Advice Needed - DIY DAS (Direct Attached Storage)

shftup

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 22, 2006
Messages
191
Looking for a cost effective way to add move storage for my growing media needs. Most likely to use Flexraid going forward.

Right now I have a small home server: Win 8 pro
Supermicro mobo/x3440/dual nic/IMPI/10GB ECC ram/Rocketraid 2680 with 2 x SFF-8087 for 8 SATA/SAS
1 set of the SFF-8087 are doing:
OS is raid 1 with 2 HP SAS 146GB hdds
Scratch volume is raid 0 with 2 HP SAS 146GB hdds (for unpacking, packing, etc)
2nd set of the SFF-8077 is free for the time being

On the mobo, I am using the 6 SATA ports for 3TB hdds (so 6 X 3TB).
Case is Lian Li V354


Now, I would like to add a DIY DAS as this should be cheaper than adding say Sans Digital 8 hdd box, etc (but i have not closed this idea off yet).

So, let says I find a cheap(er) case, I have a power supply laying around then I would need:
1 of these so that I dont need a mobo/cpu/ram - SUPERMCIRO AC CSEPT-JBOD-CB1 Power Control Board Blank
http://www.amazon.com/SUPERMCIRO-CSEPT-JBOD-CB1-Control-System-Cabinet/dp/B0000CD09C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379775480&sr=8-1&keywords=CSE-PTJBOD-CB1
See this for more info on how it works - http://www.servethehome.com/supermicro-cse-ptjbod-cb1-jbod-power-board-diy-jbod-chassis-made-easy/

Now, what is the best way to connect the extra hard drives to the main server?




Alternatively I could just get something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Sans-Digital-TowerRAID-TR8M-Performance/dp/B004WNLP8W/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_16

Thanks for helping me out.
s
 
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You would save a lot of money just buying a more voluminous case, I think, and additional HBA's or expanders as needed.

Alternatively buy a mITX motherboard and share the disks out over NFS, iSCSI, or another protocol over ethernet.

If you're dead set on doing it your way, you want external SAS connector(s) that adapt (example) SFF-8087 to SFF-8088 for both the host and DAS, then 8088 cables to connect your server to the DAS.
Keep in mind this is likely out of spec for SATA for cable length and signaling voltages (See wikipedia article about SAS/SATA here), so SAS disks are suggested for this DAS.

[Server HBA] <-8087-----8087->Adapter <-8088----8088-> Adapter <-8087----8087->expander<->[DAS disk]
 
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Thanks - what would u suggest for a HBA or expander for 6-8 drives.Also I cant seen to find a cheap(er) to just house just HDD's. Any suggestions.
 
Might it not be easier and more efficient to just buy a brand name NAS? You already have the drives, so a Snology or Qnap would be fine. Also, not sure how you would grow your DAS solution when you run out of space, but all brand name NAS's give you the option to expand your storage with larger drives on the fly later on down the road. Just a thought.

Here is a 6 bay Qnap for $860.00. I know that is not cheap, and may be way more then you want to spend, but I think the benefits will be worth if for you in the long run over the DAS solution you are envisioning.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822107111
 
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