Storage ideas for dell r720 w/8 2.5 hdd slots

[marcoi]

I'm trying to figure out a cost effective solution to populating my dell r720 server with storage. I have esxi 6.5 installed on it, and I plan to move my developed VMs on it from my dev esxi node. Most times the VMs will sit unused. I plan to access the VMs on it to do testing, or demoing etc. Eventually this might change but for now that is what i plan on doing with it.

The server specs:
2 x e5-2648L v2
192 GB Ram
7 x pcie 3.0 slots. 1 16x, rest 8x. | 4 full size, 3 half sized
internal h310 raid card
8 x 2.5 hdd slots
1 x quad 1gb daughter board
1 x quad 1gb intel card populating a pcie slot.
1 x connect x2 10gb single slot populating a pcie slot.
dual 495w psu

HDD options per doc:
2.5” SAS SSD, SATA SSD, SAS (15K, 10K), nearline SAS (7.2K), SATA (7.2K)
2.5” Express Flash PCIe SSD (R720 only)

Extra bits I have:
I have 4 x 250 GB samsung evo 850 ssd and i think 250gb sandisk ssd as well that can be used if needed. I can also add an ibm m5015 raid card with bbu.

my goals would be the following in order of importance.
1. costs - right now i dont want to spend a ton since I may re purpose the server later.
2. energy efficient - since the server will be sitting more of the time, i rather keep the idle watts as low as possible.
3. redundancy / reliable
4. performance

I believe I can put the h310 into IT mode to pass into a freenas VM if needed. Or I can use the M5015 card.
I'm thinking 4 TB of space should be more then enough. I'm open to used hdd as an option as long as the drives have a good history of being reliable. I also have slots available for pcie ssds.

Let the recommendation/comments come in and thanks in advance for the time.

 

[sybreeder]

Well for 4TB you'd need minimum 4 2tb 2,5" disks for that. other is an option if you'd want faster storage - like SSD
That i guess will be the best in that case. Unfortunately there is no bigger drives for 2,5" size.
All other drives will be much more exprensive . You'll do need a bracket for that SATA drives of course.
Pity that you don't have 3,5" Drive version

 

[marcoi]

Yeah I wish I had the 3.5 bays, but the server was dirt cheap so got deal with 2.5

 

[whitey]

I think you did good to get 2.5, industry is moving that direction, in fact I prefer and pretty much ONLY have 2.5 chassis' (SM sc216 x2) and one lonely 12 disk norco 2212 3.5 chassis for legacy 3.5 spinners. Nothing wrong w/ your setup.

I'd probably go 4 disk raidz 2-4Tb 2.5" spinners (seagate backup plus/expansion or WD RED's) and a pool of 4 disk raid10 (stripped mirror) ssd's somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 - 1.92TB ssd's. Now you have capacity and performance but I DO hear ya on keeping costs under control so use what you have that will meet your requirements.

EDIT: If ya could sacrifice some capacity you could always go w/ some of those HGST 450-600GB 10K deals that keep popping up on the cheap.

These aren't a bad deal either if you want 2.5 NAS drives instead of those shucked seagate backup plus/expansion drives.

WD Red 2.5" 1TB HDD Review (WD10JFCX) | StorageReview.com - Storage Reviews

 

[marcoi]

I was thinking of just using the current SSD I have for now and grow into more space as I put more VMs on the server.
I almost got from eBay a listing for 10 Dell Enterprise 2TB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s SFF Hard Drive, Seagate model: ST2000NX0403 Dell PN: CK3MN for 1k but was out bid last min. I figured I could have used 6 and sold the rest to cover part of the cost since it appear they go for more then 100 each on eBay.

I'll just have to keep an eye open for deals.

 

[alex1002]

I got mine filled with 8*4tb Hitachi drives on a perch800 card. Really good for storing my backup

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[PigLover]

I got mine filled with 8*4tb Hitachi drives on a perch800 card. Really good for storing my backup

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

This. Slow but big drive, great for semi-cold storage. Cheap per gig, risk of failure so duplicate generously.

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[alex1002]

This. Slow but big drive, great for semi-cold storage. Cheap per gig, risk of failure so duplicate generously.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

They been running for 2 years with zero failures. Everything I do is in raid 10.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[marcoi]

I haven't done much with dell server but looking to change that. I been thinking of getting a JBOD case and a few hba external cards to get all my storage on the r720. I plan to run esxi and freenas as a vm. Then share the storage out from freenas.

I been looking at the following cases:
Supermicro CSE-826BE2C-R741JBOD 2U Rackmount
Supermicro CSE-836BE2C-R1K03JBOD 3U Rackmount
Supermicro CSE-846BE2C-R1K03JBOD 4U Rackmount

I probably go with the 3u one.

