Hey All! So I'm dipping my toes a little bit further into my home server / media server (Plex) that is running Unraid 7.0.1 and its a bit out of my knowledge area so I wanted to pick everyones brain a little. I got sent some interesting options I think I might want to try. What I'm trying to do is completely new to me, and wanted to know if you guys think this is a good option that would work well for what I plan to do.

 

Current system is a home server I built in a 4u Rosewill 12bay chassis. ASRock Z790 with an i5 12600k processor. Currently have a 9207-8i SAS card with sata break out cables. I'm 10 out of 12 drives full and was looking into expansion options and this is what I found / want to try.

I found a Nimble ES1-H45 disk shelf for $100 and I was going to get a LSI 9305-16i controller with 4 SAS ports to replace the 9207-8i, 2 for my drives I already have, and 2 that will be going to the nimble ES1.

 

Its just going to be used for storage / back up / media server storage nothing super demanding. Does this sound like my plan would work? Are there any limitations of the ES1-H45 such as only being able to use certain size drive capacities, or would I be free to continue using 10TB - 16TB sata drives? Would my speeds go to shit?

 

I'm kind of excited if this would work, I have a buddy thats about to give me like a 26u rack so I can move everything downstairs lol. Anywho, Let me know what yall think.

 

Edited May 13, 20251 yr by lxr200
added pictures

I am trying to do the same thing. Were you able to get it to work?

Late to the conversation - but in case its useful for you @lxr200 .

First off I will say I'm using TrueNAS Scale 24.10.2.2.... but I can talk to the hardware.

I am using,

• An older generic PC: ASUS Z390 motherboard, i7 CPU, 64GB RAM, dual 10Gbe SFP+ network card etc. Nothing too special.

• A 2nd hand HPe Nimble ES1 (ES1-H65B) chassis with dual power supplies, dual controllers, and each controller has a dual port SAS card (2 x SFF-8088 SAS ports).

• A LSI SAS9207-8e host bus adapter (small form factor as its in a rack case), a couple of 1m SFF-8088 SAS cables connect the HBA to the ES1.

• 5 refurbished MDD 20TB 3.5" 6Gbs SATA drives, and some other smaller drives.

The setup works really well - the drives present to TrueNAS properly and performance is as expected, I also see typical telemetry like drive temperature etc. TrueNAS Scale is based on Debian so you should have a similar experience using Unraid.

The only complaint I have is the noise from the fans in the ES1 which stay on a fairly high rev irrespective of drive or ambient temperature. The ES1 fans do spin down if the chassis is not connected to the SAS cables, but being connected the the computer is causing them to stay high. Not sure if thats the HBA, computer, TrueNAS, or a bug in the ES1 firmware.

I would suggest that you keep your 9207-8i for your internal drives, and buy an HBA that supports external SAS to connect to the ES1 e.g. a 9207-8e. Don't forget you need an HBA that suports IT mode.

MC

Hey if it helps I opened my ES1 chassis up today to try and find a way to quieten the fans. I found that the hardware is really a re-branded SuperMicro (both case and circuitboards).

Controllers are marked as model BMB-937-JB-IS019 and power supplies are PWS-1K21P-1R

https://www.supermicro.com/products/system/3U/937/SYS-937R-E2JB.cfm

I found it would be quiet easy to disconnect the fans on the controller from their power source, its just uses molex connectors so you can unplug them the same way you would a case fan in a PC. There are 6 fans per controller, they are mounted in pairs, each pair has a separate molex connector to unplug.

I did not open up the power supplies but it looks like they have at least 2 fans mounted as a pair as well.

5 hours ago, mike548141 said:

try and find a way to quieten the fans.

I was able to solve this by installing an IPMI plugin. I was able to get correct temps RPM and actually get fan control. Which was good because people in nearby rooms were getting annoyed it was so loud. I would give that a try before doing anything physical.
Here is a link to the one I installed. it is on the app page in unraid.
[PLUGIN] IPMI for 6.11+ - Plugin Support - Unraid

On 6/4/2025 at 3:49 PM, Dwardwebster said:

Were you able to get it to work?

also to reply to myself, Yeah this works great.