Anybody need a PB of storage?

[Fritz]

These high density storage boxes must generate enough heat to power a small town.

 

[Patrick]

These high density storage boxes must generate enough heat to power a small town.

Compared to GPU compute boxes these are not bad at all.

 

[Markess]

Need =/= want

You beat me to it! We have a joke in our family about need and want being the same thing. Mostly applies to shoes and clothes and the like, because.....anything that I "need"...I really need. Honest

While most NA households run predominantly on 120v, most modern housing also has 220v or 240v to power some of the larger appliances (clothes dryer,central air, pool pump, etc) in addition.

In NA, the power supply from the grid into structures is 220v. Its then stepped down to 110v for most circuits. So, 220v is hiding in the walls somewhere, its just harder to get to for some folks, like apartment dwellers. Don't let something trivial, like voltage, get in the way of something you NEED

 

[thetoad]

In NA, the power supply from the grid into structures is 220v. Its then stepped down to 110v for most circuits. So, 220v is hiding in the walls somewhere, its just harder to get to for some folks, like apartment dwellers. Don't let something trivial, like voltage, get in the way of something you NEED

I was under the impression (perhaps incorrectly), that most 220v that residential usage in the US is dual phase, while in places with a more "native" 220v, it be single phase (i.e. why a 220V washer/dryer from the US can't necessarily work in europe), but I could be wrong about this.

 

[EasyRhino]

ventilation seems especially challenging in this chassis with only pull fans. I wonder how hot the drives would get.

 

[SparXalt]

I was under the impression (perhaps incorrectly), that most 220v that residential usage in the US is dual phase, while in places with a more "native" 220v, it be single phase (i.e. why a 220V washer/dryer from the US can't necessarily work in europe), but I could be wrong about this.

You aren't wrong our circuits are primarily 110v, but with access to the electrical panel an electrician can run a circuit using a double pole breaker to span both sides and provide 220v Split phase, which most modern switching power supplies are happy to accommodate. I upgraded my whole UPS/rack setup to 220v due to one large server with 200-240v supplies.

 

[ecosse]

I've a couple of the 102 drive ones. They are locked to Ultrastar drives in theory but older HGST drives work as to WD Reds; at least in my experience - def no Seagate! I do keep thinking one day the floor will give in and that will be the end of that

 

[ClydeM]

Thought I'd chime in. I picked up a WD Data 60 sans drives with rails & with the cable & Adaptec 3154-8e for super cheap off FB Marketplace. Late last year. Did I need it? no. But such a deal!
It is 4U. It does require 220v, so I ran a dedicated line from the electrical panel to a 220PDU to the Box. with 110V, you only get the system responding. Drives wont spin up. No UPS (yet). Actually, no on/off switch either.

It did take multiple weeks and multiple attempts reaching out to WD before they gave me a business account (no fee) and access to WDDS & Firmware.

I run the WDDS CLI software fairly successfully. SG3 works too. Working on getting Microchip's Maxview Storage working reliably.
It's hassle is it needs a local machine admin account and I find even with one, it's not reliable going into a "Disabled: Account does not have proper security " even though you probably do. and its slllooowwww.
You can also use the Redfish API
Clearly, I dont have the box fully populated nor will I likely ever.
I do have a SAS 2TB SSD as a maxcache, (5) WD Red SATA drives in RAID, a bunch of used Enterprise Ultrastar 10TB SAS3 drives in RAID and an Enterprise 18TB SAS3
the key is Ultrastar drives. It doesn't like Toshiba or Samsun or Seagate or any other. Forget using cheap consumer SSDs in it (it will take WD SSDs)...at least with my current firmware which I need to upgrade. That's another story. Benchmarks will be done....probably later than sooner.

I dont find the unit to run hot. But try to pop the lid for any service and you have 5 min before the system gets upset, while the (4) large fans
spin up sounding quite like a jet taking off. That's if you can lift the lid due to the vacuum from the spun-up fans. And, it takes about 15-20min
for the fans to quiet back down when you have it all back together. I haven't calculated running costs yet either.

And this unit is HEAVY! without the drives.

All this is noted in the docs.

I did get it up & running with a desktop, but now its plugged into an R740 Windows Server 2022 std.
to do: Trying to config NVDIMMs to act as another cache. As in memory drives, they are wicked fast, albeit small, even pooled. That too is another story.

 

[Firebug24k]

I've got two of these 102 drive ones and I absolutely can't get the fans to spin down. Identical issue on both enclosures, it looks like it's related to the door sensor not triggering? I think there's a magnet in the lid or something but I can't figure out why it's not triggering.

[10,-1] Element type: Door
Enclosure Status:
Predicted failure=0, Disabled=0, Swap=0, status: Critical
Ident=0, Fail=0, Open=1, Unlock=0
ENCLOSURE COVER [10,0] Element type: Door
Enclosure Status:
Predicted failure=0, Disabled=0, Swap=0, status: Critical
Ident=0, Fail=0, Open=1, Unlock=0

 

[ClydeM]

I've got two of these 102 drive ones and I absolutely can't get the fans to spin down. Identical issue on both enclosures, it looks like it's related to the door sensor not triggering? I think there's a magnet in the lid or something but I can't figure out why it's not triggering.

