What is the smallest EATX rackmount Chassis available? W/ 12 drives

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jang430

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Mar 16, 2017
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Hi. See a lot of DP boards that are EATX form factor. Problem with Rackmount EATX form factor that I see is they go very deep.

Planning to build a server for home, and I prefer Rackmount. I am looking for something that's short (doesn't take up too much space), quiet, and capable of 12 to 15 drives (with hot swap bays).

Supermicros on eBays are good options, but they are deep, and they are noisy. Any other suggestions?
 

pricklypunter

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Nov 10, 2015
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At the less expensive end of the market, a lot of folks have good experiences with the Norco/ Rosewill chassis, basic, but gets the job done. Your options are fairly limited if you want short depth. How much rack space do you have available? 1U, 2U, 4U? How deep is your rack? Do you require hot swap disks? You might find one of the iStar/ IPC chassis suitable, they are not cheap though, but I think they have a trayless short depth hot swap chassis out now, so that may be an option :)

Other things to consider might be noise. If this is for home use, the larger chassis 3U or 4U for example, will give you more cooling options and allow you to fit larger, slower running fans which really help to cut noise.
 

jang430

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Hi pricklypunter, not familiar with iStar/ IPC. I like the form factor 3U, gives plenty of space for 3.5" drives to be mounted vertically. At least 15, I believe. 24 inches looks just right. I really like these - 3U Supermicro 16 Bay SAS2 LSI FREENAS Storage Server 2x Xeon Sandy Bridge 2x PS

But it turns out, it's noisy as hell, and from the looks of it, it's very deep. I plan to have a rack cabinet as high as a small fridge only, and seems to me you seldom see those small cabinets go that deep. Any ideas?
 

pricklypunter

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It's 25.5", so pretty close to your requirement. It's actually not that bad a deal. The enterprise grade 15U cab's are usually full depth, wall/ communications racks are usually much smaller. You can also get open rack frames that are adjustable to take up to ~30" depth, to accommodate 28" servers. You'll find them by Trip-Lite, StarTech from places like cables and kits, rack-solutions etc. The noise issue obviously needs attention if you are using this in your home, but there are various things you can do to quieten them down to the point of being acceptable and there's lots of threads on here talking about exactly that :)
 

K D

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Dec 24, 2016
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Supermicro 826 Chassis - 2U with 12 hotswap Bays. 25.5 inches deep.
  • Replace 3 midwall fans with 80mm Arctic cooling Fans and set them to run at full speed.
  • Use a quiet active cooler for your CPU.
  • Use 5400RPM Drives
With this, It is extremely quiet and drives are around 32degrees under moderate load.

See this post for details
WTB: Server Hot Swap Chassis

I am using a TrippLite SR4POST25 open post rack that can be adjusted from around 22inches to 36 inches depth
 

jang430

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Mar 16, 2017
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It's 25.5", so pretty close to your requirement. It's actually not that bad a deal. The enterprise grade 15U cab's are usually full depth, wall/ communications racks are usually much smaller. You can also get open rack frames that are adjustable to take up to ~30" depth, to accommodate 28" servers. You'll find them by Trip-Lite, StarTech from places like cables and kits, rack-solutions etc. The noise issue obviously needs attention if you are using this in your home, but there are various things you can do to quieten them down to the point of being acceptable and there's lots of threads on here talking about exactly that :)
Thanks pricklypunter for your reply. It's the form factor that I like, but I haven't decided whether it is the exact model I want. Found out that there are different SAS backplanes. SAS and SAS 2. I assume some cannot accommodate more than 2 TBs? But at least now, am hopeful that it can be silenced. I have given up on this idea before due to noise concerns. I sincerely believe rack is better way to go, more flexible, and clean since all equipment can be put in one place, including UPS, switch.

Thanks. Will research further.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
 

jang430

Active Member
Mar 16, 2017
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Supermicro 826 Chassis - 2U with 12 hotswap Bays. 25.5 inches deep.
  • Replace 3 midwall fans with 80mm Arctic cooling Fans and set them to run at full speed.
  • Use a quiet active cooler for your CPU.
  • Use 5400RPM Drives
With this, It is extremely quiet and drives are around 32degrees under moderate load.

