Which storage traffic transports are cable arm friendly?

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The Gecko

Active Member
Jan 4, 2015
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I'm putting together a dedicated storage server for home and want to use a cable management arm. The problem I face is that the only storage traffic cable (of which I have experience with) that works well with the tight turns of a cable management arms is traditional Ethernet over copper (Base-T or RJ45). Some of the 4 Gbit HBA fiber cables are flexible enough to be routed through the arm, but the connectors stick out from the back of the HBA so far that they get crushed by the cable management arm when you push the server back into the rack. Ever since my job transitioned to the software side, I have fallen out of touch with storage and network hardware advancements.

10 Gb Ethernet is really easy to use, plays nice with iSCSI and NFS, and can be plugged into a standard switch, so I don't need an additional FC switch. The down side is that 10 GB NICs are power hungry and run hot; I know, I've got two in use right now.

What technologies, cables, and connectors do you suggest I investigate? Specifically, I will be working with Supermicro servers and Proxmox.

Thank you for your time and assistance.