How to make a hot swappable ssd sas nas

[Ankh Tech]

Question says it. Imagine I have lots of sas ssds and want to make a hotswappabe nas, how would it work. I'm kinda new to nas, I know how they work, but how to make it hot swappable and such

[Pixel5]

hotswappable is really more like a question of the system you are installing the SDD´s in supporting it.

Hot swap does just mean you can add and remove SSD´s while the system is running.

in order to make this convenient in any way you will need hard drive bays with a backplane so you can basically slot in your drives and they will automatically connect to the backplane which is connected to your motherboard.

 

for SAS drives this means you gonna need server hardware as most consumer hotswap bays with backplane will only be SATA and not SAS

[Ankh Tech]

7 minutes ago, Pixel5 said:

hotswappable is really more like a question of the system you are installing the SDD´s in supporting it.

Hot swap does just mean you can add and remove SSD´s while the system is running.

in order to make this convenient in any way you will need hard drive bays with a backplane so you can basically slot in your drives and they will automatically connect to the backplane which is connected to your motherboard.

 

for SAS drives this means you gonna need server hardware as most consumer hotswap bays with backplane will only be SATA and not SAS

i know that, but what should I buy to make it hot swappable, like what is a backplane, what should I buy

[Pixel5]

a backplane is basically just a PCB that has the required ports already installed on it, usually combined with a matching cage for the drives itself.

that way when you slide in the drives they automatically connect to the ports behind them so all you connect to your motherboard is the backplane.

 

you are looking for something like this that you could install in your case but obviously for SAS drives as this here is for SATA drives.

https://www.raidsonic.de/en/standards/searchresults.php?we_objectID=5897

 

so you are looking more for something like this

https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/chassis/1U/LB16/SCLB16AC2-R504W

 

where you have hotswap bays for 2.5" SAS drives, in this case you can build the computer itself and have your drives hotswappable as you like.

This case costs about $500 but already includes redundant powersupplies.

 

 

[Blue4130]

6 hours ago, Ankh Tech said:

i know that, but what should I buy to make it hot swappable, like what is a backplane, what should I buy

First you need to buy a motherboard or hba card that supports hot swapping. 

[Blue4130]

6 hours ago, Ankh Tech said:

i know that, but what should I buy to make it hot swappable, like what is a backplane, what should I buy

First you need to buy a motherboard or hba card that supports hot swapping. 

[Ankh Tech]

3 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

First you need to buy a motherboard or hba card that supports hot swapping. 

is there like a list or something, also are there server grade motherboards?

[Blue4130]

19 minutes ago, Ankh Tech said:

is there like a list or something, also are there server grade motherboards?

Server grade boards are a thing indeed. Look at supermicro, asus, gigabyte etc. 

Www.servethehome.com is a great place to start. 

[Ankh Tech]

1 minute ago, Blue4130 said:

Server grade boards are a thing indeed. Look at supermicro, asus, gigabyte etc. 

Www.servethehome.com is a great place to start. 

ok but how to know if a motherboard supports hot swapping. If I get a case that already has a hot swapping bay. Do I still need a compatible motherboard

[Blue4130]

1 minute ago, Ankh Tech said:

ok but how to know if a motherboard supports hot swapping. If I get a case that already has a hot swapping bay. Do I still need a compatible motherboard

Yes, the board is the brainceter, if your sas controller (either on board or as an add-in card) doesn't support hotswapping then it doesn't matter if you have a case with quick removal trays. There is no list. You just need to read Tech documentation and reviews. 

[Ankh Tech]

2 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Yes, the board is the brainceter, if your sas controller (either on board or as an add-in card) doesn't support hotswapping then it doesn't matter if you have a case with quick removal trays. There is no list. You just need to read Tech documentation and reviews. 

so I can get an add in card and not worry for compatibility?

