Why not add a 3rd 846 Or an 847 for that matter?
Avoid re-doing and just expand?
or replace HDD with higher capacity? (unsure what you have)
Curious though as it sounds like a LOT of work.
Free BackBlaze Storage Pods?!
- Thread starter SycoPath
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Avoid re-doing and just expand?
or replace HDD with higher capacity? (unsure what you have)
Curious though as it sounds like a LOT of work.
Yeah, if you're having to pay for the Backblaze pods, the appeal sort of wears off. $599 will get you something newer and easier to use & manage as a single unit/low volume installation.
I'm running an HA Starwind SAN, so need two chassis' and the problem with the 846 is that there's not enough 2.5" bays. So, in order to use 846s with 48 bays for each SAN node, I need 4x 846s and two 113/116 chassis to provide the requisite 2.5" bays. That's 18U of rack space...Why not add a 3rd 846 Or an 847 for that matter?
Avoid re-doing and just expand?
or replace HDD with higher capacity? (unsure what you have)
Curious though as it sounds like a LOT of work.
I intend to get creative with the Chenbros...dump the whole power supply rack at the bottom of the chassis, and (hopefully) squeeze in a chopped up SC-116 in the rear of the chassis. That gives me 10x 2.5" bays and 48x 3.5" bays in a single chassis.
Times two = 8U of rack space.
I need some of that rack space for other stuff anyway...
Oh...what have I done...I'm running an HA Starwind SAN, so need two chassis' and the problem with the 846 is that there's not enough 2.5" bays. So, in order to use 846s with 48 bays for each SAN node, I need 4x 846s and two 113/116 chassis to provide the requisite 2.5" bays. That's 18U of rack space...
I intend to get creative with the Chenbros...dump the whole power supply rack at the bottom of the chassis, and (hopefully) squeeze in a chopped up SC-116 in the rear of the chassis. That gives me 10x 2.5" bays and 48x 3.5" bays in a single chassis.
Times two = 8U of rack space.
I need some of that rack space for other stuff anyway...
That's the motherboard tray for the Chenbro NR 40700...with my (admittedly, poor metal working skills) SSD add-ons. Will post more details soon.
This is one of two Starwind nodes that I'm upgrading. Each has an X9SRL-F with an E5-1620 v2 (3.7GHz base clock), 64GB RAM (for now), an Adaptec 71605 16 port card for the HDDs, an LSI 3008 8 port card for the SSDs (RAID-0 cache, keep in mind...two of them, with realtime replication), and dual 40gb network (one for sharing, one for sync).
At some point, I'll junk the SSDs and move to a pci-e SSD, but that day is not today.
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@kapone Very, very nice.
I was talking to that same seller on eBay a few months ago and he wanted to get rid of them so badly. I didnt wanna bring in 2 more heavier systems to my 6 x 16 bay chassis setup I already have, so the talking fell through.
Im glad a STH'er snagged these! They sure do look nice. And yeah, the mobo is a good value added.
Great work mate!
I was talking to that same seller on eBay a few months ago and he wanted to get rid of them so badly. I didnt wanna bring in 2 more heavier systems to my 6 x 16 bay chassis setup I already have, so the talking fell through.
Im glad a STH'er snagged these! They sure do look nice. And yeah, the mobo is a good value added.
Great work mate!
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Oh, he's got plenty more, I only got two, to do some consolidation.
So, the stock power supplies are obviously way too noisy and not that efficient anyway. So...junk the whole PSU enclosure in the bottom 1U of the case and..
Those are HP PDBs from the DL160 G6, which can be had for peanuts, and they are rated for 850w total. The power supplies are the 460w platinum from HP. This is essentially three systems-in-one, one "server and two 24 bay chassis.
One PSU runs the "server", i.e. motherboard/CPU/RAM/add-on cards/fans/etc etc, and each 24 port expander gets their own PSU. The PSUs are daisy chained with Add2PSU 12v triggers so that when the main server powers on, the other two PSUs power on as well, powering the expanders and drives.
