I’m trying to plot out a home server build, and I’d like to do it in a rackmount form factor. Use case will likely be Proxmox running a NAS VM and some media services. For the NAS piece, I was thinking an enclosure with hot swap bays would be nice. Anyone have recommendations on the case/enclosure itself? I’ve seen this Rosewill one on Newegg (https://www.newegg.com/rosewill-rsv-l4412u-black/p/N82E16811147330), but struggling to find many other options.
I haven’t really ever found anything that checks enough boxes to make building my own in a chassis worth it, I run old Dell and Supermicro servers instead. The closest I have seen to what I want are these:
I don’t have recommendations for a case but I would advise you to go with True NAS scale as it also makes virtual machines and is more open / less annoying than Proxmox.
https://www.truenas.com/docs/scale/scaletutorials/virtualization/creatingmanagingvmsscale/
That’s interesting. I had thought of doing TrueNAS Scale as a VM running in Proxmox, but you’re suggesting have TrueNAS itself be the bare-metal hypervisor? What do you find annoying about Proxmox?
Running TrueNAS Scale bare metal is usually more convenient and it gets the job done. Proxmox is nice (to some extent) but if you really just want a NAS and a bunch of random VMs for some extra stuff TrueNAS Scale is easier and faster.
The TrueNAS Scale base system is closer to Debian thus easier to manage and customize. Proxmox also brings a lot of extra stuff that you might not need.
Even in corporate environments Proxmox now sits on a awkward position because of Canonical’s LXD (runs both containers and VMs). Their LXD Web UI is better at container and VM management than Proxmox and its real open-source. For high performance ESXi trumps Proxmox in all always, and for cheap setups LXD is enough. I even go as far as believing that in a few years most Proxmox users will be be using LXD.
TrueNAS Scale also has the ability to run Docker/Kubernetes directly (less overhead) and has a nice UI to manage them.
I run TrueNAS SCALE in a proxmox VM. I only use promox as a hypervisor because TrueNAS SCALE can’t migrate VMs to another node when running on uncertified hardware, aka has no High Available failover abilities (which proxmox also only has when using ZFS or a network storage). Otherwise, you can only configure TrueNAS via the WebGUI, settings made with the cli are not persistent where as with Proxmox you have to really love the cli because you can’t do most things via the WebGUI. Proxmox also is quite buggy and often breaks itself, if a backup job hangs you have to physically pull the plug of thr hypervisor to kill it for e.g.
At that cost, you’d better buy a full Dell R720
I’ve got the 8-bay version of that case. Fans are surprisingly quiet, but the front grill/filter noticeably reduces airflow. Probably not an issue unless you’ve got GPUs installed. It’s not as convenient to work with as some of the true server cases, eg Supermicro, but it’s fine for a home rack.
Options without the lockable front grill will be cheaper. Sometimes it’s cheaper to put a hot-swap adapter in fixed mounting than use factory hot swap. Short-depth cases, if you’re not running a full-sized mobo or GPU, also cheaper. But rack mounting always comes at a premium, whether you’re choosing it for aesthetics or density.
I have the Silverstone SST-CS350B and am quite happy with it, except there is no space for cable management and can only fit 92mm CPU tower coolers
You can give the rack mountable cases from Silverstone a look. I am using a RM41-506 with two IcyDock FatCage MB155SP-B.
How are you liking that setup? I was looking at that pairing the other day (it’s about time for my 7600K to retire and live out it’s life in a nice server upstate), but I wasn’t sure if icydock cages were worth the extra cost over the Silverstone ones (plus I wasn’t sure if my atx mobo would have enough space).
I have two of those cases. They’re fine, able to fit a wide variety of hardware. The hot swap bays need 4 pin molex connectors (3 bays, each bay needs 2 connectors, for a total of 6 connectos), which is kinda a pain. They don’t really have good rails, but it’s workable. The connector and rails issues are fairly easily solvable issues.
I’ve been using a Fractal R5 on a rack shelf in my rack on its side for the past three years. Rack mounting costs a premium and the R5/6 cases are just so good.
