Interesting cheap JBODs available

mikesm

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 2, 2005
Messages
178
So I saw the following ebay ad here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SGI-3U-Medi...EN_Servers&hash=item20c148a2b6#ht_2967wt_1396

It appears to be sold on ebay under various names, like here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/RACKABLE-SYSTEMS-OMNISTOR-SE3016-16-BAY-ARRAY-/180788410472#ht_3014wt_1163

This is an SGI InfiniteStorage 1116 16 bay 3U half-depth JBOD, with 6 Gbps SAS expander built in. They list it for $300 (which is a very good deal), but they will take less. Since I am local, I bought two and saved on the shipping.

I need to find time to flash my M1015's and get my ESXi/ZFS server set up (the hardware is ready to go) and plug these in with real disks, but for now, I plugged the enclosure in to my existing Adaptec 5085 which had a spare external connector SAS port on it.

The adaptec storage manager saw the enclosure fine, reported it as a RACKABLE SE3016-SAS expander, with firmware 0227 on it. It read the fan speeds and PSU configuration just fine, though the adaptec is complaining about temps out of range, which is funny because it was reporting 67 F.

I am not sure what chipset it uses - that's covered up by a heatsink. I can't verify the 6 Gbps support, my adaptec doesn't do that.


I have some pics of the of the unit. Here is the front of the unit with the cover off:

The insides of the JBOD:

Controller board:

Controller board labels:

The half depth case is kind of nice, but the fact that the 8088 connector is on the front is a bit of a pain for the wiring. There is a standard IEC connector on the back for power.

There aren't many details about this unit available on the web. It seems to work fine, but I will not be able to tell exactly how well until I get everything hooked up and disks online.

Thanks everyone!
 
Last edited:
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
That does seem like a very good deal. Keep us posted on how well they do.
 
That looks pretty nice.. Great value for home use. It would be great for at work too except for the non redundant power supply..

I guess the 8088 port has to be on the front because they are half-depth and can be mounted back-to-back. If the ports were at the back you wouldn't really be able to get to them easily.
 
Any idea what the numbers on the latches indicate? I can't seem to find any pattern in them, but that might just be due to lack of coffee.
 
Any idea what the numbers on the latches indicate? I can't seem to find any pattern in them, but that might just be due to lack of coffee.

They map to drive numbers in a SAS to SATA group. 4 columns, and 4 rows each.
 
Any idea what the numbers on the latches indicate? I can't seem to find any pattern in them, but that might just be due to lack of coffee.

What kind of controller would you plug these into?

They are also sold by the unixsurplus folks with a LSI 8888ELP controller, so at least that config is known to work. The fact it works with LSI controllers made me confident enough to buy them at try with the M1015.

My adaptec seemed to have hiccups when I plugged in a drive, but then it had that problem with a rev 2.X HP expander too.
 
Last edited:
No, you have 5 labeled 0 for example.. And the order looks completely random.

Sorry, I had taken a picture of one unit but the other had a different labeling scheme used which was I discussed.

I think labels are fairly arbitrary, and the trays can all be moved around anywhere.
 
I've been lurking [H] forum a while now and I decided to sign up because of this thread.

My adaptec seemed to have hiccups when I plugged in a drive, but then it had that problem with a rev 2.X HP expander too.

I have an Adaptec 3085 and I was wondering what kinds of problems you were having with yours? I just ordered one of those SE3016 arrays and I'm pretty excited, comes out about $100 cheaper than the equivalent Norco for me since I'm in Canada (fingers crossed I don't get annihilated too badly by import tax). I'll make sure to post my results with the 3085 when the enclosure arrives.
 
I've been lurking [H] forum a while now and I decided to sign up because of this thread.



I have an Adaptec 3085 and I was wondering what kinds of problems you were having with yours? I just ordered one of those SE3016 arrays and I'm pretty excited, comes out about $100 cheaper than the equivalent Norco for me since I'm in Canada (fingers crossed I don't get annihilated too badly by import tax). I'll make sure to post my results with the 3085 when the enclosure arrives.

I tried it on my 5085 and the single 500 GB drive caused my Adaptec management software to hang. Now, to be fair, it's running an older rev of firmware, and adaptec does include the SE3016 as an approved enclosure, but I just haven't had time to play with it.

