12U Rack

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TeeJayHoward

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Feb 12, 2013
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Operating System/ Storage Platform: ESXi / ZFSonLinux
CPU: Xeon E3s (1x V1, 1x V2, 2x V3)
Motherboard: Supermicro X9/X10 seies
Chassis: Supermicro SC846 / SC822T / 3U "special"
Drives: 48x Seagate 2TB SAS, Samsung 840 Pro
RAM: 12x8GB DDR3 ECC UDIMM, 4x4GB DDR3 ECC UDIMM

Usage Profile: Home certification/study lab, media storage

Other information… When I lost my job a couple years back, I made some sacrifices to prevent myself from going into debt. One of those sacrifices was the sale of my 24U HP rack enclosure. I swapped everything over to desktop systems for noise, power, and space considerations. This worked great until my lab grew to four boxes, each loaded to the gills with HDDs. When my first HDD died of overtemp, I knew it was time to make a change. I bought a pair of SC846s and loaded them up, expecting to expand gradually. Then I got a great deal on 50x 2TB SAS drives, and all of a sudden I was set for storage... But I needed hosts since my vSphere environment was WAY too stuffy. So, I added a pair of E3s to my environment. One thing lead to another, and I was sitting on a pile of rackmount equipment with no rack. I found a 12U that "almost" fit under my desk on Amazon, and decided that it was time. Ordered. Delivered (early!). Assembled. Pictures follow.
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There's an issue with the final picture. I have another 2U server to fit in that space. When I had purchased the rack, I intended to put the 1U UPS in another room and stash the HP switch on the side somewhere. Then I found the rack ears for the switch, and... Well, I like the way it looks. Sue me. So, that lead me on a search for a replacement chassis for the two E3s stashed in the SC822Ts.

Supermicro's got a great 1U catalog. Whole lot to love in there. I decided that I wanted redundant PSUs, Platinum rated, and that I wasn't going to settle for anything less. I fell in love with the SC113TQ-R500CB, and ordered two of them off SuperBiiz. I paid for rush shipping and overnight air delivery. My rack was assembled already. I wanted the chassis NOW! Unfortunately, it was late on a Friday night. Well after the business had shut down for the weekend. So, I waited patiently until Monday. By 3PM Monday, my order was still listed as "Processing". I called up SuperBiiz and asked what the holdup was. They stated that they were in talks with SuperMicro to see when they could get another shipment of them in - They were not in stock. I got pretty frustrated, and asked them to cancel my order. They did.

I still needed a pair of 1U chassis. SuperBiiz was almost $100/chassis cheaper than anywhere else, and they were out of stock. I started wondering if I REALLY needed the chassis I wanted. I actually ordered and then cancelled a pair of WIO-style 1U chassis off Amazon. Thank goodness I did a bit more research on them after buying. What a shock that would have been. Somewhere in all this "research" (read: play), I came across Supermicro's Micro Cloud. It's almost like a blade center for E3s. You know, except for the shared networking. Needless to say, I was intrigued. I had intended to eventually add a few more servers to my setup. If I got the Micro Cloud, I wouldn't need to worry about where I was going to put them. In fact, after I paid it off, I could drop a new CPU/RAM combo into it once a month. Before I knew it, I had talked myself into it. I made a post on [H]ard|Forum asking about it, but I already had my heart set. SuperBiiz was the cheapest place again, and honestly, they treated me okay so I figured I'd give them another chance at my business.

Today, I received a phone call from SuperBiiz. Did I really know what I was buying? Am I sure I want to order this? It's a large amount of money, and there's no returns. I told them "Yes", and my order moved to the next step.

So that's where it sits now. I'm awaiting delivery.

But I really made this thread to talk about the StarTech adjustable rack. $190 for 12U, brand new. I was impressed. It's heavier than I expected. They included the screwdriver and two wrenches you need to assemble it. It was packaged very well. Assembly took about an hour, and wasn't difficult at all. The only real issue I came across was that the rack was out-of-square when I finished building it. I didn't notice until I started loading it up with servers. A few quick turns of the wrench fixed that. (User error!) The unit numbers on the vertical rails are a sticker, not a silkscreen. If I pull out both of my fully-loaded SC846s, the rack tips forwards. I honestly can't find anything else to complain about. It's a fantastic little rack for the price.

I'll post again when I get the 3U in.
 
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TeeJayHoward

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Feb 12, 2013
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Oh, I forgot to mention my other purchases. I've got 24x 2M Cat7 cables sitting at home waiting for me (delivered today), and I should be getting in two more SSDs (850 Pros). I ordered the SSDs when I thought I was going to use 2.5" disks from here on out. The SYS-5038ML-H8TRF uses 3.5" disks. Amazon's already shipped 'em, so I'm going to create a "high-speed" datastore on my NAS instead of using the spinners.

Oh, speaking of the NAS. Has anyone else noticed that under full extension, the SC846 does not pull out far enough to remove the chassis "lid"? I have to unrack the chassis to open it up. Seems a bit silly to me. It's only about one inch short, too!
 
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PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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Oh, speaking of the NAS. Has anyone else noticed that under full extension, the SC846 does not pull out far enough to remove the chassis "lid"? I have to unrack the chassis to open it up. Seems a bit silly to me. It's only about one inch short, too!
Assuming you have the snap-in 'toolless' SuperMicro rails? You have the wrong ones. SuperMicro makes two versions of that rail - one is made for short-depth chassis and the other is made for the longer ones. The SC846 requires the longer rails. They are color coded - but I can't remember which color is the one that lets the 846 pull out all the way.

