Ditching the Rack... Building a Tower 16TB Vmware server

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cybertron

[H]ard|Gawd
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Dec 13, 2002
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Hey guys, so I've got a 22U rack in my bedroom and I'm growing a little tired of all the fans, and the space it takes up, so I'm making a drastic change in my life and getting rid of it. Right now it has 3 servers and my desktop all in rackmount cases. I'm going to buy a laptop and a build a Tower server with 2x(or maybe 3) Supermicro drive cages and put in a bunch of 2TB drives. I've already got a killer Areca controller and I've been eying that X8ST3-F supermicro board. It is 12x10, but I dont think it will fit in a chassis like this one.

Does anyone know of other chassis like this that have 9x 5.25" bays for supermicro hot swap cages? I've seen chassis on here before with 3 of those cages in them, but I'm having an impossible time finding them since I dont remember the manufacture name.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
i did something similar, retired the norco 4020s and went with a single mini tower with two of the Supermicro 5in3 cages. i highly recommend getting a 92 to 120mm fan adapter and put 120mm fans on the back, it makes the cages so much quieter. coolermaster made the cm stacker, which is what i use to use in the past for 3 x 5in3 cages, but i thought i've seen others too.
 
If you can find one, you might look at the CHIEFTEC BRAVO BA-01B-B-B. It not only has room for the 2 5in3 cages you are looking for, but it will hold 8 internal 3.5" drives in a quick-install configuration AND it has 5 5.25" bays (you can put 8 drives insides, 10 more in a 5in3 and still have two external 3.5" bays card readers and other stuff).

This case is huge, flexible and generally not too expensive (~$150ish, if IIRC). It is not as well made as some others - especially the plastic drive door over the 3.5" bays - but it is highly functional. The MB tray is even large enough to take SuperMicro's massive E-EATX proprietary motherboards which allows Xeon-Dually builds (but you do have to drill/tap a couple of new mounting holes to fit them).

Newegg seems to have dropped the entire Chieftec line. You can still find them around through a few distributors (directron, etc).
 
Get a Norco 4020 and put it on its side? 3 of those Supermicro enclosures are going to cost more than that case.
 
Yeong Yang Cube if you can find them. I've got a retired one up in the attic that I may revive at some point. (6) 5.25" bays plus (8) 3.5" internal bays. It supports full EATX mobo's, 12" x 13".

Edit: I second Blue Fox's suggestion of a 4020 on it's side.
 
Blue Fox said:
Get a Norco 4020 and put it on its side? 3 of those Supermicro enclosures are going to cost more than that case.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I really need to consider this as much as I don't want to. I know the price will be cheaper, but that case is pretty long and would be hard to find a home for that looks clean and tidy. The one good thing about those supermicro cages is that they hold their value. I'm looking at the model that has hdd failure build in (primary reason I've been wanting supermicro cages in rackmount, and they are about $115ea). What would be cool is to mount the norco vertically somehow so its sucking cool air from below and blowing it up, reverse the fans and dangle it a bit off the floor.
 
PigLover said:
If you can find one, you might look at the CHIEFTEC BRAVO BA-01B-B-B. ...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I like that case a bit as I'm now contemplating just putting the drives in the case without hot swap. I cant think of a reason to have hot swap for a home server other than it is nice. I could save a fair amount anyway.

croakz said:
i did something similar, retired the norco 4020s and went with a single mini tower with two of the Supermicro 5in3 cages. i highly recommend getting a 92 to 120mm fan adapter and put 120mm fans on the back, it makes the cages so much quieter. coolermaster made the cm stacker, which is what i use to use in the past for 3 x 5in3 cages, but i thought i've seen others too.
Click to expand...

That's the case I was thinking about! cmstacker... I think this is the case I want to use if I go with supermicro drive cages... but as Blue Fox pointed out, that's going to cost me quite a lot.
 
epimetheus said:
Yeong Yang Cube if you can find them. I've got a retired one up in the attic that I may revive at some point. (6) 5.25" bays plus (8) 3.5" internal bays. It supports full EATX mobo's, 12" x 13".

Edit: I second Blue Fox's suggestion of a 4020 on it's side.
Click to expand...