Each of these HP PDBs is rated at ~20A on the +5V and I most certainly intend to use staggered spin-up (Hell, I'm gonna have two of these...), so +12v is not an issue. The HP 460w PSUs are fairly under-rated, and will easily do ~520w or so. I'm gonna run tests with a 24 drive RAID-0 array to see if the power holds up, if not, back to the drawing board, I'll find something similar with a higher +5v rating.
The HP PDBs come with the standard 24 pin ATX/8 pin EPS/4 pin CPU power but have NO molex, just two 10 pin connectors (EPS style).. Which is actually good in this case, because the Chenbro expander takes bog standard 8 pin EPs, and two 4 pin "CPU power" style connectors that supply +5V. It was a simple matter of a few connectors, extracting the existing pins and rewiring. Didn't have to crimp/solder a damn thing.
I have to give a shout out to @sociablewaver (who seems to be MIA now) who had excellent documentation about these chassis.
To be continued..
So, the stock power supplies are obviously way too noisy and not that efficient anyway. So...junk the whole PSU enclosure in the bottom 1U of the case and..
Those are HP PDBs from the DL160 G6, which can be had for peanuts, and they are rated for 850w total. The power supplies are the 460w platinum from HP. This is essentially three systems-in-one, one "server and two 24 bay chassis.
One PSU runs the "server", i.e. motherboard/CPU/RAM/add-on cards/fans/etc etc, and each 24 port expander gets their own PSU. The PSUs are daisy chained with Add2PSU 12v triggers so that when the main server powers on, the other two PSUs power on as well, powering the expanders and drives.
Each of these HP PDBs is rated at ~20A on the +5V and I most certainly intend to use staggered spin-up (Hell, I'm gonna have two of these...), so +12v is not an issue. The HP 460w PSUs are fairly under-rated, and will easily do ~520w or so. I'm gonna run tests with a 24 drive RAID-0 array to see if the power holds up, if not, back to the drawing board, I'll find something similar with a higher +5v rating.
The HP PDBs come with the standard 24 pin ATX/8 pin EPS/4 pin CPU power but have NO molex, just two 10 pin connectors (EPS style)..
Which is actually good in this case, because the Chenbro expander takes bog standard 8 pin EPs, and two 4 pin "CPU power" style connectors that supply +5V. It was a simple matter of a few connectors, extracting the existing pins and rewiring. Didn't have to crimp/solder a damn thing. I have to give a shout out to @sociablewaver (who seems to be MIA now) who had excellent documentation about these chassis.
To be continued..
Testing the ability to work on the server...while racked. Yup, will work, but scary as hell. There is no way I'd do this while it was full of HDDs. I'm sure the rails are designed to support the weight, but this is a DEEP chassis and with that much weight hanging out...I guess I'm just a wimp.
p.s. I abandoned my idea of stuffing additional 2.5" drives in the chassis itself. The "maintainability" of those drives would have been next to nil, requiring removing the motherboard tray.
I guess my cabling could have been a bit neater, but hey, I have two toddlers and very little time...
p.s. I abandoned my idea of stuffing additional 2.5" drives in the chassis itself. The "maintainability" of those drives would have been next to nil, requiring removing the motherboard tray.
I guess my cabling could have been a bit neater, but hey, I have two toddlers and very little time...
I bought 2 of these on ebay a month ago and am really happy with them as replacements for my SC846's. I'm going to continue to run the 3x Zippy PSUs for now, but I'm curious about replacing them with something else... I wonder if the PSUs and PSU backplanes from the Supermicros could fit in the Chenbros.Testing the ability to work on the server...while racked. Yup, will work, but scary as hell. There is no way I'd do this while it was full of HDDs. I'm sure the rails are designed to support the weight, but this is a DEEP chassis and with that much weight hanging out...I guess I'm just a wimp.
p.s. I abandoned my idea of stuffing additional 2.5" drives in the chassis itself. The "maintainability" of those drives would have been next to nil, requiring removing the motherboard tray.
