[UK] Help building a 2u rack


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I currently have to unraid servers running 

1. N40L with 5x 4TB WD Reds + Samsung 850 250GB SSD cache

2. SFF machine with Intel i7 4790 no array just single SSD for dockers

 

What I would like to do is build a single 2u server which can have up to 12 disks.

 

To keep costs down I was thinking of moving the drives I already have which is a no brainer but then also pulling out the i7 4790 and putting the original i3 back into the SFF machine.

 

List of stuff I think I need would be something like this

  1. 2U case + PSU
  2. Motherboard
  3. SAS controllers? (I don't know anything about these)
  4. Additional NIC
  5. Internal cables SATA etc

 

Any help and suggestions would be great

Edited by bally12345
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Cant believe I forgot RAM! 

 

With the Norco RPC-2212 will this allow me to connect all 12 drives or would I need to purchase the LSI card? 

 

So far

£167.99 Norco RPC-2212 - https://www.servercase.co.uk/shop/server-cases/rackmount/2u-chassis/2u-server-case-w-12x-35-hot-swappable-satasas-drive-bays-minisas-sc-2312/

 

£109.00 SS-600H2U - https://www.powersuppliesonline.co.uk/power-supplies/pc-power-supplies/seasonic-active-pfc-2u-computer-power-supply.html

Edited by bally12345
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My current CPU has just under 10k passmark which is plenty for PLEX which is my main container I use, the rest is just pure data... The reason I want one machine is currently I have 2 running one for data only and 1 for dockers but now I have got to a point I cant really expand my system. 

 

Looks like the Norco RPC2212 is hard to come by the link I posted goes to a 2312.

 

I am going to need to factor in 2 additional drives 8TB WD REDS but the main rig should be under £500

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  • 1 month later...

Looking for inspriation for a new build looks like I might get more value for money using a new 8th gen Intel CPU.

 

Current set up looks like this

Storage

HP Microserver N40L
AMD Turion™ II Neo N40L Dual-Core @ 1500
8GB RAM

Docker

Sedatech Mini-PC
Gigabyte H97N-WIFI
Intel® Core™ i7-4790 CPU @ 3.60GHz
16GB RAM

 

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Ok been having a look on ebay and found something that may be a goods start for me

Supermicro 1U SYS-6026T-URF 2U 8 Bay 3.5" drive storage chassis 

2 x E5620 4 Core 2.4Ghz CPU 

6 x 4Gb DDR3 1333Mhz ECC Registered DIMMs

Supermicro AOC-USAS2-L8e 6Gbps HBA for controlling the 8 drives  (You could also add an internal SSD to motherboard port as boot disk etc)

On-board IPMI

Dual 10/100/1000 ethernet On-board

8 x 3.5" Hard Drive Bays including sleds (No hard drives included, but we can supply)

Redundant 720w PSU

 

The price point is good but the cpu is something I might look to swap in the future as I want at least 15k cpu passmark score. Any thoughts?

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In fact think I found one that will keep me happy and wont need to upgrade

Supermicro 1U SYS-602T-E1R12 12 Bay 3.5" drive storage chassis 

Each configured with :

2 x E5645 6 Core 2.4Ghz CPU 

6 x 4Gb DDR3 1333Mhz ECC Registered DIMMs

Supermicro AOC-SAS2LP-H8iR 6Gbps RAID controller for controlling the 12 drives

On-board IPMI

Dual 10/100/1000 ethernet On-board

12 x 3.5" Hard Drive Bays including sleds (No hard drives included, but we can supply)

 

2U Supermicro Rackmount / Rail Kit

Redundant 1200w PSU

 

Let me know what you would go for

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3 minutes ago, bally12345 said:

What controller would you suggest?

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 

Pretty much anything from this list shown as working that doesn't have a marvell controller. The SAS2008 based controllers have a good compatibility record.

https://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/Hardware_Compatibility#PCI_SATA_Controllers

marvell controllers are hit or miss, mostly miss with the latest kernels and drivers.

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Are you sure you want a rack? I also always thought i would want a rack.