The name of that case sounds cool, but its waay to big for my purposes hehe, thanks for the suggestion though. I'll definitely be considering the 4020 on its side.
 
How much you looking to spend? I was eyeballing the Lian Li PC-A77F (Which has 12 bays, not 9) for something similar to you, only I decided to go the way of what you currently have, and build a Norco server

The case is sexy as hell, and has room for 20 drives via (4) backplanes
 
rive22 said:
I've been thinking of doing something similar, just tinkering at the idea if I want everything (main rig and all) in one big 12 bay case, or split it up into 2 smaller cases.
Click to expand...

Build 2 identical, smaller, systems. Use network backups, and keep them separate from each other. Perfect for keeping everything safe :D
 
how many bays do you really want? if i were to go with 3 x 5in3s again, i'd probably go with the norco 4020. cmstacker was huge, although the casters were nice. and i do like the supermicro racks better than the norco, but it's gonna cost more than the norco and be nearly as big.

i ditched the norco to just go 2 x 5in3s to make a mini fileserver. with 10 x 2tb drives, it was enough for me. here's my buildout:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1523006

hmm, i should probably sell all my other cases. if by chance you're near seattle, i'd cut you a great deal on a 4020 or a cm stacker :)
 
PigLover said:
If you can find one, you might look at the CHIEFTEC BRAVO BA-01B-B-B. It not only has room for the 2 5in3 cages you are looking for, but it will hold 8 internal 3.5" drives in a quick-install configuration AND it has 5 5.25" bays (you can put 8 drives insides, 10 more in a 5in3 and still have two external 3.5" bays card readers and other stuff).

This case is huge, flexible and generally not too expensive (~$150ish, if IIRC). It is not as well made as some others - especially the plastic drive door over the 3.5" bays - but it is highly functional. The MB tray is even large enough to take SuperMicro's massive E-EATX proprietary motherboards which allows Xeon-Dually builds (but you do have to drill/tap a couple of new mounting holes to fit them).

Newegg seems to have dropped the entire Chieftec line. You can still find them around through a few distributors (directron, etc).
Click to expand...

Yeah that case deserves a big +1
 
Killroy said:
Or you could go for the Lian Li PC-343B with 18 5.25" drive bays. It is a little big and would be very expensive to fill with 5-in-3 drive bays.:p
Click to expand...

LOL at that webshop:

You won't find the PC-343B in the homes of fainthearted noobs, this baby belongs to the 1337 modders
Click to expand...

:rolleyes:

But yes it's a beast of a cage. :) Still would have liked the opportunity to have two systems in one case. And not that much ventilation really; you would likely have alot of intake airflow due to the all those 4-in-3 or 5-in-3 bays having fans of themselves, usually one 80mm fan.
 
Ditching the rack? Racks are awesome! I totally understand with it being in your room though. I have an entire room dedicated to my rack at my house. Its a full height (45U) rack though.
 
Thanks a bunch guys for all your help. I've decided to go with the Norco 4220 for a few reasons. One: I can't part with my rack just yet. I dont want to make an impulsive choice now that I'll regret down the road. I found this perfect-for-me 22U rack for $60 on ebay locally and it has worked great for me. I am in the process of buying a house and when I do so, I'll have hardwood floors (so much easier to move and access rack (on my current list of gripes)), and I'll have a dedicated office so my bedroom and finally cool down. All that should take place in 6 months or so, and when it does, I'd hate to want to go searching for a new rack.

Government, I assume you wanted pics of my junk... here are some old pics. I've since put in a few more servers and everything is on rails now except the battery backup unit on the bottom.

Pics
 
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I find the wealth of information/experience relayed in these threads much more exciting than any SC2-type release date will ever be for me...

Gawd, I must be goofy...
 
I am sad to report that I ordered the 4220 and sadly the backplane is utter trash. I've spent the past hour taking the chassis apart and trying to bend the backplane metal bracket (per Norco Tech instructions) to try and line them up correctly. I ordered the case off ebay from a guy who scrap'd his build. It was new in box and I hope I can get his receipt or I may be screwed. *sigh* you get what you pay for.

*edit*
dont feel like reposting over here since I already have this thread....

http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?t=97205
 
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