See this post for details
WTB: Server Hot Swap Chassis

I am using a TrippLite SR4POST25 open post rack that can be adjusted from around 22inches to 36 inches depth
K D, thanks for detailing steps to quiet the server. My question is, if this isn't the exact 3U model of Supermicro, as I believe they have lots of variations, will your advice still be applicable? The fan on the middle are all same size? (provided they are SM 3U). Where do you connect the fans? To the backplane? Or to the motherboard itself? Is the brand you suggested as thick as the SM fan? Or are they slimmer? Need to modify?

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
 

pricklypunter

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Nov 10, 2015
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If it's simply a form factor issue for you, i.e you would prefer a rack mount solution to any other, then the world is your oyster really. There are lots of possible options, assuming you can live with a server that is at least 24" deep of course and its not a constraint based on any existing rack etc. Firstly decide on how many disks you "think" you'll require, to achieve whatever capacity is required at reasonable cost. Add at least 1/3 to that number. Decide if you need to be able to hotswap those, then choose a chassis accordingly. Obviously "wants" and "needs" are different depending on use case and personal preference, but satisfy your "needs" list firstly and any other criteria you actually require and you'll be surprised how many of the "wants" you'll cover. It's always a compromise and trust me, you'll always find other ways to spend your money :D

For example, I chose a 12 bay chassis based on needing 8 disks (initially), with a view to increasing density and capacity later on down the road when larger capacity disks were more affordable. I went with an inexpensive 12 bay hotswap Chenbro chassis and have been pretty satisfied with my build since. Remember there are more options out there than just Supermicro, Dell etc, although they do all make solid kit and I couldn't fault you for going that route, it really depends on your requirements, preferences, budget etc :)
 

K D

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Dec 24, 2016
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K D, thanks for detailing steps to quiet the server. My question is, if this isn't the exact 3U model of Supermicro, as I believe they have lots of variations, will your advice still be applicable? The fan on the middle are all same size? (provided they are SM 3U). Where do you connect the fans? To the backplane? Or to the motherboard itself? Is the brand you suggested as thick as the SM fan? Or are they slimmer? Need to modify?

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
This us applicable to the 2U 826 supermicro chassis variants. The variations are mostly I'm the backplanes. Get the chassis with SAS2, A or TQ model backplanes.

All fans are 80mm fans. They are slimmer than the ones in the chassis. They will fit the fan carrier but usually will have to mod the connector to use the hotswap fan capability. People usually just directly connect the fans to the backplane or the motherboard instead of doing it.
 

natelabo

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Jun 29, 2016
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I attempted to find a 12 bay solution under 24"... Without a lot of custom work (SuperMicro) or hack job crap (Norco). Ended up with a 1u server and Lenovo SA120. 4U's cheap, all current and supported, best of all everything under 24".

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 
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jang430

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Mar 16, 2017
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This us applicable to the 2U 826 supermicro chassis variants. The variations are mostly I'm the backplanes. Get the chassis with SAS2, A or TQ model backplanes.

All fans are 80mm fans. They are slimmer than the ones in the chassis. They will fit the fan carrier but usually will have to mod the connector to use the hotswap fan capability. People usually just directly connect the fans to the backplane or the motherboard instead of doing it.
Hello K D,

I have an existing Supermicro Chassis, 2U. Don't know what system it is. But I checked the backplane, and model is SAS-826TQ. Does anyone know if this supports Sata 2 speeds? Are HDD above 2TB supported?
 

K D

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Dec 24, 2016
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Hello K D,

I have an existing Supermicro Chassis, 2U. Don't know what system it is. But I checked the backplane, and model is SAS-826TQ. Does anyone know if this supports Sata 2 speeds? Are HDD above 2TB supported?
Yes the TQ backplane supports HDD above 2TB. The speed will be dependent on the HBA but it does support SAS2 speeds.
 
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K D

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Dec 24, 2016
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I attempted to find a 12 bay solution under 24"... Without a lot of custom work (SuperMicro) or hack job crap (Norco). Ended up with a 1u server and Lenovo SA120. 4U's cheap, all current and supported, best of all everything under 24".

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
I looked at the Leno SA120 and liked it. But went with SM due to wider availability and support.
 

pricklypunter

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I agree. Supermicro beats the SA120 hands down when it comes to configuration options, really depends on what your end goal is I suppose. If you need short depth and are not planning on using it for anything other than somewhere to stick some disks, the SA120 is a good option to consider :)