My goal is integration with the M1015, so I am spending my time getting that to work first.

They are a great buy given the onboard expander.
 
I tried it on my 5085 and the single 500 GB drive caused my Adaptec management software to hang. Now, to be fair, it's running an older rev of firmware, and adaptec does include the SE3016 as an approved enclosure, but I just haven't had time to play with it.

My goal is integration with the M1015, so I am spending my time getting that to work first.

They are a great buy given the onboard expander.
Alright, I'll have to check out the firmware for this card. I'm not sure how similar the 5085 and 3085 are but hopefully if its on a compatibility list for the 5085 I might be in luck.
 
Couple Qs:

Drive trays - pics? how are drives secured? screws included with your order?
Power supply - what form factor? easily replaceable? fan noise?
 
Scored myself 5 of these with a 150$ each offer, havent decided on a controller yet tho.
"only" came out at 500$ shipping to norway for the 5 of them, something im fairly happy with as its normaly in the 200$+ range just for a empty case.

Im looking at doing a simular setup like this one exept with 4cases, havent seen the 1u server sold loose (with 8888elp + battery) tho so sent him a message asking if possible to get one loose and if so a price.
Already recived the cases and got a hp P800 collecting dust in a shelf, so if i get the time for it il try connecting one to the hp controller this afternoon and see how that works out.
 
Last edited:
Couple Qs:

Drive trays - pics? how are drives secured? screws included with your order?
Power supply - what form factor? easily replaceable? fan noise?


Here's a pic of the tray:


It came with mounting screws for the disks. Basically side mount on the 3.5 disk only, which is fine. A few of the 2.5 to 3.5 adapters should fit here fine as well.

Power supply can be seen in one of the other photos. Not hard to get to, but mounting looks case specific. It looks like one module from a redundant supply just screwed into the case.

Fan noise is not too loud - though I actually like loud here because that means lots of air air flow. Heat = death for drives.
 
Similar only in form factor. Different chips, features (I don't see SPGIO on the Highpoint or a mention of supporting SAS). Also, Highpoint is not going to be found in a SGI-level box since it is not really used in many enterprise applications.
 
To me, that highpoint one looks to be 4 sata port multipliers.

Where as these units have an sas expander.

Both would work, depending on the end design goals. But sata port multipliers don't scale.
 
Yeah, my bad... jumped the gun a little when I saw the picture.

"Must learn to not post stuff before having coffee"

.;)
 
Just got mine today! :cool:

So far so good, nothing broken and very well packed. The trays are very good quality, all metal no plastic crap. Each drive has its own power and activity/fail light. It also has an RJ45 on the front which I assume is serial, I have yet to play around with that but hopefully I can get to figuring it out. Mine did not come with any mounting screws for the drives though and it requires countersunk screws. If the screw is poking out even a little bit then the tray won't fit. Because of this currently I can only test one disk and I'll have to wait until tomorrow when I can pick up some screws from work. The unit itself is fairly noisy, not too loud that you couldn't keep it under the stairs or something but don't expect to fall asleep if this thing is in your closet. Though compared to typical noisy 1U servers its pretty good.

My Adaptec 3085 detects the unit. Again I only have a single disk to test it with so I tried adding the disk then WHAM bluescreen FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU :(

Rebooted the system, tried adding the disk again. Success! Don't know what the hell happened there. Even tried deleting the volume, rebooting, re adding the disk and its still working no problem.

I'll post an update tomorrow when I get some screws to mount my real disks in there, right now feeling pretty good though. For the price this is a really good deal.

Some pictures, I know there's some in the OP but I thought I'd help out with some higher quality ones -
1001214r.jpg


The inside of the unit, note the mains power supply cable. It should be very easy to swap it out with a little hackery. All the cables inside use plugs, nothing is soldered to the PSU.
1001216rk.jpg


The specs on the power supply, no funky voltages here all looks pretty standard.
1001217r.jpg
 
Any chance you could get the model number of the fans on the rear of the chassis?
 
Any chance you could get the model number of the fans on the rear of the chassis?
No problem, the model number is FFB0812VHE. Here's some specs on them - http://parts.digikey.ca/1/1/615347-fan-dc-axial-12v-80x38-4200rpm-ffb0812vhe.html
80mm, 3 pin standard fan connector. You could throw in some silent ones no problem.

