High density DAS in 1U or 2U?

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

ninja6o4

Member
Jul 2, 2014
92
22
8
45
I'm not too well versed in this arena, but I would like to expand without setting up another server.
Currently I have a 2U Supermicro server with a LSI 9271-8i + RES2SV240 expander in it, maxed out with 12 SATA drives.

I'd like to get an additional 1 or 2U chassis to direct connect more drives to the expander, but I can't seem to find something as simple as a rackmount chassis that fits a backplane, drives, and PSUs.
 

i386

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2016
4,220
1,540
113
34
Germany
And a few more questions:
2.5" or 3.5"?
Hot swap bays or fixed?

SC826SE1C-R1K02JBOD
  • 2u
  • 24x 3.5" hot swappable bays (12 in the front, 12 in the middle) (support for 2.5" drives with optional adapters)
  • single sas3 expander
  • 1000watt titanium redundant psus
 

ninja6o4

Member
Jul 2, 2014
92
22
8
45
And a few more questions:
2.5" or 3.5"?
Hot swap bays or fixed?

SC826SE1C-R1K02JBOD
  • 2u
  • 24x 3.5" hot swappable bays (12 in the front, 12 in the middle) (support for 2.5" drives with optional adapters)
  • single sas3 expander
  • 1000watt titanium redundant psus
It'd be 3.5" SATA drives I'd be using. Hot-swap would be nice, so I can add/remove drives without powering the server down. This unit looks exactly like what I'm looking for! The backplane is the only thing that confuses me:

Backplane

  • 12-port 2U Simply-Double SAS3 12Gbps single-expander backplane, support up to 8x 3.5-inch SAS3/SATA3 HDD and 4x NVMe/SAS3/SATA3 storage devices
What does this mean? A case like this, I'd like to (eventually) fully populate with 24x 3.5" SATA drives.
Connectivity wise, presumably I would just connect an appropriate SFF cable between my Intel expander and this case's backplane, per 4 drives? How do I signal powering it on from the main server?
 

ninja6o4

Member
Jul 2, 2014
92
22
8
45
I reread the spec list again... I think they're saying that it supports up to 4x NVMe drives in the same backplane with other types of drives, but there's nothing wrong with running all 12 as 3.5" SATA.
But yeah, so how does this work? I'd have to separate manage the power via its IPMI? Can I signal it to power on at the same time as the main server? Being in a datacenter, there is a cost for additional IPs..
 

T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
7,625
2,043
113
I reread the spec list again... I think they're saying that it supports up to 4x NVMe drives in the same backplane with other types of drives, but there's nothing wrong with running all 12 as 3.5" SATA.
But yeah, so how does this work? I'd have to separate manage the power via its IPMI? Can I signal it to power on at the same time as the main server? Being in a datacenter, there is a cost for additional IPs..
supermicro jbod power board

JBOD-CB3 (Note the #3) is the latest generation that gives more control/configuration options, but also more $$$. Worth it, IMHO though!
 

ninja6o4

Member
Jul 2, 2014
92
22
8
45
supermicro jbod power board

JBOD-CB3 (Note the #3) is the latest generation that gives more control/configuration options, but also more $$$. Worth it, IMHO though!
Since I am managing this remotely, does this allow it to connect to the host server's power status?
Or is it more like a 2-step power-on process:
  1. Use Host server IPMI to power on server, then
  2. Use JBOD power board IPMI to power on storage enclosure

edit: in retrospect.. since I'm going from 2U to 4U in total usage, it might be easier to just consider a 4U chassis and swap all the parts over from the existing 2U...
 
Last edited:

Blinky 42

Active Member
Aug 6, 2015
615
232
43
48
PA, USA
Turn on the JBOD before and off after the server unless you want all sorts of hell with drives dropping out of your array for being missing if you don't time it just right.

Are you expecting to turn it off often?
 

ninja6o4

Member
Jul 2, 2014
92
22
8
45
Got it... yeah maybe in my application it's more practical to gut/replace the server with a 4U that has more bays.
haha yes, of course, silly me.. JBOD should always be powered on first, and powered off last!

It's not that I would be powercycling it often, but it'd be housed in a datacenter about 45 min drive away, so it'd be quite inconvenient if I had to power it down manually.

Of course, being that they are separate, there's no reason I can't leave the JBOD powered up, even through reboots of the host server.