Server expansion: Rackmount case

Serephucus

A while ago, I built a DS380+Avaton server (ITX, 8-bay hot-swap). Eventually, I needed more power, so I moved to Threadripper, and put everything in an old Nanoxia DS1 case.

At the moment, I'm sitting at 11 hard drives, and 3 SSDs. I'm pretty much out of HDD slots (1 left), but being a desktop case, it's an absolute pain in terms of cable management, and since I need more space, I've decided to jump to a rack mount case. Looking for opinions from people who might be more knowledgeable than me on this stuff.

Three main options below. Two pretty similar cases (may actually be the same OEM), each 24-slot 6Gb/s 4U:

https://www.servercase.co.uk/shop/server-cases/rackmount/4u-chassis/4u-server-case-w-24x-35-hot-swappable-satasas-drive-bays-6gbs-minisas-sc-4824/
and
https://www.xcase.co.uk/collections/4u-rackmount-cases/products/x-case-extra-value-rm-424-24-hotswap-bays

The other option is a 16-bay unit:

https://www.servercase.co.uk/shop/server-cases/rackmount/4u-chassis/4u-server-case-w-16-x-35-hot-swappable-satasas-drive-bays-6gbs-minisas-+-2-x-525-bays-sc-4316/
with
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Icy-Dock-Sata-Mobile-Rack/dp/B00V5JHOXQ/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1543149350&sr=8-7&keywords=5.25+hot+swap

With one of these 4-bay 2.5 inch things in the ODD bay, taking case of the SSDs. There's a slim possibility that I would use the other ODD for a blu-ray drive in the future, so that's why this option exists. My main concern would be that 40mm fan making lots of noise.

The main thing I'm after here is keeping noise down. I know that's asking a lot with a case like this, but doing what I can. I'd like to replace all the fans with Noctuas, but I'm not sure if the hot-swap cases for the fans are using custom ones internally, or if they're just standard 3/4-pin fans. It looks like the holes are there to take the whole assembly out, and just use standard ones screwed to the frame.


Any insights from anyone using rackmount gear on the above, or anything else I should keep in mind?

ED E

Gardai be calling round to your gaff thinking its a growhous soon enough Seph :pac:

smuggler.ie

ED E wrote: »

Gardai be calling round to your gaff thinking its a growhous soon enough Seph :pac:

Have witnessed scene where door was kicked-in in 30 seconds after doorbell.
SweeD

deceit

ED E wrote: »

Gardai be calling round to your gaff thinking its a growhous soon enough Seph :pac:

This happened to my house a few years ago as had 10 servers in the attic :D

btkm8unsl0w5r4

I have one of these, takes 15 drive bays, you can put in any fans you want, its a standard enough case. I have one would sell it to you for 50 euro if you collect.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/4u-standard-chassis-supports-15x-35-hdd-2x-front-accessible-usb-ports

Serephucus

ED E wrote: »

Gardai be calling round to your gaff thinking its a growhous soon enough Seph :pac:

If I decide to pickup a few R710s to screw around with ESXi a bit more, I may have to watch for this.

Rohan Warm Armchair wrote: »

I have one of these, takes 15 drive bays, you can put in any fans you want, its a standard enough case. I have one would sell it to you for 50 euro if you collect.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/4u-standard-chassis-supports-15x-35-hdd-2x-front-accessible-usb-ports

Cheers. How do the HDDs mount? Looks like they're tool-less, but not hot-swap. Correct? If that's the case, I think I'll pass. Hot-swap is more expensive, but this case should last me the foreseeable future (at least for a storage box).

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Serephucus wrote: »

If I decide to pickup a few R710s to screw around with ESXi a bit more, I may have to watch for this.



Cheers. How do the HDDs mount? Looks like they're tool-less, but not hot-swap. Correct? If that's the case, I think I'll pass. Hot-swap is more expensive, but this case should last me the foreseeable future (at least for a storage box).

Not in hot swap caddies, but your looking at huge money for a case with 10+ hot swap caddies with lights.

Cuddlesworth

Rohan Warm Armchair wrote: »

Not in hot swap caddies, but your looking at huge money for a case with 10+ hot swap caddies with lights.

I was looking at a company in England before for a rackmount watercooled PC, they are pretty cheap all things considered. Edit, lol see it in the OP's post.

If you have 3 decent airflow 120mm fans and a cpu cooler, you don't need the small fans at the rear. They are there for more directed airflow over heatsink only server boards.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

I was looking at a company in England before for a rackmount watercooled PC, they are pretty cheap all things considered. Edit, lol see it in the OP's post.

If you have 3 decent airflow 120mm fans and a cpu cooler, you don't need the small fans at the rear. They are there for more directed airflow over heatsink only server boards.

SAS backplanes are cool but its a bit of a faff, you would need a sas controller card to get it to flash which drive is faulty, if not it offers nothing over a closed case.

Serephucus

That's actually one of the cases I was looking at, Cuddles. :P

I think I'll go with one of theirs. I'd love to be able to use standard fans with those hot-swap holders. From the video on their site, it looks like they do just use standard fans internally, and the cable just routes into a little silo to hold it in place. Only thing is those look like 30mm thick fans, so I don't know how they'd handle 25mm ones.

An Fitz, appreciate the advice, but I am actually using a SAS HBA in my server at the minute, so it's something like this I'm looking at vs. a desktop tower. Even then, I'd be looking at something with 5.25 bays top to bottom (which pretty much doesn't exist any more) so I could put 3-to-5-bay hot-swaps in there, in which case you're into more money than this rackmount anyway.