There is a door sensor, and that does trigger the fan spin-up. I'll see if I can locate it.

However, I find I have to let the fans spin full speed for 20-30min before they'll spin down. Annoying? Profoundly.

 

[Firebug24k]

Hey that'd be a great help. Is it the magnet on the lid of the cover for the top tray? I don't think I've let it run more than 15 minutes or so before giving up, haha. I have a slow flashing yellow led for chassis error as well, regardless of. How many drives I have installed. The infuriating thing is that it WORKS though, it's just super loud.

 

[ClydeM]

Is it the magnet on the lid of the cover for the top tray?

I'll check.

I have a slow flashing yellow led for chassis error as well, regardless of.

I'll bet not all your drives are Ultrastar. They have to be at least WD. It's rather picky. You can mix SATA & SAS. do read the restrictions on placement & such. if you are running dual IOMs, make sure they are "in sync" with software.]
I have about 15 drives in various sizes including an SSD for controller cache. Most 12GB/s, a few WD Red SATA I had laying around.

I do wish the box had a "power down" function I could invoke. in the code, all I see is RESET...and then the jet takes off again with 30min (ish) before it reaches cruising altitude & throttles back.

 

[Firebug24k]

I've tried it a couple ways, with no drives at all, with three seagate drives (they are detected but don't show up as available drives in linux - expected), and with a couple HGST 4TB SAS drives, those show up and work fine. But still the slow blink on the chassis alarm, the IOM and fans and everything else are good. I just powered it up again (with one HGST drive) and will go to the gym for an hour or two, lets see if it spins down while I'm gone.

Note this is actually a H4102-J (Data102/whatever it's called) but they're all pretty much the same thing AFAIK. I bought it here: HGST H4102-J Ultrastar Data 102 Hard Drive Hitachi Storage Array Enclosure | eBay

 

[niekbergboer]

Technically, yes, that would fit right with the European grid at 230V. The fact that we pay EUR 0.30 - EUR 0.80 / kWh means that at 1 kW 24/7, that would be a cool EUR 2.5k - EUR 6.5k in electricity per year

 

[Fritz]

Seems to me that Europeans are being milked like cows by their government(s). But then again, aren't we all.

 

[niekbergboer]

Well, politics aside, I did solve that issue for myself though. Of course by choosing server hardware that uses less powerhaving photovoltaic and batteries installed .

Brings the effective price (if I consider the opportunity cost of not delivering a kWh to the net as actual costs) to about CHF 0.23 / kWh or some EUR 0.25 / kWh.

Switzerland does not milk quite as hard, as Europe goes.

 

[Firebug24k]

Ok back on topic, has anyone else had any issues with the fans like I'm having (100% speed no matter what and a chassis open alarm)? Can anyone share the WD/HGST tools for managing the enclosure? I've made a WD account but haven't been able to get any replies when I requested access.

 

[Cruzader]

Seems to me that Europeans are being milked like cows by their government(s). But then again, aren't we all.

Its not like the increased costs are profit or taxes tho, they are a result of the increased cost in power production and its transit cost.

But it is somewhat fascinating how the majority tend to be against building out cheaper power generation while at the same time bitching about cost tho.
Even expanding or renewing hydropower down in the 0.009-0.011€/kWh production cost tend to have majority against it in surveys, as it comes with impacts to nature that they are against.
When the steps needed to resolve it are too unpopular politicaly then nobody is willing to push them through.

 

[Fritz]

Its not like the increased costs are profit or taxes tho, they are a result of the increased cost in power production and its transit cost.

But it is somewhat fascinating how the majority tend to be against building out cheaper power generation while at the same time bitching about cost tho.
Even expanding or renewing hydropower down in the 0.009-0.011€/kWh production cost tend to have majority against it in surveys, as it comes with impacts to nature that they are against.
When the steps needed to resolve it are too unpopular politicaly then nobody is willing to push them through.

But I wonder how much of the increase is nothing more than plain ole greed.

 

[Cruzader]

But I wonder how much of the increase is nothing more than plain ole greed.

None of it, its heavily regulated with tight oversight.
Its the same pricing model as before with increased underlaying costs and increased cost/loss in transit due to more movement between zones than before.

There is no evil profit plot or suprises to be found.
Alarm bells have been going in most of Europe for 15+ years now that we were heading towards this, its just been ignored and/or pushed onto the next goverment everywhere.
Nobody wants to be the goverment forcing through large enough buildouts that surveys show majority are against due to the nature impact, that is political suicide so nobody is willing to do it.

It was just not expected to be this bad pricewise for another 10years.
The political shift on nuclear along with the war driving up gas prices and seperating Russia out of the market speedran it.