While I was in there I also got a better look at the PSU -
1001221rj.jpg


Whoa wait a sec that looks familiar (as if I need to show you guys this ;)) -
connectoratxpinout.gif


Still need to test that with a multimeter but I'm 99% sure thats replaceable with any ATX PSU you want. No worries about some odd proprietary PSU failing and never being able to find a replacement. :cool:
 
I don't suppose any of you guys with them so far, have an LSI HBA to test compatibility with? eg: 9200?
 
Just looking at that, the voltages won't match up at all, just based on the wire colorings.

But, you probably can use a pin extractor, and move the wires around to the correct atx positions, I'm willing t bet. Then you just will have to cut and install some normal 4pin molex on the other two
 
Just looking at that, the voltages won't match up at all, just based on the wire colorings.

But, you probably can use a pin extractor, and move the wires around to the correct atx positions, I'm willing t bet. Then you just will have to cut and install some normal 4pin molex on the other two
No, they do match. That probably wasn't a good diagram to use. Its not from the perspective of you looking down on a motherboard connector its from the perspective of you holding the PSU cable and looking directly at the pins... if that makes any sense. The pin location does match though.
 
Ok, I see it now, that pinout diagram was of the pin side of the cable.
Thought it was of the motherboard for some reason. But won't that still cause issues?

It's backwards. The cable plugs into the powersupply, instead of the powersupply plugging into the board/backplane. I guess if you get a pure modular powersupply, that just uses basically an atx extention, that would work then.
 
I just submitted an offer for one of these. Hopefully they will accept today so I can go pick it up at lunch. I'm local to them and have purchased an InFocus LP860 projector a few months ago off of their eBay store. Awesome bunch of guys with a MASSIVE warehouse of computer crap to go through. They appear to be a hardware liquidator that buys out giant packages of yesteryear technology and then resell it on eBay. When I bought the projector, they literally had 70 of them in stock....insane. I'll find out in person how many of these enclosures they have on hand and report back.
 
They're in Novi. I should of mentioned you can't just walk up and rummage through their stock. You have to buy something in advance and then set up an appointment to pick it up.

EDIT: My offer got accepted, but it's too late for me to take lunch and pick it up. I'll head over there on Monday.
 
Last edited:
Scored myself 5 of these with a 150$ each offer, havent decided on a controller yet tho.
"only" came out at 500$ shipping to norway for the 5 of them, something im fairly happy with as its normaly in the 200$+ range just for a empty case.

.


Hi

Which ebay vendor did you deal with please? I might get a few at that price. Thanks
 
Finally found some time to get my drives in the array. I have eight 500GB disks in RAID5 though this will change as it grows, maybe a 5E or 6 at some point.

Waiting on the initializing of the array so its going to take a little while but so far no major problems. I did get a "No int 13 drives support" error which hung the boot, creating the array first in the Adaptec BIOS fixed this. Just like in the OP the enclosure status is reported as "fatal" but it seems to be working without problem.
wootb.png


Unlike the OP my firmware version for the array is reported at 0102. It would be interesting to see what was fixed in the later revisions. I tried sending SGI (formerly Rackable) an email earlier this week about maybe getting some documentation and firmware but I still haven't gotten a reply.
 
Unlike the OP my firmware version for the array is reported at 0102. It would be interesting to see what was fixed in the later revisions. I tried sending SGI (formerly Rackable) an email earlier this week about maybe getting some documentation and firmware but I still haven't gotten a reply.

Would be really interested if you did get anywhere. I spoke to one of the ebay vendors before Christmas but they didnt have any documentation and seemed unable to want to try to source any. I signed up to the SGI support site but didn't really find anything on there either.
 
Would be really interested if you did get anywhere. I spoke to one of the ebay vendors before Christmas but they didnt have any documentation and seemed unable to want to try to source any. I signed up to the SGI support site but didn't really find anything on there either.
I'll try shooting SGI another email, to be honest though they are probably one of those companies that don't even want to hear from you unless you have a support contract.

Got some benchmarks though, I'm thinking these are unusually low for an eight disk RAID5. The stripe is set to 256k but that's pretty much around where I need it to be. I have write-back and read cache enabled.
atto1.png

hdtune1.png

hdtune2o.png
 
Back
Top