Hello LeveOneTechs Forums,
I’m new here, so hi!
I did make a search here before making a post, but I didn’t seem to find anyting for this, and I also looked at Google and Reddit, but I’m having a hard time finding something useful.
I’m getting more and more into server hardware, and rackmounting things, but I’m still fairely new at it, so if I don’t know the correct terms for everything, that’s why.
I’m looking for a server chassis, specifically for storage.
I’m currently running the storage on unRAID, which I’m not planning to let go, since I like how it works for the storage part.
Right now, it’s running in an old Antec 1200 PC case.
I found an Inter-Tech IPC 4U-4424, but it’s a bit pricy here in Denmark.
I also found a website in the UK that had 20 drives in it, for around half the price of the Inter-Tech one (even after taxes and fees).
What options is there for a storage chassis other than the two I’ve found?
I’d prefer to get something within EU becasue we’re getting taxes and fees added on top of the price, if it’s outside of the EU. But I don’t mind getting something outside of EU as well. I’m just trying to look inside of the EU at first.
I don’t have a brand preference, since I don’t know a lot anyway.
What are you guys using, and what brands/chassis do you know and can recommend, maybe even price to drives ratio?
If you want to buy a new chassis I would recommend looking at ones that don’t have any Hot Swap Capabilities, because it’s unlikely that in a homelab environment you’ll have the need to save yourself the two minutes of opening it up to replace drives.
Inter-Tech has the most price-competitive offerings in that category within Europe as far as I know.
But if it’s okay for you to buy used, look on local ads or Europe-wide ebay for Supermicro Chassis that are compatible with Standard ATX Motherboards. These will give you the advantage of Hot-Swap Cages and easier availability of spare parts and Rails, but might still be more costly than a new case without hotswap bays from an importer like InterTech.
Rosewill has some 4u racks. You can get them via amazon and newegg. IIRC they have 15 bays.
If aliexpress is an option, try to look fir innovision (or was it inovision?) technologies. It seems they are the one providing for ODMs/OEMs of 4u generic racks, same 15 or so bays. They have other models as well.
Another option was Chenbro but I cant seem to find another supplier that isnt newegg or amazon.
Since I got an Dell MD1200 DAS, I’d really like hotswap in the chassis as well. I know the price will be higher for it as well.
But I get your point
I’m just having a hard time finding a lot of it used, I guess Chia is still a problem.
I did fine one in Germany actaully, it’s refurbished, which is basically second hand anyway, but it’s with hardware.
I’ve written them an email and asked if you can just get the chassis without the hardware and waiting for the reply now.
If not, I might just get the one from UK and bite the apple.
I am already looking into DAS for expanding the storages as well.
Do you happen to know anything about that?
Will you be repurposing, what is currently in the Antec 1200?
Does it need to be a server / drives chassis?
Or are you looking more, at a disk shelf for bulk drives?
Yeah, I’m gonna reuse the hardware.
I’m just looking for a case that will fit my current hardware, maybe a bit more now that I’m at it.
I will use DAS for the rest since you can keep adding there for a qute some time.
Have you looked at any to of the refurbished Super Micro cases? They have several options that will take standard ATX/EATX motherboards and the hot swap trays can be found on ebay for very reasonable prices.
You might be better off with second hand SuperMicro machines off EBay.
But as an example, I’m in the UK, and buy cases from servercase.co.uk which has done okay for me, and not too much of a mark up.
I personally got a couple cheaper cases, and changed the fans inside, but would Recommend the supermicro ones.
The ones I got were like these, which were cheap (for new) because they are not very solid- but if you don’t move them, should be okay. I replaced the central fans for them too
I used x-case before, and they were okay, but seem a lot smaller, with less stock. I’m not sure what support they might have after the case (six) but they seemed okay- they even did some YouTube vids.
I forgot to mention, check the power supply; some server cases don’t take ATX supplies.
The one you linked does take ATX, and has a fan wall for after market 120mm fans, which is all good.
Well the nice thing with this is that it comes with PSU’s, trays, and fans. That alone will save you money. The SAS backplane is backwards compatible with SATA 6gbs, and you can get low cost LSI SAS cards that will connect to both SAS and SATA.
The only downside to a 2ru like that SM box is the heatsinks. OEM sinks generally work but most aftermarket towers do not.
2ru would be 2 rack units (half the size of the one you linked) and is a standard for size in rack boxes- about 2 1/2 1 3/4 inches per rack unit.
The SM would be Super Micro, the vendor.
The problem with smaller (less high) cases, is they still need to move a lot of air in them, so use smaller diameter fans, which spin faster, and are louder. The heat sinks for processors are also shorter, as PC tower cookers might be too high to stand up in a rack chassis
Edit: (And I should have let infinite respond, my bad)
2u or 2RU means the height form-factor of the case. Its 1/2 as high as a 4u rack mount box so you are limited to lower profile coolers.
The other thing I should have mentioned is that Super Micro has a massive user base so replacement parts are easy to find and reasonable cost. So you will be able to upgrade and repair this case for years to come. I have had most of mine for nearly 4 years.
In that time I have had 1 PSU go bad, and that is about it.
I have 4 SM boxes, and one Cisco, 1 Dell 1U, and 2x 4u workstations. The SM Boxes are probably the best I have over all.
I am in the process of replacing my 4u workstation box with a custom 3u but I got Supermicro PSU’s and Power Distribution to power it because they are just awesome parts.
