. Pls try different slot and double check does 430 BIOS have any PCIe setting which disable the add on SAS controller.