2U 24 bay Supermicro CSE-216 SAS2 chassis - $225

[hd2012]

Looks good for me for a JBOD conversion. I plan to ditch the internals and put in a standard ATX psu to power the backplane.

2U Supermicro CSE-216 H8DME-2 24 Bay Server AMD QC 2.2GHz 16GB 4x 4GB

 

[Cipher]

Looks pretty good, OP!

I've been meaning to do some research on the various SM 216 chassis as I'd like to get one to store my SSD drives. This one comes with:

1) SAS2 backplane - SAS2-216EB rev. 1.02
2) 24 Drive trays
3) Rails

Although I don't need the other parts they include, this looks pretty good to me, especially since these seem to be going for around $300 from the regular vendors (Mr Rackables etc).

Is there something different about this version being sold or are there better version of the 216 chassis out there?

 

[hd2012]

Thanks. AFAIK, 1.02 is the latest revision. which particular auction ID are you comparing this with?

 

[Cipher]

Here's an example of one with a BO from Mr Rackables:

2U 24 bay 2.5 Supermicro Superchassis SC216E16-R1200LPB Dual Power Supply RAILS

 

[Cipher]

I'd also be removing all the internals (Mobo, RAM) and using this as a JBOD. I have quieter Supermicro PSUs so I'd use those as well and I'd then connect this chassis to my SC846E16-R1200B chassis which contains my main server motherboard and an SAS2 Expander backplane.

Supermicro lists around 30 different variations of the 216 chassis here - 2U Chassis | Chassis | Products - Super Micro Computer, Inc.

I just want to make sure there's no other SAS2 backplanes, different chassis sizes or other differences I'd want to consider in this model family.

 

[T_Minus]

@Cipher the one Mr Rackables has is i-pass has external 2.5" the one you link to is likely an expander or sas1 expander based on hardware in it.

The price varies on these a bit I got some last year with the SQ Power supply from MrRack for ~300 shipped with the 2.5" rear trays, cables, etc.. SAS2 Expander

 

[Cipher]

Hi T_Minus. I'm not that clear on some of these server hardware terms. What do you mean it has I-pass and external 2.5?

The backplane from Mr Rackables is listed as - SAS2-216EB with SAS2-216EL1 expander board.

The backplane from Tam Solutions is listed as - SAS2-216EB rev. 1.02. However, when I look at the pics in the listing I can also see the SAS2-216EL1 expander board.

 

[T_Minus]

Hmm, maybe it was an AD I clicked on the one I saw on ebay specifically said "I-pass"

 

[asintado08]

The backplane supports SATA3 based on google right?

I am planning to replace my desktop case with this. I will put my current homelab here and buy a lot of 2.5inch sas HDD to be used as a datastore. Good idea right?

 

[hd2012]

SATA3 is backwards compatible, it'll be fine. datastore is likely the primary use of this chassis. though most would be getting SSD's.

 

[whitey]

If only these were 6x 8087 backplane connect I'd be ALL OVER this to replace my Norco 4224.

On a positive note, chassis look CLEAN!

 

[Aestr]

I bought 3 from him and got them last week. Everything arrived in good condition.

 

[T_Minus]

I bought 3 from him and got them last week. Everything arrived in good condition.

And what was the backplane ?

 

[Aestr]

SAS2

 

[BackupProphet]

You do not want to put SSD's on an expander. Only 4 SSDs pushes the SAS2008 chip to its limits.

 

[hd2012]

oh really? so what do those commerical 24 SSD arrays use?

 

[Cipher]

I bought 3 from him and got them last week. Everything arrived in good condition.

Hi Aestr, can you confirm if this comes with the inner/outer rails and the model number of this chassis?

Based on them having the following...

-BPN-SAS2-216EL1 backplane
-2x 1200w power supplies
-7x low profile I/O slots

...it looks like these may be the SC216E16-R1200LPB version.

Supermicro | Products | Chassis | 2U | SC216E16-R1200LPB

 

[BackupProphet]

oh really? so what do those commerical 24 SSD arrays use?

Direct connection like Supermicro A or TQ models. SAS Expander is great for hard drives, but horrible for SSD's.

 

[JayG30]

I was in the market for a 2u 24 bay chassis myself. Originally wanted the supermicro 216 but all the ones listed were with a EL1 expander. Essentially 1 8087 connection to drive all 24 disks (2 other ports in expander are failover/daisychain and don't add anything to bandwidth). With SSD's and 24 bays this is a big bottleneck. I wanted 6 dedicated 8087 ports (4 disks/port). Didn't see any of those worth mentioning however. So I ended up getting an equivalent Intel barebones instead.

EDIT: just realized the link in the OP was the 216 AMD server I saw a while back and was considering purchasing just for the chassis. Also saw another with a full Intel E5 build for $630 (think it was E5-2630's). Seemed like a good deal if you don't mind not getting an E5-2670.

 

[JayG30]

For those asking about the backplane/expander in these supermicro 216 chassis. HERE is the manual that you want to read carefully.

And this is the picture that explains it all;


As you can see, the SAS2-216EB is a BACKPLANE. Connected to that backplane are the SAS2-216EL DAUGHTER CARD(S). When you purchase a EL1 variant of this chassis it will have a single daughter card. That daughter card has 3 SAS SFF-8087 ports (mini-SAS, iPass, or whatever you call it). But as mentioned further in the manual;

Which says, 2 of those SAS ports provide cascading and failover. That leave the EL1 variants with a single SFF-8087 port for connecting all 24 disks. A single SFF-8087 port will provide 4 "lanes". So for a SAS2 expander that will provide; 4*6Gbps=24Gbps or 4*600MB/s = 2400MB/s. With an SSD pushing 500MB/s, 4 of those are going to be close to saturating the link already.

So the TQ variant will have individual connections for each hard drive (so 24 6Gbps connectors). The A variants will have 6 SFF-8087 connections (4 lanes each) which reduces cable clutter while still covering the type of speed you will see from SAS/SATA SSD disks.

Personally, I wouldn't purchase an EL1 expander variant for anything more the 12 disk chassis (and not all 12 were going to be SSD's). Even the EL2 variant (with 2 daughter cards) only provides 2 SFF-8087 connections (ie. 8 lanes). Which is why at 24 2.5" disks I prefer the A variant.