Server storage

[Froggeraj]

Searching for ideas for adding more storage to my server. I know there is sas controllers and all that. What I need to know is what is a good external sas enclosure and card that make a good combo.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Budget? How many drives do you want it to hold?

 

What server do you have?

 

Ds4243, SA120, md1200 are all good options.

[dalekphalm]

On 3/8/2019 at 12:10 AM, Electronics Wizardy said:

Budget? How many drives do you want it to hold?

 

What server do you have?

 

Ds4243, SA120, md1200 are all good options.

I have the MD1200 - can confirm it works great.

 

Downside: it is LOUUUUUUUUUUUDDDDDDDD. I have it paired with a Dell T410 dual socket (both populated) and I can’t even hear the server over the noise the disk shelf generates. 

[Froggeraj]

On 3/8/2019 at 12:10 AM, Electronics Wizardy said:

Budget? How many drives do you want it to hold?

 

What server do you have?

 

Ds4243, SA120, md1200 are all good options.

Like 200ish and 8 or more drives. Preferably rack mount about but it not that's fine. Honestly would be ok with I think that just power the drives and just use external sas and break out cables

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Froggeraj said:

Like 200ish and 8 or more drives. Preferably rack mount about but it not that's fine. Honestly would be ok with I think that just power the drives and just use external sas and break out cables

Did you look at those above devices on ebay? THey should all fit those needs.

[Froggeraj]

3 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Did you look at those above devices on ebay? THey should all fit those needs.

So do I just need 2 sas cards for the md1200 or just 1? And will the drives show up separate or as one unit

[dalekphalm]

15 hours ago, Froggeraj said:

So do I just need 2 sas cards for the md1200 or just 1? And will the drives show up separate or as one unit

You don't need 2 cables - but you do increase potential bandwidth/performance if you use 2.

[Electronics Wizardy]

22 hours ago, Froggeraj said:

So do I just need 2 sas cards for the md1200 or just 1? And will the drives show up separate or as one unit

Its a sas expander, so it shows all the drives as seprate. You can get a raid card or a hba to manage all the drives.

 

Like @dalekphalm said, 2 cables = more speed, but if this is for a nas or your using hdds, it probalby won't make a big difference.

 

Some of these boxes support dual controllers, thats for uptime, and you need dual port sas drives, and that way you can have 2 servers connected to the same array(you probably don't want this)

[Froggeraj]

On 3/17/2019 at 12:56 AM, Electronics Wizardy said:

Its a sas expander, so it shows all the drives as seprate. You can get a raid card or a hba to manage all the drives.

 

Like @dalekphalm said, 2 cables = more speed, but if this is for a nas or your using hdds, it probalby won't make a big difference.

 

Some of these boxes support dual controllers, thats for uptime, and you need dual port sas drives, and that way you can have 2 servers connected to the same array(you probably don't want this)

any good sas cards for this unit?

[Froggeraj]

4 minutes ago, Froggeraj said:

any good sas cards for this unit?

and im currently looking at a  Dell PowerVault MD1220 holds more drives any good?

[8uhbbhu8]

4 minutes ago, Froggeraj said:

and im currently looking at a  Dell PowerVault MD1220 holds more drives any good?

Only if your going for 2.5" drives. The MD 1200 supports 3.5" drives

[Electronics Wizardy]

7 hours ago, Froggeraj said:

any good sas cards for this unit?

Do you want a hba or raid card? Id get something like a 9207-8e for hba and and a h800 for a raid

 

[Froggeraj]

1 hour ago, 8uhbbhu8 said:

Only if your going for 2.5" drives. The MD 1200 supports 3.5" drives

No I didnt realize that. Going with 3.5 

[Froggeraj]

29 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Do you want a hba or raid card? Id get something like a 9207-8e for hba and and a h800 for a raid

 

So the 9207-8e has 2 ports can I be hooked up to 2 differnt jbods?

[Electronics Wizardy]

7 hours ago, Froggeraj said:

So the 9207-8e has 2 ports can I be hooked up to 2 differnt jbods?

yep, and the jbod enclosures can be daisy chained. So you can have about a thousand drives max per hba

[dalekphalm]

2 hours ago, Froggeraj said:

any good sas cards for this unit?

@Electronics Wizardy gave a couple of good options. I actually have an H800 card that I got with my server - it was originally used with the MD1200 in RAID configuration with my server. I opted to swap it out for an HBA since I was running FreeNAS, but the H800 works great.

Spoiler

*cough* my H800 is still for sale, PM for details if interested

 

2 hours ago, Froggeraj said:

and im currently looking at a  Dell PowerVault MD1220 holds more drives any good?

I'd not recommend it for your usage. 2.5" drives and all.

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Do you want a hba or raid card? Id get something like a 9207-8e for hba and and a h800 for a raid

Good choices. I literally own both of those cards. My T410 came with an H800, and I replaced it with a 9207-8e for my FreeNAS setup.