advice for a rackable machine with freenas sitting in an office?

[benoitc42]

So i would like to replace the small synology (rs819) and qnap (tx431xEU) rack nas by one machine using freenas but I failed to find a machine that fit the following feature:

* the rack is in office (fitted with 3 supermicros short deph xeon d with a Supermicro SC504-203B chassis). so it should be relatively silent in normal usage. This is why I had the 2 racks above
* need at least 2x10G
* need at least 4 disks bays with the possibility to extend later, possibly using SAS

Do you see anything that can fit these requirements? should i go for one of these 4U rackable towers from supermicro? Anything else?I am not sure what the minimum noise i can achieve with a a standard chassis like this one:

SC813MFTQC-350CB2 | 1U | Chassis | Products | Supermicro

813MFTQC-350CB2

www.supermicro.com

Can it go around 33dbA? Any feedback is welcome.

 

[blanchet]

Unfortunately rackable servers are generally designed to be installed in datacenter where the noise is not an issue.
1U server are the noisiest models because they have small fans with high rotation speed.

As far as I known, only the tower servers/workstations are designed to be quiet.
So picking a rackable tower is a good idea. According to the vendors, you can achieve up to 30 dBA

Silent servers

Is your hardware too loud? You need a quiet server! Take a look in our shop and check out our broad selection of quiet systems.

www.thomas-krenn.com

 

[jgreco]

The fundamental problem with 4-drive-wide rackmount gear is that there is a need to cool the drives. This happens by sucking, hard, to force air through the tiny gaps that exist around the drives in the drive bays. Causing this static pressure differential is a process that consumes a lot of energy and that translates to noise. The fans that are used are beefy, industrial grade fans that are tolerant of such abuse and will still last a decade or more given such abuse.

Your problem is tougher because of 1U; the little 40MM fans are incredibly noisy due to the physics of it all.

A better solution for you might be to go for a Supermicro SC826 style chassis, 2U x 12 bays, specifically with the PWS-920P-SQ ("super quiet") power supplies.

A lot of people buy these and then try to toss Noctua fans in with 12 drives to keep the noise down and maximize the storage. Don't do this, it's dangerous and stupid. You will end up with a nice little oven up front, especially as the fans fail, because the Noctuas are not designed to generate
a high pressure differential. Stacking two drives on top of each other creates a hot spot between them, and if you do not have the "oomph" to forcibly move some air through the gap, it gets hot. Twelve of them is a recipe for disaster. The two drives in the middle especially have nowhere for their heat to go, despite the irony of having some fans directly behind them. If the fans cannot move significant air, the drives just warm up and bake at far too high a temperature.

But what you *can* do is to remove every other drive in a checkerboard pattern. This gives you capacity for six drives, no two drives adjacent, and six slots for air to easily flow through, so then you can use silent "gamer" fans in place of the industrial fans on the bulkhead. The drives will run a slight bit warmer, but because there is a way for heat to bleed off, it's generally possible to get this working fairly quietly.

It is also possible to do this with eight drives by leaving the middle row empty.

 

[Snow]

A lot of people buy these and then try to toss Noctua fans in with 12 drives to keep the noise down and maximize the storage. Don't do this, it's dangerous and stupid.

I never got why people did this. It is even a popular video on YouTube. I know Noctua does make industrial fans. but these are not the droids you are looking for, I mean they replace them with normal case fans.

Do you see anything that can fit these requirements? should i go for one of these 4U rackable towers from supermicro? Anything else?I am not sure what the minimum noise i can achieve with a a standard chassis like this one:

Can it go around 33dbA? Any feedback is welcome.

Do you not have a different room you can keep your IT equipment in? if not there is the option to get a half rack that has sound dampening with Large fans to move air in and out, they also have a dampener them self on the fans. I can say racks like this will cost you.

Just a suggestion some thing like this

 

[jgreco]

I know Noctua does make industrial fans.

In the same sort of way that Tesla makes a competitor to the Ford F-450. Yes, the Cybertruck is a truck and even has some nice numbers, but the F-450 is still likely to be on the road in 20 years doing the same things.

The number of true high quality industrial fan manufacturers is ... small. Sanyo Denki, Sunon, Nidec. Maybe one or two more. Probably countable on one hand, absolutely on two.

Noctua is a PC gaming fan manufacturer. Gamers replace their rigs every 3-5 years. I would wager on a Sanyo Denki still spinning in 10-15 years. Noctua's business model is different. I wouldn't make such a bet on theirs.

 

[benoitc42]

Do you not have a different room you can keep your IT equipment in? if not there is the option to get a half rack that has sound dampening with Large fans to move air in and out, they also have a dampener them self on the fans. I can say racks like this will cost you.

Just a suggestion some thing like this

it's mostly in a separate room but without door for now. We would keep it open though to have passive cooling as much as we can. The hardware we are using from supermicro (3 of them) is OK in term of sound. I was expecting to find something similar in the supermicro line for store but I didn't found dit. Or rather I don't know their noise level. . Using tour servers that can be racked seems to be the best solution IO have at the moment :(

 

[Newfoundland.Republic]

I think the other important point it that cooling is not only airflow (e.g., cubic feet per minute, cubic metres per minute) but also static pressure (e.g., inches of mercury or mm of mercury). Like voltage versus amperage in electricity.

You not only need the appropriate amount airflow but also the air has to flow with enough force as well.

 

[Snow]

In the same sort of way that Tesla makes a competitor to the Ford F-450. Yes, the Cybertruck is a truck and even has some nice numbers, but the F-450 is still likely to be on the road in 20 years doing the same things.

The number of true high quality industrial fan manufacturers is ... small. Sanyo Denki, Sunon, Nidec. Maybe one or two more. Probably countable on one hand, absolutely on two.

Noctua is a PC gaming fan manufacturer. Gamers replace their rigs every 3-5 years. I would wager on a Sanyo Denki still spinning in 10-15 years. Noctua's business model is different. I wouldn't make such a bet on theirs.

I fully agree I have not try there fans, there is a reason the fans in most servers go for $20-30 used.