NetApp 4486 for ~$280 shipped

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BeTeP

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2019
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I was browsing ebay looking to pick up another cheap DS4243 disk shelf for an upcoming project when I stumbled upon this abomination Netapp DS4486 Shelf (diskless, trays included), 2x IOM6, Rails | eBay

Honestly I did not know it existed. Probably because it was usually priced out of my budget. The next cheapest one is listed at $1500 before shipping and the third cheapest is about $5000.

The funny part is how they fit 48 x 3.5" drives in 4U space. The answer is by using double trays like these:
 
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SPCRich

Active Member
Mar 16, 2017
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There's a supermicro chassis that does that too. I'd be terrified to use those, especially if I was running RAID. IF you don't build the array right, pulling out one of these could brick your box.
 
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tjk

Active Member
Mar 3, 2013
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Yea, the tandem drives are a PITA. You basically have to take our 2 HDD's to replace 1, nasty stuff.
 

BeTeP

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Mar 23, 2019
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I would not probably recommend anyone to use the hot-swap feature with this enclosure myself. But I am using these (not 4486 but 4243 ones) mostly for cold storage - they are only powered on during backup. So ensuring uptime is not a problem for me - I would just swap the drives during downtime.
 

Samir

Post Liker and Deal Hunter Extraordinaire!
Jul 21, 2017
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HSV and SFO
Holy crap that was in my back yard! Geez, I had no idea there were homelabbers around here like that. With our heat, I'm sure the ac bill for that lab is huge!
 

BeTeP

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Mar 23, 2019
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Wow. If anyone reading this forum bought this - please report back with your experiences. I am wondering if it would support all 48 drives if only connected via single IOM. That's how I use my 24 drive enclosures.
 
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Bert

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Mar 31, 2018
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Sorry for reviving old thread. Are these also quiet as the DS4243? How about empty enclosure power usage? Any issues due to double stacking?
 
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John Francini

New Member
Jan 4, 2020
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That's not at all bad. Now, would the shelf work with any SAS controller, or would it require a NetApp front end to talk to it?
 
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Bert

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Mar 31, 2018
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It should work with regular SAS controllers as long as you have the proper cable. I still want to hear the actual noise and power comparison.

My DS4246 draws around 100 watt without disks and super quiet when I connected only one power supply and IOM. I noticed how good that is when I got the similar numbers from Xyratex HB1235 with 12 slots. DS4246 was also super flexible. It was handling mixed SATA/SAS drives and do not chime like other enclosures when only one power supply is connected.

DS4486 would be great next step for denser solution if it has the same characteristics. I am worried that it would be noisy since fans look small. I am also curious if DS4486 takes the same SAS/SATA transposers DS4246 uses.
 
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Loto_Bak

New Member
Mar 10, 2011
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I'll measure when it shows up but I'm still 10 days out likely. (Shipping to Canada)

You shouldn't need transposers unless you want to use SAS dual link on a SATA drive.
Do you need the controller redundancy?
 
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kapone

Well-Known Member
May 23, 2015
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It should work with regular SAS controllers as long as you have the proper cable. I still want to hear the actual noise and power comparison.

My DS4246 draws around 100 watt without disks and super quiet when I connected only one power supply and IOM. I noticed how good that is when I got the similar numbers from Xyratex HB1235 with 12 slots. DS4246 was also super flexible. It was handling mixed SATA/SAS drives and do not chime like other enclosures when only one power supply is connected.

DS4486 would be great next step for denser solution if it has the same characteristics. I am worried that it would be noisy since fans look small. I am also curious if DS4486 takes the same SAS/SATA transposers DS4246 uses.
 

Bert

Well-Known Member
Mar 31, 2018
822
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I'll measure when it shows up but I'm still 10 days out likely. (Shipping to Canada)

You shouldn't need transposers unless you want to use SAS dual link on a SATA drive.
Do you need the controller redundancy?
I don't need controller redundancy but it is good to have the transposers working since I have a mix of sata and sas drives
 
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frogtech

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Jan 4, 2016
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So i've always been curious but what kind of management features do these enclosures have? Or are those not management LAN ports.
 
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int0x2e

Member
Dec 9, 2015
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If I understood correctly, these are 100% sata-only, due to how the caddies connect two drives using a single sas connector to the backplane.
I wonder if there's any chance one could mod the caddies to mount a single sas drive in the rear position while connecting it directly into the backplane instead of through the interposer. This would be a destructive mod, which would lose the ability to use dual drives per caddy, but it will open up this shelf to SAS drives...