Show Off Your Server Rack

[mediacowboy 438]

To help get the show off your rig topic back on track. I am creating this thread. I do not have a rack but am very interested in seeing everyone's equipment.

Edited May 4, 2017 by mediacowboy

[Guest asrequested]

I'll post some stuff, next week. Couple of new things on the horizon. Waiting on on some fans for one of my switches, then I'll take some new pics.

[colejack 30]

Since I just posted in the other thread I'll wait until I have something new to post here. However since we have a new tiny human here that may take a while. Not much spare money.

 

Maybe I'll try cleaning up the back of my rack and post that.

[Guest asrequested]

So here's an update. I moved things around a bit. Added a Quanta LB6M switch. Look at that big gap in the middle. I think a 3U case would fit in there quite nicely

 

Edited April 8, 2017 by Doofus

[colejack 30]

So here's an update. I moved things around a bit. Added a Quanta LB6M switch. Look at that big gap in the middle. I think a 3U case would fit in there quite nicely

 

 

 

 

The equipment mounted between units are triggering my OCD. You're loosing space by doing that. if you move that receiver/shelf to the proper unit you could fit a 4U there. Would fit a Supermicro 846 24 bay nicely

[Guest asrequested]

The equipment mounted between units are triggering my OCD. You're loosing space by doing that. if you move that receiver/shelf to the proper unit you could fit a 4U there. Would fit a Supermicro 846 24 bay nicely

Lol. Well there's a reason I put it there. There's a lot of cabling going into that, coming up from the floor. Also, it's pretty heavy. I want all the weight at the bottom of the rack. I actually want a 3U case, even if I had more room. As for making space, I have a plan

Edited April 17, 2017 by Doofus

[CharleyVarrick 283]

So here's an update. I moved things around a bit. Added a Quanta LB6M switch. Look at that big gap in the middle. I think a 3U case would fit in there quite nicely

 

Looks so badass, I want that!

@, can you describe the equipment in there, a la top to bottom, left to right, 1st row: xxx

[Guest asrequested]

Looks so badass, I want that!

@, can you describe the equipment in there, a la top to bottom, left to right, 1st row: xxx

 

Let's begin with the rack.

 

StarTech.com 25U

 

On top:

1. Linksys WRT1900AC
2. Linksys CM3024 Modem

1st row:

1. 2x HDHR Primes

2nd row:

1. Quanta LB6M switch (24x SFP+ 10G, 4x 1G RJ45 and 2x management ports)

3rd row:

1. D-link DSX-1100-10TS switch (2x SFP+ 10G and 8x 10G RJ45 ports)

4th row:

1. Tripp-Lite B020-008-17 NetDirector

5th row:

1. Pioneer Elite SC-95 

6th row: HTPC

 

• Intel i7 7700K
• Gigabyte GA-Z270X-UD5 motherboard
• Norco RPC-450TH case
• Kingston 120GB SSD
• Crucial MX300 525GB M.2 SSD
• 2 or three mechanical HDDs
• LSI 9211-8i HBA
• Mellanox ConnectX-3 En NIC

Bottom row: Server

 

• Norco RPC-4216 case
• Gigabyte GA-Z170-UD3 motherboard
• Intel i7 6700K
• 2x LSI 9211-8i HBAs
• Mellanox ConnectX-3 En NIC
• Samsung 950 pro NVMe M.2 256GB SSD (OS drive)
• Crucial MX300 525GB M.2 SSD (transcode drive)
• 250GB mecanical (junk drive)
• NZXT Sentry 3 fan controller

          3 drive pools:

• 8x 4TB HGST Deskstar and 2x Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSDs (movie pool)
• 2x 3TB Seagate Constellation (Music and TV show archive, pool)
• 2x 2TB Hiitachi Ultrastar (DVR pool)

Edited April 19, 2017 by Doofus

[CharleyVarrick 283]

Looking back at this thread's title, I can't help it anymore...

PS: She's likely a server (in a bar)

[CharleyVarrick 283]

@,

what caught my eye (no, not that last pic, 2 pics before) is your Norco RPC-4216

In your pic, there a nice looking lcd display on top left, when I click your link, the official Norco pix are much duller. So is that some optional display you have put there?

[Guest asrequested]

@,

what caught my eye (no, not that last pic, 2 pics before) is your Norco RPC-4216

In your pic, there a nice looking lcd display on top left, when I click your link, the official Norco pix are much duller. So is that some optional display you have put there?

What you're referring to, is the NZXT fan controller. I've made a link for that, too.

[CharleyVarrick 283]

Thanks, I didn't clicked all link yet (and still haven't).

