Looking for FreeBSD compatible short 19" NAS

T

The_Educated_Fool

Hello,

maybe someone has a good hint for me for the hardware, I'm looking for.
Currently I'm running a DIY NAS, based on FreeBSD, in a desktop case. I've moved recently I now have a 19" server rack in my basement - unfortunately it is not very deep, only 45 cm.
I now like to move my NAS into the 19" server rack and looking for suitable hardware. I would have up to 3 rack units available, my issue is the small depth.
My NAS should have space for 6 3.5" HDD disks front accessible (that's the amount I have in my desktop NAS). Since its only for my small household but should run 24/7, my focus is more on energy saving than on having much CPU power.

I've looked around quite some time for a 19" server that suites my requirements but what I found is either to deep or doesn't have 6 disks front accessible.
The only suitable hardware I found are the NAS systems from Qnap or Synology, but they come with their own OS - and I really would like to have the possibility to install my own FreeBSD (or at least something like XigmaNAS).

Any hints / tips for me? Or experience with installing FreeBSD successfully on one of the short Qnap/Synology 19" NAS hardware?

Thanks and kind regards,
Fool
 
I've bought a couple of different Chenbro 19" cases, they're not that deep but they're around 50 cm. They've got cases in all shapes and sizes though. The ones I have will fit a standard ITX mainboard and ATX power supply. So you can build your own system using standard off-the-shelf parts. My "storage" server has 2 x 3 5.25 external bays, you can fit a 4 drive hot swap cage in there. There are also 5 drive hotswap cages that fit in a 3 5.25 bay. That will get you a total of 10 disks.
 

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Friday rack porn from the master.
I have a similar chassis as the bottom left case.

I took a 4.5" grinder and split a case in half for my Superrouter project (front to back). Inserted a piece of Aluminum for new faceplate. Then discovered hotswap power chassis needs an extra 1/2" so I had to notch it.
Power supply vents now stick right flush.
I am glad I saved my old rack chassis. I had a vision and had to build it.
 
Phishfry said:
One thing to ask yourself. Do you really need hotswap bays.
That add greatly to price and how many times have you had to 'reseat' disk drives in sleds.
Click to expand...
Need? No, not really needed. I don't have to unrack my server(s) to replace a broken disk, makes it a lot easier. I've replaced quite a few of them over the years. For a home lab, they don't really need to be expensive.
SilverStone FS305 for example.
 
I crafted my own solution with a Silverstone case but it had to have 20" of depth and I'm not sure how it would get any smaller considering 3.5" drive depth and Micro-ATX sizes. If you have less than 18 inches of depth to work with, that's just not enough for anything other than network equipment (wires, even if only power, out the back need depth) and I think you'll need a new one. I sidestepped this with a sideways rack and some depth extenders. You could also see if you could gain depth via a vertical one. Just make sure it holds a lot of weight.

If you can not change the rack, and it's got to be rackmount, I think the only solution to this is to fab your own setup where the disks live in 2U via some backless chassis and the board lives in the third, but with no "lid" on a 1U case. Ugly, but cheap.

Aside from that, throw out the rack and just stuff things in an ATX case.
 
msplsh said:
Aside from that, throw out the rack and just stuff things in an ATX case.
Click to expand...
How about the old monster media center case stashed in the closet.
Plenty of height and looks good too. Add some 3.5 bays inside and get some quality fans.
Not that gameboy led bullshit, industrial quality of the right size. Sunon or Delta are good.

Stay away from Norco & clones chassis. Trays and the fits are not good.
I did build a shallow iStarUSA 2U with 2 x2.5" hotswap bays and rest fixed drives. Only 4 drives fit. MATX.

So ITX is all you need if using SATA. Infact I have SBC with 6 SATA I been meaning to build out..
Mini Virt Rig was plan.
 
Thinking about cheapest fixed drive rack option.
Here is the case I used but 4 drives was tight with 2 bay SSD cage. Had to do some modding:

Product Detail

www.istarusa.com www.istarusa.com

This guy used the same chassis but with ITX:

Home server rebuild - x10sdvt, d-213-matx

Hard to believe it's been nearly two years since my last major home server rebuild, but here's the writeup for that: Home Server Rebuild: S-35-DE5SL, E3-1230v3, E3C224D4I. That server has worked great. My only real complaint was the 16 GB RAM limitation (though I didn't actually need more). I...
forums.servethehome.com forums.servethehome.com

Maybe find a quality FlexATX power supply(smaller than ATX) and add some more cages where PCI cards would go.

A Thin-ITX board with 6 SATA would be ideal for cable clearance. Use some 90 degree SATA cables.
 
For the money it is a hackable chassis I have found useful..
Mine was not intended for NAS it houses my Gigabyte MX31.
For the money its solid case.
The FP buttons and leds are in a bad spot for the drive below the 5.25" drive cutout.

No ThinITX boards with ECC that I can find.
 
Inter-Tech has a couple of nice 19" cases that will fit a standard ATX, microATX or mini-ITX board. And they're not that deep.

4U 40240 - Inter-Tech GmbH

Inter-Tech Elektronik Handels GmbH - Gehäuse, Netzteile und vieles mehr aus der Hardwarewelt
www.inter-tech.de www.inter-tech.de

3U 30240 - Inter-Tech GmbH

Inter-Tech Elektronik Handels GmbH - Gehäuse, Netzteile und vieles mehr aus der Hardwarewelt
www.inter-tech.de www.inter-tech.de
 
19" case in 19" rack is not fun. For example: Silverstone rails won't fit, they need 20" and the case isn't designed to mount by its ears.
 
