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Looking for custom designed server case suggestions


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Posted

Petty soon we are going to be deploying a new CCTV system in the school, a small amount of funds have been put aside as part of the project for the server which will be running the recording software.

 

I've seen in the past many a fellow edugeeker has built a custom designed backup server with a tonne of hard drives in and I'm looking to do the same.

 

My only design requirements are-

+Must be a server rack case (no pedestals and I have a max of 4U to play with)

+Must be able to house at least 4 3.5" drives (more the merrier though)

+Compatible with standard mATX (AMD) motherboards

+Cost is a factor but I won't be 'cheaping out' if I can help it

+Would need to come with rack rails

Posted
Look at supermicro - readybuilt and a whole lot of customisation options -reasonable price too.

 

Already have done :) Everything I've found so far is about £100 more than I have to spend.

Posted

No but looks quite good from the pictures. I bought a huge SuperMicro case (was 10x the price of that) when i custom made a backup server (it was the 36 bay one!) Its brilliant!

 

Just out of curiosity (as its my project for next year) what is the software you are going to be running atop the box? and also what Camera's are you looking at?

Posted
No but looks quite good from the pictures. I bought a huge SuperMicro case (was 10x the price of that) when i custom made a backup server (it was the 36 bay one!) Its brilliant!

 

Just out of curiosity (as its my project for next year) what is the software you are going to be running atop the box? and also what Camera's are you looking at?

 

Milestone Xprotect Express is the software we will be running (on top of Server 2008 R2), cameras are a mix of Sony E Series, AXIS 212 and AXIS M32. Going to be a pretty nifty setup once we get it going :)

Posted
Milestone Xprotect Express is the software we will be running (on top of Server 2008 R2), cameras are a mix of Sony E Series, AXIS 212 and AXIS M32. Going to be a pretty nifty setup once we get it going :)

 

Thanks - will take a look.

 

Cheers

Posted
+Must be a server rack case (no pedestals and I have a max of 4U to play with)

+Must be able to house at least 4 3.5" drives (more the merrier though)

 

LinITX sell drive enclosures that let you fit 5 SATA drives into 3 5.25" bays:

 

LinITX.com - Chenbro 5 x 3.5" HDD Hot-Swap Bays - Fits in 3 x 5.25" ODD Bays

 

Antec make 3U cases with two sets of 5.25" bays in the front:

 

http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?Family=ODc=

 

meaning you could fit 10 SATA drives in the front of your server.

Posted
We've used multiple Compucase rack chassis recently with good success. Our new beasty SCCM server is in one which'll take up to 8 drives, full EATX/SSI boards etc. Not the cheapest (around 100 notes) but does the job wonderfully.
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

I should of taken pictures of the supermicro I built! It was huge in comparison! lol

 

Looks nice though - would be good to here how you get on with regards to the CCTV Stuff.

 

How much was the software?

Posted

I'm accualy starting to worry about space in our 42U rack! If I get to order the 2 new servers this April I will be down to just 4Us left!

 

Software for 12 cameras was £800 - the software it's self is fantastic though, I did look at some of the 'free' alternatives but none of them quite hit it on the head as this stuff does for me :)

Posted

£800 aint to bad ~£60 per camera - I'm guessing there is a sliding chart and you can start with 2/3 and work up to the max that where listed?

 

4U's is more then I have - although I have another 42U rack with just a KVM and a Keyboard/mouse in presently!

Posted

Yep just keep adding on cameras and adding on the software lics for it as you need.

 

Phew the luxury of space! There is however 47Us of space in another cab in our server room that the LEA is using for comms kit - might have to charge them for it sometime :D

Posted
Yep just keep adding on cameras and adding on the software lics for it as you need.

 

Phew the luxury of space! There is however 47Us of space in another cab in our server room that the LEA is using for comms kit - might have to charge them for it sometime :D

 

Yeah I also got rid of one cab - my main 42u rack consits of sans/1u servers so fits alot in! apart from the 6u UPS!

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