Another dumb question, this Norco model shows 16 bay, but the m/b list only 6 sata interface. If you fill up all drive bays, how do you connect them all?

 

EDIT: LSI 9211-8i are sata expansion card (?)

Edited April 19, 2017 by jlr19

[mediacowboy 438]

 

 

LSI 9211-8i are sata expansion card (?)

The lsi 9211-8i is a raid card but can be flashed to pass the hard drives directly to your OS without having to set up a raid.

[CharleyVarrick 283]

Thanks,

btw, I do not have any actual server rack pic to show.

My setup is a couple of mid towers filled with 30tb each. I am slowly but steadily outgrowing their capacity and this thread is an eye opener for me. 

Would someone have good links explaining how to build one of those thing, with components suggestions, do's & dont's, price rangess (aka: good, better, best) ?

[Guest asrequested]

How many hardrives do you have or intend to use?

[Guest asrequested]

It's actually pretty easy to build a rack. You just need to plan it out, because it gets very heavy. I think when I eventually move home, I'll have to take all my HDDs out, before I can dismantle it and move it.

[Guest asrequested]

And the LSI card is a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) Host Bus Adapter (HBA).

Edited April 20, 2017 by Doofus

[mediacowboy 438]

@, have you ever built a direct attached storage box without a mobo?

 

I am thinking of a future build where I use a norco case and put some LSI cards connected to these for power. Then using this to power the system. 

 

Honestly anyone can answer this just know Doofus has alot of experience.

Edited April 19, 2017 by mediacowboy

[Guest asrequested]

@, have you ever built a direct attached storage box without a mobo?

 

I am thinking of a future build where I use a norco case and put some LSI cards connected to these for power. Then using this to power the system. 

 

Honestly anyone can answer this just know Doofus has alot of experience.

 

I've never tried that. But it looks interesting. You may want to check out what @@DAVe3283 did with his 

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/6985-show-off-your-rig/?p=369874

[Guest asrequested]

Thanks,

btw, I do not have any actual server rack pic to show.

My setup is a couple of mid towers filled with 30tb each. I am slowly but steadily outgrowing their capacity and this thread is an eye opener for me. 

Would someone have good links explaining how to build one of those thing, with components suggestions, do's & dont's, price rangess (aka: good, better, best) ?

 

This is what mine looked like, not so long ago.

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/6985-show-off-your-rig/?p=364888

[CharleyVarrick 283]

How many hardrives do you have or intend to use?

I have 5x 6tb storage drives in both cases, with a daily 1-way mirror sync from one puter to the other.

My twin servers are:

Antec Three Hundred Two cases (both) with 6x 3.5" bay, 3x 5.25", 2x 2.5"

Recently I bought 5.25 to 3.5 tool-less adapters so 3 more standard drives would fit in

Also got sata expansion cards, so I can connect 2 more drives to m/b

Seeing how many times in the last 5 years I bought stuff to grow, at first I was considering adding a 3rd and 4th server, but now I am seriously looking at a 20-24 drives casing (as Norco 4220/4224). Until now, I was planning a mere year ahead, but I am at a point where I seriously need to future proof my storage (10 years).

 

 

Edited April 20, 2017 by jlr19

[Guest asrequested]

Damn! That's a lot of media. Switching to a server box and using drive pooling would be a good idea.

[CharleyVarrick 283]

There's actually 20% more, for some reason, the emby stat plugin doesnt consider my music concert, comedy show (stand up), music videos (near 1.3k), music (38k), photos, mixed content. What do you mean by switching to a server box? A Norco like yours?

 

I have found the norco rpc-4224 for around 500$, but I would need a little coaching, the pics I see don't properly show the drives bay area.

Are there sata/pwr connectors at the back that the drives just "click-in"?

If I have 24 drives in there, do I need to buy 24 sata cables? regular sata cable or something special?

Are there m/b that have that many sata ports or must I get expansion cards?

What about power cables, how do you feed power to 24 hdd? Do I need a specialized p/s with 24 outs?

 

Maybe I'd be better off writing to Norco tech support, explaining I'm dying to get my hands on one of their babies but need to know what else I need to get.

Edited April 21, 2017 by jlr19

[Happy2Play 9780]

You have 6 backplanes with dual power connectors (so you need 6 molex power connectors), requires a 6 X SFF 8087 cables and expansion card/s to support 24 drives.

[CharleyVarrick 283]

Thanks Happy, I was wondering how come you did not jump in in this fine thread already, as I am SURE you would have very cool pics of your setup to share (hint...)