Phishfry said:
One thing to ask yourself. Do you really need hotswap bays.
Click to expand...

A case with a proper hot-swap backplane has various benefits:
- MUCH saner cabling via SFF cables instead of error-prone SATA-cables and no need for molex/sata power adapters. (molex to sata, loose all your data...).
- proper cooling for all drives!
- easy to swap drives for upgrades or replacement. especially with cheaper "general purpose" 19" cases you often have to pull them completely out of the rack to get access as there are no rails available or the screws for the top lid are on the sides.


I've seen several short-depth cases/systems from SuperMicro with 2.5" backplanes. So if 3.5" isn't a hard requirement there might be some interesting options available...

As for the actual system I'd go for something like an Atom C3xxx (NOT the C2xxx!), which are very energy-efficient and are even available with onboard LSI SAS-controllers (although a dedicated SAS3008 PCIe HBA is often less expensive) and multiple Gigabit-NICs. The previous-generation Xeon D-15xx are also available at a moderate pricetag and even come with 2x10Gbit from the chipset.
 
Hello,
thank you very much for all your responses - I'm really overwhelmed! :)

Actually I was hoping for finding a "ready to use" NAS/server without the need that I screw something together by myself. (Quite some years ago I did this...)
But in my situation that's maybe the only solution.
Since it was mentioned in this thread: Unfortunately I do not have more space available for a bigger rack. And sure, having the disks hot-swap bays is maybe not really necessary, but a nice-to-have feature - and if possible I do not want to forgo that.

I read about a good idea here: Having a small 1 rack unit server and then on additional 2 rack units the disks. That seems to be maybe the best solution regarding the depth (and also maybe the heat)?
I assume the bays mentioned by Phishfry (https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/accessories/mobilerack/CSE-M35T-1B.php) should work out for holding my disks?
Since I'm not really into the hardware details here: What's the best / state-of-the-art way to connect the 1 unit server with the disk bays?
What do I have to pay attention to - especially of course to stay FreeBSD compatible?

Thanks & kind regards,
Fool
 
The_Educated_Fool said:
What's the best / state-of-the-art way to connect the 1 unit server with the disk bays?
Click to expand...
SFF-8644 or SFF-8088 probably. It's the 'external' variant of the internal SFF-8643/SFF-8087 cables. Those are commonly used on controllers like the LSI SAS controllers.
 
I have an external SFF-8088 enclosure that I use with FreeBSD. You will have new problems with a 1U server: power supplies, cpu cooling height and PCI risers.

Your supermicro link will not work in 2U. That device is for loading 5x3.5" disks in 3x5.25" bays. 1U is 1.75 inches so 2U is 3.5 high, leaving zero slack for an enclosure, let alone one that has to be mounted in a case.

You'd find vertically mounted 3.5 disk systems in 3U enclosures, which, actually might work for you, as I see some that are shorter depth with 3x5.25 bays, since it's almost "normal" computer case size. You'd need to mount the sixth disk somewhere else. I'm not immediately seeing 3U chassis with more than those 3 external 5.25 bays.
 
msplsh said:
Your supermicro link will not work in 2U. That device is for loading 5x3.5" disks in 3x5.25" bays.
Click to expand...
I wanted to mention I just threw a random link up for that Supermicro CSE-35 disk cage.
There are different backplanes on them and you must look at features desired and buy the one you want.
There is cheaper version with no SES2 and there is a version with a 4 pin connector for Supermicro boards and SES2.

I was just spitballing ideas. I have used those cages and they are worthy hardware.
 
Many years ago I had a dream.
I scraped the SCSI drives out of old StorCase DataSilo The thing weighed alot. Power supply was excellent.
It has 5.25" bays. I used 3 bays for SM CSE-35T cage and one 5.25" bay for a 6 drive Thermaltake 2.5" SATA cage.
I used an Astec SAS Expander Card and SFF8088/8087 cabling to a couple of sas92xx-8e cards in host.
The Thermaltake drive cage was the worst. Plastic latch broke on one sled. Bad fit and finish.
Waste of my money. Expander was dog slow and disappointing. My first rub with slow ZFS speeds.
Was my first NAS4Free build beyond 4 drives.
You want it? It should be in a dumpster not a tub.
DIY was fun but costly.
 
The_Educated_Fool said:
Hello,

maybe someone has a good hint for me for the hardware, I'm looking for.
Currently I'm running a DIY NAS, based on FreeBSD, in a desktop case. I've moved recently I now have a 19" server rack in my basement - unfortunately it is not very deep, only 45 cm.
I now like to move my NAS into the 19" server rack and looking for suitable hardware. I would have up to 3 rack units available, my issue is the small depth.
My NAS should have space for 6 3.5" HDD disks front accessible (that's the amount I have in my desktop NAS). Since its only for my small household but should run 24/7, my focus is more on energy saving than on having much CPU power.

I've looked around quite some time for a 19" server that suites my requirements but what I found is either to deep or doesn't have 6 disks front accessible.
The only suitable hardware I found are the NAS systems from Qnap or Synology, but they come with their own OS - and I really would like to have the possibility to install my own FreeBSD (or at least something like XigmaNAS).

Any hints / tips for me? Or experience with installing FreeBSD successfully on one of the short Qnap/Synology 19" NAS hardware?

Thanks and kind regards,
Fool
Click to expand...
CASEPRO 240L is a good choice:
 
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