Home 2RU short depth rackmount SAN chassis

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Techieitis

New Member
Feb 6, 2012
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Hi All,

New to the forums and am impressed by the in depth level some go to to get their setup just right!

I'm entertaining the idea of building my own iSCSI/FC SAN for vsphere 5 and as a replacement for a Qnap NAS. At this point in time I'm tossing up between either diy SAN or internal disk on my esx host, which I'm not entirely keen on but seems to be the cheapest option.

I have a 19" 12RU rack with a Dell R210 II which is my esx host, limitation is the rack depth (post to post) is around 465mm. Couldn't get any bigger due to space limitations under my stairs :)

So have been researching a compatible chassis. Ideally I'd like to go for a slim 2RU chassis that fits only 2.5" drives vertically, the closest I've found is the Norco RPC-2132, which fits an awesome 32 drives in a 2RU form factor, but is 650mm deep.

I've emailed Norco and they advised they plan on releasing an updated 2132 in July, but are unsure of the dimensions.

Has anyone else seen a chassis that might fit my needs or am I barking up an impossible tree?

Thank in advance!
 
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Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
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Yikes. I hate to say it, but if I were you I would probably just be going to a few websites and just looking at what might fit. I know that isn't a huge help, but would probably be the fastest.
 

Techieitis

New Member
Feb 6, 2012
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Yeah i've done that and the closest is the Norco 420 but that's more designed for a server than a SAN supporting only 7 drives.

Norco reps reckon a new 2132 is planned for July with a 480mm depth, I guess I could handle a 15mm overhang.

Rack is 600mm deep hence why internal post dimensions are wall cabinet sized.
 

RimBlock

Active Member
Sep 18, 2011
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Singapore
The Supermicro 1U CSE-813MTQ-350CB is 503mm deep but only takes 4x3.5" drives. Pair it with a DAS controller board and a little internal to external cabling and you could have a short DAS.

The cases are very nice and I have built a number of ESXi servers using them for clients. Noisy on power up and at load with the 40mm fans though.

RB
 

ehorn

Active Member
Jun 21, 2012
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I was searching for something similar recently. Most of the shallow 2u's did not have the open bays needed for more than one high density hot swap (i.e. CSE-M28). Furthermore, I could not justify the price after assembling all the components necessary. It was not competitive by the time I added it all up.

I gave up the quest.

But there are some great deals to be had if you can find a space to manage the depth.

I just grabbed a brand new Chenbro 24 bay for 95 bucks shipped. And the kicker is, it included the zippy 1+1 redundant 810W Silver PSU!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chenbro-New...389?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27c89940fd

Just arrived yesterday and I was shocked to see the stuff actually was BNIB in mint condition with all accessories. I am sorry I did not buy the whole lot from the guy. :)

For that price, I figured I will make it work despite my desire for something more diminutive.

Good luck in your quest OP.
 

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
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How loud is that power supply? Great deal on the chassis.
 

ehorn

Active Member
Jun 21, 2012
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2U is tough...

3 and 4U seem to provide more options for shallow depth chassis'

Here is an example of a 4U which can house an EATX MB, standard ATX PSU, and up to 36 2.5" drives all in a chassis depth of 20.5"

http://www.istarusa.com/istarusa/pr...ount Chassis&sub=D VALUE&model=D-416&factor=4

Pic of a partially loaded chassis with 4 of the possible (6) Hot Swaps cages. These cages are not SAS though, so you would end up with Breakouts intead of SFF-8087 --> 8087's...


Total cost for this chassis with full set of hot swaps would be ~ 580.00...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=301&pf_rd_p=1263465782&pf_rd_i=D-416-2B126SA
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008LA7ST2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&smid=A364K5Y86J4MV2

That's a lot of mula for short depth... I am sure there are other options/variations. But they are all expensive (from my research). Cuz you have the chassis and the cages to price out...

peace,
 
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