Questions about Norco cases
Hello, I am very tempted by the Norco 24-drive case. But there are a few issues that give me pause that maybe people can help me with: (I do realize you get what you pay for)
* Tray quality - I see various opinions on this, seems like the quality is "good enough" as long as you are careful with them. But I also wonder about vibration of the drives and so forth, I see there are some articles on STH about drive reliability. I guess you are best to go with RAID6+HS with consumer drives no matter what. Thoughts?
* Drive status - it looks as though you only get power and drive activity, and not anything for indicating a failed drive. Is this true? How do you make sure you pull the right drive when one fails?
* Management - the backplanes don't have things like SES2 or similar, how important is this? I think the higher end RAID hardware/software will tell you things like drive temperature and SMART, but is this a big problem?
* Fan noise - I know you can use the 120MM fan mod, almost seems better to go with the JBOD external expander enclosure because it does away with the midplane altogether, and it looks like you have enough space to put some larger fans on the back. Either way you are adding cost. And unless you used an elaborate fan controller with temp sensors and lots of PWM fans, it would be difficult to get the same kind of demand-based fan control you might get on a commercial server. I think people get away with this because they use 5400RPM consumer drives that produce less heat. I think if you loaded one of these up with 10K or 15K SAS disks, you would have an issue.
Here are some things I compare it to:
* HP Servers (also Dell, IBM, etc.) - I do server work for a living, and use mainly HP servers. I really like them for lots of reasons, but they are very expensive. Even using the discounts available to me or buying them on eBay, they are still going to run a fair bit of money. But, there are some big benefits:
> Excellent hot-swap drive tray quality
> Well engineered thermal/cooling design
> Demand-based noise management - only loud if you really slam it
> High reliability and overall build quality, advanced features, etc.
> Excellent management software
* Supermicro - I have to say these are almost perfect. When used with Supermicro motherboards, you have most of the features and build quality of an HP server. The only thing I am not sure about is the noise issue. They have proprietary power supplies with small high-RPM fans. Not sure if they have PWM management that would keep noise within acceptable levels. Can anyone comment on this?
* Intel - Intel makes some nice cases, although I only see solutions up to about 12 drives. Wondering if anyone has any experience with them who can comment. They probably make the best motherboards I have seen.
* PC-pitstop - http://www.pc-pitstop.com/sata_enclosures/scsase246g.asp
Has anyone tried these? A bit pricey, but it looks like they have a nice build. Comes with a triple redundant PS, but looks like you could put any ATX power supply you want in there instead. Also has two large fans in the back rather than three small ones, and the same expander that Norco is using.
Thanks
-JCL
Hello, I am very tempted by the Norco 24-drive case. But there are a few issues that give me pause that maybe people can help me with: (I do realize you get what you pay for)
* Tray quality - I see various opinions on this, seems like the quality is "good enough" as long as you are careful with them. But I also wonder about vibration of the drives and so forth, I see there are some articles on STH about drive reliability. I guess you are best to go with RAID6+HS with consumer drives no matter what. Thoughts?
* Drive status - it looks as though you only get power and drive activity, and not anything for indicating a failed drive. Is this true? How do you make sure you pull the right drive when one fails?
* Management - the backplanes don't have things like SES2 or similar, how important is this? I think the higher end RAID hardware/software will tell you things like drive temperature and SMART, but is this a big problem?
* Fan noise - I know you can use the 120MM fan mod, almost seems better to go with the JBOD external expander enclosure because it does away with the midplane altogether, and it looks like you have enough space to put some larger fans on the back. Either way you are adding cost. And unless you used an elaborate fan controller with temp sensors and lots of PWM fans, it would be difficult to get the same kind of demand-based fan control you might get on a commercial server. I think people get away with this because they use 5400RPM consumer drives that produce less heat. I think if you loaded one of these up with 10K or 15K SAS disks, you would have an issue.
Here are some things I compare it to:
* HP Servers (also Dell, IBM, etc.) - I do server work for a living, and use mainly HP servers. I really like them for lots of reasons, but they are very expensive. Even using the discounts available to me or buying them on eBay, they are still going to run a fair bit of money. But, there are some big benefits:
> Excellent hot-swap drive tray quality
> Well engineered thermal/cooling design
> Demand-based noise management - only loud if you really slam it
> High reliability and overall build quality, advanced features, etc.
> Excellent management software
* Supermicro - I have to say these are almost perfect. When used with Supermicro motherboards, you have most of the features and build quality of an HP server. The only thing I am not sure about is the noise issue. They have proprietary power supplies with small high-RPM fans. Not sure if they have PWM management that would keep noise within acceptable levels. Can anyone comment on this?
* Intel - Intel makes some nice cases, although I only see solutions up to about 12 drives. Wondering if anyone has any experience with them who can comment. They probably make the best motherboards I have seen.
* PC-pitstop - http://www.pc-pitstop.com/sata_enclosures/scsase246g.asp
Has anyone tried these? A bit pricey, but it looks like they have a nice build. Comes with a triple redundant PS, but looks like you could put any ATX power supply you want in there instead. Also has two large fans in the back rather than three small ones, and the same expander that Norco is using.
Thanks
-JCL