My plan is to get 2 HBA cards, one to run internal 8 x 2.5. I plan on using 8 x HGST 100GB SAS SSD 2.5'' HDD HUSSL4010BSS600 0B27395 drives for freenas slog.
Then the 2nd HBA will be as sas12 external connecting to one of the cases above. In that case I plan on moving my 6x 8tb red drives, possibly 2x 6TB red drives and maybe a few other 3.5 i have laying around. Since the cases above have dual link i think i need a card with dual external ports.

This server will be on 24x7 running esxi and freenas plus all my home/work VMs that are always running. I may replace the CPU if the desktop vms are sluggish.

Any thoughts or suggestions on HBA cards I can get for this? Any pitfalls I'm missing?

 

[K D]

Look at the supermicro 216 variants if you are planning only 2.5 drives.


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[marcoi]

Look at the supermicro 216 variants if you are planning only 2.5 drives.


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Problem is i have a lot of 3.5 drives i need a home for.

 

[marcoi]

So I went with the following items:

• LSI SAS9300-8i PCI-Express 3.0 SATA / SAS 8-Port SAS3 12Gb/s PCI-E 3.0 ,NEW
  • - from ebay for 120 shipped.
  • Plan is use this to replace the internal h310 mini card to the 2.5 bay that will be filled with 8 SSD drives.
• LSI 9300-8e PCI-Express 3.0 SATA / SAS 8-Port SAS3 12Gb/s HBA - Single--Avago Technologies-Newegg.com
  
  • This will be used to connect to the case below.
• Supermicro CSE-836BE1C-R1K03JBOD 3U Rackmount
  
  • I decided to get the single connector backplane and save 300.

So now i need to get some cables. some to go from sas3 to sas2 and external sas3 from card to case. Any recommendations?

 

[aij]

I got mine filled with 8*4tb Hitachi drives on a perch800 card. Really good for storing my backup

Do you have a model number/link for those? The only 4TB 2.5" drives I seem to be able find are the Seagate ones.

 

[marcoi]

Got two card and installed them. I dont have any cables to test them out yet. but figured I put up some pics while the server was opened up.
I also got Dell PowerEdge R730 8 bay 2.5" SFF SAS HDD Server Backplane TGNMY w/ Cbls K3H4M off ebay for 100 shipped to replace the old sas2 backplane. I'm still searching for hdd cage(0N2R9K - Drive Bay) to convert the open bay to 8X2.5 hdd and use the existing sas2 backplane.

If anyone has a space hdd cage for 720/730 let me know if you want to sell it.

 

[marcoi]

i just bought this New Dell PowerEdge R720 Server Chassis 8 w/ 2.5" HDD Bays

i plan to take out the cage and use it in my server. if anyone wants a dell r720 case minus the cage let me know lol.

 

[marcoi]

where is a good place to order cables to hook up my hba to SM case below? Im assuming i need External mini-SAS HD to mini-SAS?

• LSI 9300-8e PCI-Express 3.0 SATA / SAS 8-Port SAS3 12Gb/s HBA - Single--Avago Technologies-Newegg.com
  • This will be used to connect to the case below.
• Supermicro CSE-836BE1C-R1K03JBOD 3U Rackmount

I ended up ordering these cables
Supermicro CBL-SAST-0573 1M 1 Meter 3Ft SAS3 Cable Mini-SAS HD to Mini-SAS HD | eBay

10 each, i got 3 of them.

 

[Pepe]

Got two card and installed them. I dont have any cables to test them out yet. but figured I put up some pics while the server was opened up.
I also got Dell PowerEdge R730 8 bay 2.5" SFF SAS HDD Server Backplane TGNMY w/ Cbls K3H4M off ebay for 100 shipped to replace the old sas2 backplane. I'm still searching for hdd cage(0N2R9K - Drive Bay) to convert the open bay to 8X2.5 hdd and use the existing sas2 backplane.

If anyone has a space hdd cage for 720/730 let me know if you want to sell it.

Wow, Which processor are those?

 

[marcoi]

Wow, Which processor are those?

2 x e5-2648L v2

What's visible in the picture is the heatsink.

 

[marcoi]

Got the SM case in. Here are a few details and pics
Power off it uses about 15-18 watts
Powered on with no HDD it uses 50watts
Sound is about 50-60 dbs from ft away.

I dont have cables yet to hook it up to dell.
Pictures are of it sitting on top of the dell, which will soon be modified to include a second bay of 8 2.5 hdd cage on the right.

 

[marcoi]

got my back plane for r730 with sas3. here are pics

Fits perfect.

here is the old BP sitting above it soon to be new home. Waiting on 2nd r720 case to take the hdd cage out of. should be here by monday

here both are hooked up

unfort the 9300-8i card i got from ebay was DOA so i ordered new from newegg. should be here next week. I still need the cables to hook up the 9300-8e to the SM case.