Question 1

Will this case fit in a standard depth (25") rack?

Accepted Answer

As far as I'm aware, 25" isn't a standard depth.

The mount depth (from the faceplate to the back of the cae) of the server is 25.5 inches, and that doesn't include space needed for connections at the back.

Question 2

Are the drives hot swap? What would heat level be like fully populated?

Accepted Answer

The drives can be fully hot swappable but at the same time that partly comes down to how you set up your storage. Some storage solutions just don't play nice with hot swappable drives on any chassis by any manufacturer.  In general with typical configurations with hardware RAID, window or Linux, yes, they are hot swappable. The 2x internal 2.5" drive bays naturally are not....because they're internal. As for heat, there are only 10 drives total including the 2x internal drives. They are not going to impact heat in any notable fashion. However, what you put in the chassis (mobo, cpu, etc) will. As will your power supply choice. This is not a fault of the chassis, this will be a fault of your own system build. I can tell you from personal experience that redundant PSUs will generate more heat.

Question 3

Will this case support redundant power supplies?  The picture shows a different pin out on the rear of the case then any of the 2U redundant power supplies available.

Accepted Answer

Since there are so many power supplies out there, it's hard to say. We had a tough time getting our Supermicro PSU to fit in there. We had to sorta wing it. A standard power supply should work, but none of this stuff seems real standardized.

That's probably not much help, but that's all I got.

Question 4

Does the backplane support sff-8087 to sff-8087 or will i need to get support sff-8087 to multiple sata?

Accepted Answer

Norco has two models of the 2U rackmount.   The RPC-2008 has 8 SATA connectors and does not have 8087 connectors for the drive backplane.    The RPC-2208 is a 2U with two 8087 connectors for the backplane.

Question 5

What type and how many power connectors are required for the SAS/SATA panel?

Accepted Answer

So the SATA Backplane has eight (8) molex connections to support redundant power supply options.

Best to get the modex to SATA converters offered by IPC and others to take advantage of power supplies that offer SATA power feeds.

Question 6

Does this chassis support a standard atx power supply?

Accepted Answer

You will need a 2u psu for this case. A standard at will not fit unfortunately.

I bought the  ss-500l2u  for my psu with his case (500 watt gold)  it mounts well and has good air flow.

Under server psus search for 2u since they are normally listed with 2u in the description or in the model number when they are form factored for 2u cases

Question 7

Are the 2 x 2.5" internal trays compatible with a 3.5" HDD? I would like to run a boot HDD internally and then have 8 hot swap drives. Would this work?

Accepted Answer

I am doing exactly this with a micro-ATX board installed. I think there would still be room if you used a larger board too. There is not a built in mount, so you have to buy a couple extra base mounts and something to hold it.

But the answer is yes.

Question 8

what type of rails work with this case? ,  I see this, but I'm not sure if it's for this model :NORCO Heavy Duty Slide Rail Components RL-20

Accepted Answer

I used the NORCO RL-26 Heavy-Duty Slide Ball Bearing Rail.

Question 9

Does this case have individual drive status lights?

Accepted Answer

yes it does.  quality product.  have bought them many times for custom build servers for our clients

Question 10

Are the 8 SATA ports SATA III?

Accepted Answer

The backplanes (the connectors/boards that your drives will plug into) are passive.  There is simply a set of board traces between the drive and the SATA connector, which you will then connect to your motherboard.

Whether or not your particular motherboard/disk-drive can maintain 6Gb/s communication over this channel (which will include your SATA cable) will depend on your components.

I'm in the process of building two machines around this case and expect the drives to operate at 6Gb/s.  If I encounter a problem, I'll note it in my upcoming review of the case.

Questions & Answers