I had the same problem on my chassis (bought used off eBay). I realized the problem when I got an SC836 3U with the correct rails. I ended up buying the "right" ones off eBay and re-sold mine for the same price - so it cost me the eBay value fees to fix it.
 
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TeeJayHoward

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Feb 12, 2013
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Assuming you have the snap-in 'toolless' SuperMicro rails? You have the wrong ones. SuperMicro makes two versions of that rail - one is made for short-depth chassis and the other is made for the longer ones. The SC846 requires the longer rails. They are color coded - but I can't remember which color is the one that lets the 846 pull out all the way.

I had the same problem on my chassis (bought used off eBay). I realized the problem when I got an SC836 3U with the correct rails. I ended up buying the "right" ones off eBay and re-sold mine for the same price - so it cost me the eBay value fees to fix it.
Good to know. The rails I'm using are the ones that came with the (brand new) SC846. I'll have to call up Supermicro and complain at 'em. My rack's set for a 32" depth, so there's no way I have the MCP-290-00058-0N... I must have the MCP-290-00057-0N... Right?
 

PigLover

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I'll look on mine this evening and see if I can get the part number for you without tearing it all down.
 

TeeJayHoward

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Feb 12, 2013
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I'll look on mine this evening and see if I can get the part number for you without tearing it all down.
Thanks, I appreciate it. I looked at the rails we have here at work for the SC846s. There's no way in hell I have the "Fifty-eights". They're only from my elbow to my fingertips. The "fifty-sevens" are significantly longer. I'll try to take a photo when I get home to show the one inch I need for the server lid to be removable.
 
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TeeJayHoward

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I don't even have to wait until I get home! Here's one at work, using the "long" rails, that exhibits the exact same symptoms! This is with the box fully extended. There's no way, if you had another system directly on top of this one, that you could remove the lid on this chassis. (Also, forgive the rack spacing. I didn't do it!)


 

TeeJayHoward

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Feb 12, 2013
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My cable labeller ran out of paper. Oh well. Here's a half-populated switch.

I'm going to have to buy a 48-port switch if I fully load the 3U. 10 hosts @ 3/host, plus an uplink, wifi, printer, desktop, and (if I decide to go 10Gig) 1 10GBase-T per host. Maybe sometime next year a SSE-X3348TR switch will fall under a grand. I also realized that I forgot to buy a 5M cable for my desktop. Back to Monoprice!
 
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TeeJayHoward

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The previous SysAdmin (who became my manager) bought 'em. We were originally going to use them for seldom-accessed storage, but decided against it when the drives started dying left and right. It's a part of my job to hunt down which disk has died and replace it... And that's quite a process without the incredibly-useful little blinking LEDs. The SC846 I pulled out is actually one of the replacements for the Backblaze system.
 

PigLover

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I can't find the part number of the rails - sorry. But here are some photos. Sorry for the crappy cell phone shots...

SC-846 pulled out:


SC846 pulled out to its stops (and no further - I didn't cheat):


Close up - clearly enough room to remove the cover:


I can't get the part number of the rails w/out tearing it down. But notice that the labels on the outer and inner rail say "Rev B" and are yellow. On the ones that don't pull out all the way the labels are light blue, IFRC.
 

TeeJayHoward

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Feb 12, 2013
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I can't get the part number of the rails w/out tearing it down. But notice that the labels on the outer and inner rail say "Rev B" and are yellow. On the ones that don't pull out all the way the labels are light blue, IFRC.
Ah-ha! I DO have the "bad" rails, then!

 

TeeJayHoward

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Feb 12, 2013
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This link shows that Supermicro ships out the 846E16 chassis with rails that won't allow it to be fully extended. I asked them why they'd include incompatible rails, and they told me to ask my sales rep. Gee, real useful, guys. At work, we had (still in the boxes) two sets of 58s and one 57. The 58s are small. Very small. I don't think they'd work in a 32" depth rack. The 57 was longer - It looked like my existing rail. The 58s had the yellow label on the side.

I opened one of the boxes at work, and it was too short. I called 'em back. They confused the rack depth with the rail length. They told me to call RMA. RMA told me to send an email, and they'd get me the right rails. Going to do that now.

edit2: RMA submitted. I hope they don't just send me the "blue label" rails they're currently shipping out with their SC846 chassis!
 
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T_Minus

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EDIT: the part# I got was right, SM was right afterall. The batch I got, the test one was different, haha.
 
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TeeJayHoward

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Feb 12, 2013
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PigLover, what is your rack depth? I took a photo comparing the two rails (the 57s and the 58s) and it doesn't look to me like the 58s extend out any further! (They DO have the yellow label, though.)



edit: We happened to have an SC846 sitting on a cart. I attached the rails to said server, and holy moly... The 58s are worse than the 57s!

57:


58:


PigLover, if there were some way to find out the model number of the rails you have, I would really appreciate it. I don't see the model listed on either of these sets, though. It may not be possible!
 
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T_Minus

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Argh, I'm gonna be upset if mine are like that too, I have 3 of those 846s with rails from ebay I hope they fit (yellow) to allow pull out access.