Advise on SuperMicro chassis for new storage server

[handruin]

I'm building out a new storage server to be used primarily for personal backups and I've already procured the drives I wanted for this project. I'll be using 18 x 6TB HGST NAS (SATA) drives managed under Linux with ZFS.

I was considering this SuperMicro CSE-847E16-R1K28LPB chassis that comes with CPU, MB, and RAM in the specs I'm interested in for my project. If I'm reading the specs correctly, it has what I think is the preferred SAS 2 back plan and expander but I was hoping for confirmation from others who have more experience with these chassis. I'm looking for feedback to see if this chassis makes sense given I'll only be populating half the bays for at least the next couple years. The included LSI 9260-8I does not seem ideal for my build because from what I can find it's not suitable or configurable into IT mode so I would need to buy a new controller like a 9211-8i or equivalent. I'm ok with swapping that out assuming it would work fine with this many drives. There is also this listing with a very similar chassis with similar spec but it comes with a better LSI controller for my build and larger PSUs for an added $180.

Aside from that, the amount of CPU and ram seem appropriate for this ZFS build. Would the included Dual 1280Watt SQ Power supply (PWS-1K28P-SQ) 80Plus Platinum be super noisy or are these the preferred type to reduce the noise? How bad would the noise be from the rest of the chassis?

 

[Ajgoyt]

For the PWS question see this link Supermicro 846 / 847 chassis and power supply noise questions.

 

[Ajgoyt]

As I am learning you don't need both PWS installed (these machines are for data centers so redundancy is a must) but you can run a SC846 OR SC847 with just (1 PWS) if you use both need to be plugged into live 120v power, if you have both installed but only one plugged into live power the chassis will warn you with an alarm, So the options are remove one of them, or just pull one of them out 1/4 inch so it will not make contact inside. Wallah no more alarm....

Hope this helps.
AJ

 

[cheezehead]

The SAS1 backplanes don't support drives over 2TB. For home use, i have one of the PSU's sitting in the slot but partially unseated to reduce power consumption. The PWS-1K28P-SQ are relatively quiet. Depending on how large you want to go the CSE-846 chassis (24-bay) could also work. More than a few of us (including myself) have purchased gear from Mr Rackables and have rarely had issues. Depending on how much you want to penny pinch, you could build a box cheaper (buying chassis/mobo/ram/cpu separate) than buying a turnkey solution. If you're gonna need rails and don't see them on the listing, check out the pricing separately...it may be better to find a chassis with rails (remember there is a narrow and a wide rail style). Also sometimes, the chassis are listed multiple ways....the CSE-847 is sometimes listed as SC847, sometimes just as a supermicro 4U, and sometimes they are not even supermicro branded (many storage vendors have used their gear and stuck their logo's on them)...listing them goofy is often where we can find deals.

4U Supermicro 24 Bay JBOD HBA Storage Server X8DTN+ 2x Xeon 6 Core 2.4Ghz 144GB | eBay - A-style backplane is single-ported but passthrough....you can run at whatever speed your HBA and drives support but you'll need more SAS cabling and provide your own expander.

 

[handruin]

I appreciate the feedback. I'm definitely not finding any of the 24-bay CSE-846 with the BPN-SAS2-846EL1 backplane. I'm also not finding anyone selling the backplanes by themselves used. I can find new ones on Amazon but they're $550+ just for the part. I'll keep searching to see what I can find but maybe everyone here has bought them up.

 

[handruin]

This Supermciro 846E16-R1200B is the closest I could find with 24 bays and a SAS2 expander but the CPUs aren't really what I'm interested in.

 

[cheezehead]

When the 846's pop up with the SAS2 backplanes at a decent price they generally don't last long on ebay. The last two times I pulled the trigger, I had a bunch of searches saved and then check the results for a couple of days before finding the right listing to pop up and pull the trigger on.

The particular backplane sold separately on ebay has been tracking in the $250-260 range and only come up once or twice a month. So if that's the backplane you really want, I'd look for it already bundled in the chassis. When searching keep your eye open for the dual-ported one as well...sometimes they list things wrong and you can get a nice deal on them. Also, outside of some of the more regular sellers (ie Mr. Rackables) a lot of listings aren't 100% textually accurate....look at the photos for what's actually included. If there's a listing with no photo, ask the seller for one of the backplane, motherboard, psu's, ect....whatever you need that they aren't showing.