[Ankh Tech]

4 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Yes, the board is the brainceter, if your sas controller (either on board or as an add-in card) doesn't support hotswapping then it doesn't matter if you have a case with quick removal trays. There is no list. You just need to read Tech documentation and reviews. 

also is any board with sas hd hot swapping capable

[Electronics Wizardy]

5 hours ago, Ankh Tech said:

also is any board with sas hd hot swapping capable

there re. few boards with sas onboard.

 

What formfactor do you want?

 

Id just get a used rack server here. Then it will just work out of the box. Get something like a dell r720.

[Blue4130]

@Ankh Tech why are you fixated on hotswapping drives in a nas? After you set it up, you really don't want to swap drives unless one dies. 

[Ankh Tech]

9 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

@Ankh Tech why are you fixated on hotswapping drives in a nas? After you set it up, you really don't want to swap drives unless one dies. 

 

11 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

there re. few boards with sas onboard.

 

What formfactor do you want?

 

Id just get a used rack server here. Then it will just work out of the box. Get something like a dell r720.

well, I plan to have my own business, and I want to log my customers, and record the, and simply just pulling drives out when full, is just timesaving

[Electronics Wizardy]

8 hours ago, Ankh Tech said:

ell, I plan to have my own business, and I want to log my customers, and record the, and simply just pulling drives out when full, is just timesaving

What are you gonna do with the drives wehn there offline?

 

How fast are you making data?

 

For a buiness, id just buy some cloud storage here, cheaper and easier to manage. This seems liek a lot of work for not much gain here.

[Ankh Tech]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What are you gonna do with the drives wehn there offline?

 

How fast are you making data?

 

For a buiness, id just buy some cloud storage here, cheaper and easier to manage. This seems liek a lot of work for not much gain here.

for like really long access tables, I just want to make it easier to access drives, while keeping it private

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Ankh Tech said:

for like really long access tables, I just want to make it easier to access drives, while keeping it private

You can keep it fully private in the cloud.

 

How much data are you making?

 

Id just keep it as all online data with hdds, I don't see a reason to be pulling drives out.

[Ankh Tech]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

You can keep it fully private in the cloud.

 

How much data are you making?

 

Id just keep it as all online data with hdds, I don't see a reason to be pulling drives out.

so a cloud storage is cheaper?

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Ankh Tech said:

so a cloud storage is cheaper?

Depends on your needs, but there is much more redundancy, you don't have to spend time setting up physical servers on site. 

 

 

How much storage are you using? How much are you making a day?

[Ankh Tech]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

Depends on your needs, but there is much more redundancy, you don't have to spend time setting up physical servers on site. 

 

 

How much storage are you using? How much are you making a day?

well not a lot really, but the failure of drives is not an issue, it's a sas ssd, but I plan to expand greatly, and may need it. Also can I make different machines access one nas, or even multiple vm

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Ankh Tech said:

well not a lot really, but the failure of drives is not an issue, it's a sas ssd, but I plan to expand greatly, and may need it. Also can I make different machines access one nas, or even multiple vm

What do you mean by not a lot? Give a number?

 

Id normally suggest doing it all in the cloud for a startup, easier to manage and cheaper often. 

[Ankh Tech]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What do you mean by not a lot? Give a number?

 

Id normally suggest doing it all in the cloud for a startup, easier to manage and cheaper often. 

ok thanks. About 10 customers per day. But can you please tell me how, so that if I need more storage I can do that?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Ankh Tech said:

ok thanks. About 10 customers per day. But can you please tell me how, so that if I need more storage I can do that?

HOw much storage though? Probably not much.

 

You can normally add more drives if you need more storage, but I wouldn't use the hot swap to replace drives.

 

Really get a IT guy in to help you set this all up, otherwise this is gonna be a mess.

[Ankh Tech]

25 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

HOw much storage though? Probably not much.

 

You can normally add more drives if you need more storage, but I wouldn't use the hot swap to replace drives.

 

Really get a IT guy in to help you set this all up, otherwise this is gonna be a mess.

ok thanks