I guess my cabling could have been a bit neater, but hey, I have two toddlers and very little time...
View attachment 11632
Also, who did you buy your chassis through? I originally bought on ebay through 'findingdeals,' but they F'd me over and they've been banking on poor packing to have the servers damaged so they could collect insurance and then resell the parts. I was able to keep the caddies though and ordered some of the NOS ones without caddies for about $500 for the two of them shipped.
I did buy them through findingdeals. While the packaging was a lil on the underdone side, the chassis came undamaged. There was an issue with the included motherboards (both of them) and they replaced them with different ones fairly quickly.
p.s. Supermicro PSUs/PDBs won't fit. I tried... The PSUs are way too long.
p.s. Supermicro PSUs/PDBs won't fit. I tried...
The PSUs are way too long.Man, I'm glad yours arrived unscathed! And thanks for trying the PSUs already for me, hehe... I'll just deal with these inefficient Zippy's for awhile.I did buy them through findingdeals. While the packaging was a lil on the underdone side, the chassis came undamaged. There was an issue with the included motherboards (both of them) and they replaced them with different ones fairly quickly.
p.s. Supermicro PSUs/PDBs won't fit. I tried...
At least in the Chenbro 48 bay case, a standard ATX PSU will not fit without doing major modifications to the chassis. The motherboard tray is essentially 3U and will not fit a standard ATX PSU.
You'd have to remove the PSU section under the motherboard tray completely, drop the tray to the bottom, drill new holes to secure the tray, mod the tray to hold an ATX PSU...
In my case, using the HP PDUs and power supplies, it was a simple matter of plastic, adhesive standoffs, minor rewiring and presto. No new holes to drill, everything else remains as-is.
To boot, the HP PSUs are practically silent. I mean it. And with the BMC fan mode set to Optimal (X9SRL-F motherboard), the stock fans run at ~1200rpm (remember, six 120mm fans in push pull). This keeps the HDDs at ~36-38C, which is more than adequate and at that speed the fans are nearly inaudible.
I'm sorry... You are using HP PSUs in this thing? I'm going to need a write up on that. It's incredibly enticing.At least in the Chenbro 48 bay case, a standard ATX PSU will not fit without doing major modifications to the chassis. The motherboard tray is essentially 3U and will not fit a standard ATX PSU.
You'd have to remove the PSU section under the motherboard tray completely, drop the tray to the bottom, drill new holes to secure the tray, mod the tray to hold an ATX PSU...
In my case, using the HP PDUs and power supplies, it was a simple matter of plastic, adhesive standoffs, minor rewiring and presto. No new holes to drill, everything else remains as-is.
To boot, the HP PSUs are practically silent. I mean it. And with the BMC fan mode set to Optimal (X9SRL-F motherboard), the stock fans run at ~1200rpm (remember, six 120mm fans in push pull). This keeps the HDDs at ~36-38C, which is more than adequate and at that speed the fans are nearly inaudible.
Look at one of the pics I posted earlier in the thread. DL160-G5 PDUs with 460w platinum common slot PSUs.
I'll do a writeup at some point, fairly straight forward.
btw, that "horizontal" fan over the PCI area is because of the Adaptec 71605 and Connect-X3 Pro. Keeps them pretty cool. Mounted using that side loan GPU fan bracket thingie..
I misspoke earlier, they are not from the DL160 G5, they are from the DL160 G6.
What you're looking for is part # 515769-001 or 515862-001 or do a search for "DL160 G6 power backplane".
Generally they sell for ~$20, but in quantities, they can be had for far less. I think I bought 20-30 of them for ~$7/ea. These are common slot PDBs rated for up to 850w so the 460w platinum or 750w platinum PSUs work great with them. The power supplies themselves can be had for peanuts as well. I think my last lot of 10 460w PSUs (Brand new, not used) was ~$7/ea as well.