 

But downside:

- you cant put many HDDs in it

-if you put many HDDs in it, it gets loud, very loud

-high price

 

For me the best solution in the end was buying a big tower and place it inside my (enter the name where the racks gets pushed in, dont know atm, sorry, lol)

Edited by nuhll
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18 minutes ago, nuhll said:

you cant put many HDDs in it

 

This one isn't generally true. If you want 24 or 36 disks, then you can find multiple rack offerings. Try to compete with a tower box.

 

20 minutes ago, nuhll said:

if you put many HDDs in it, it gets loud, very loud

 

It's traditionally loud with or without any HDD. Rack solutions are optimized for cramming as much electronics as possible per allowed height. And they are only allowed to suck in air from the front and emit at the back. So they need small but very fast fans.

 

22 minutes ago, nuhll said:

high price

 

Not always, so big price premium if compared to better quality tower systems. The biggest price premium for rack systems is when the task can be easily handled by commonly available off-the-shelf non-rack solutions. But for bigger systems, you can't normally use the cheaper non-rack PC hardware and then the price difference quickly drops.

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8 minutes ago, nuhll said:

Sorry, but rack is defintily much higher price then normal tower case. Even if you go premium cases, like i did.

 

You can get high hdd count racks, but you can get many many more disks in a big tower... and much cheaper, thats just the way it is.

 

How many tower do you see that can handle 24 3.5" disks? Please tell me, because I'm in the market for a good tower that can handle 24 hotswap bays for 3.5" disks. Since Chieftec doesn't sell their dual-width Jumbo 15 and Jumbo 18 chassis anymore, the last time I had to buy two tower cases to fit side-by-side just to get room for the disks. Not cheap and not without lots of own work. I could have payed way less for a rack solution.

 

Rosewill sells a 12 disk 4U chassis with hotswap for just over $200. Or 15 internal bays for just over $100.

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Hi guys thanks for the replies but this actually works out lot cheaper than tower as its refurb only works out around $350 that's included 24gb ecc ram + dual Xeon cpus with redundant psu.

Baring in mind what I am coming from to something like this for me is massive jump.

The noise isn't a issue for me as it will be going in basement if I had a 12 Bay tower case I can imagine it being just as loud depending on the fans anyway.

One thing I need to check if is this hotswap bays


Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

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37 minutes ago, nuhll said:

I didnt said Hot Swap.  (i didnt see he wanted thta?)


Correct - but most people with larger disk counts really should look into hot swap cases because of reduced problems with cables when replacing drives.

 

And one of the examples I mentioned was $110 for a 4U rack case with 15 internal bays - that isn't "much higher price" than a normal tower case.

 

Lots of rack mount equipment is expensive - but not all. Which means it isn't possible to claim as a general case that rack-mounted solutions are much more expensive. It's just that most companies selling rack-mounted solutions sells high-end equipment to companies/government/... which makes it easy to believe that rack-mounted kits must be expensive.

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Purchased! Can't wait for it to be delivered and installed!

 

The cpu might be older than I like but hopefully it's a rock solid system that gives me 14k passmark using the dual xeons.

 

Just need to get 2 more HDDs to add to array.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

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  • 1 year later...
On 7/14/2018 at 5:27 PM, bally12345 said:

Purchased! Can't wait for it to be delivered and installed!

 

The cpu might be older than I like but hopefully it's a rock solid system that gives me 14k passmark using the dual xeons.

 

Just need to get 2 more HDDs to add to array.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

How did the build go - have you a working Unraid server.  Any snags - I'm thinking of going the same route.

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/22/2019 at 6:36 PM, niloc said:

How did the build go - have you a working Unraid server.  Any snags - I'm thinking of going the same route.

Running very smoothly, cpu temps stay around 30c, no real snags other than its probably not the most power efficient compared to newer gen stuff but I can live with that given the price.

 

Size and weight is something to consider, currently this is just sat on a bench and cant justify getting a rack to fit this but have seen some wall mountable options which I might consider when tidying everything up.

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