Interesting Read About a Company Named Backblaze and The Hardware They Use

[leonowski]

http://blog.backblaze.com/2009/09/01/petabytes-on-a-budget-how-to-build-cheap-cloud-storage/

[grimm2000]

I like the design of the box.   Where can you buy a backplane without the enclosure though?  I tried finding some, but I was unsuccessful.

[NAS]

Simply awesome.

Now thats what I call a logical and simple layout. I bet they are as cool as hell with all that nice clean airflow when compared to say the silly Norco design.

[res0nat0r]

This looks alot like Suns Thumper series of storage, but just much cheaper. Very cool. The only iffy thing is how you must access your data:

On top of that is the JFS file system, and the only access we then allow to this totally self-contained storage building block is through HTTPS running custom Backblaze application layer logic in Apache Tomcat 5.5.

Going to read the whole thing through once I get home, looks pretty interesting.

[WeeboTech]

That's a beautiful machi9ne. w00t.

A candidate for unRAID ver 7???  where we have multiple arrays and multiple parity drives!.

NICE!

[NAS]

I really think you could take a cheap cheap 4U case and with some mild work make a smaller version of this easily.

The magic bullet is those port multiplers and the way the drives fit into them.

If we could source them then we have a whole new potential for a cheap Norco beating case that can scale to ridiculous levels.

Superb find.

[grimm2000]

http://www.pc-pitstop.com/sata_cables_adapters/3726PM.asp

Could something like this be adapted for the port multipliers?  I am not 100% sure what is the difference between and internal SATA connection and an external connection besides the cable?

[WeeboTech]

Here's some interesting hardware.

http://www.addonics.com/products/host_controller/ad5sapm-e.asp
http://www.addonics.com/products/host_controller/AD5HPMSXA.asp
http://www.addonics.com/products/host_controller/ad5sapm.asp
http://www.addonics.com/products/host_controller/ad2sahpmeu.asp

[NAS]

From what I can read those are good bits of kit with good support and reliabilty along with cost.

What we really want though is to plug drives directly into the port multiplier. That removes a load of cables which is always good. We might not be able to get the boards they used but maybe we can.

Chyang Fun Industry (CFI Group) CFI-B53PM 5 Port Backplane (SiI3726)

@ $42 each they could be a complete bargain

[Joe L.]

From what I can read those are good bits of kit with good support and reliabilty along with cost.

What we really want though is to plug drives directly into the port multiplier. That removes a load of cables which is always good. We might not be able to get the boards they used but maybe we can.

Chyang Fun Industry (CFI Group) CFI-B53PM 5 Port Backplane (SiI3726)

@ $42 each they could be a complete bargain

True, but they are apparently custom made for Backblaze as this statement infers:
From the article text:
"[thanks to] Chyang Fun Industries in Taiwan for customizing SATA  boards to simplify our design"

You will just have to hope that Chyang Fun Industries in Taiwan will market those same boards in the open market in addition to selling them in bulk to Backblaze.  so far, a google search shows they are not.

Joe L.

[smino]

That was so awesome, I had to read it twice, and thrice!
I wish they would have posted more information like performance metrics, drive temperatures, noise levels (I would expect loud), and any maid options.
This could totally be adapted for unRaid! Ah the future looks bright. I will need some solar cells on the roof just to power my storage! grin.
Now did they use the most energy efficient setup? Power supplies, Drives, Maid support on the cards? A little research is needed.

I am also very interested in deduplication and encryption on the fly. This would be a great archive solution, if I could hook this up to my TSM server, or heck, install TSM on this server running linux. Hmm Unraid with Tivoli TSM for archiving with this setup? With Gige being a huge bottleneck, unless you throw in a quad nic for TSM (not unraid shares). I wonder.... Thoguhts? Any TSM admins out there? TSM has deduplication built in, and they just bought protectier VTL.

TSM check: it only supports RED 5 and Suse 10. I do not suppose Unraid would run on either of those?

[ClunkClunk]

I hope they give more information on their vibration reduction techniques. They mentioned a 'rubber band' like product and their big foam piece.

[smino]

How could we make this rig better?
redundant power supply custom made for Hard Drives (since we do not need the sli power cables)?
Which make and model?

I think I would swap the cards he uses for two or three pci-x cards from addonics adg3gx4r5 at 70$ a pop.
40 Drives is enough, and boot off of the sataII drive instead of pata.
Then for work, I would throw in a dual Nic or Fibre Card depending on what I needed.

How makes custom cases?

[markguy]

You might post in their forums/blog comments about being interested in more specifics. They seem inclined to be, if not responsive, then attentive to such things.

[grimm2000]

I just received this email.  I plan to email James Lee to the minimum amount that can be purchased. 

Hello Nicholas,

Yes you can buy those multiplier backplanes. We order them from Chyang
Fun Industries in Tawain.
You can email James Lee at james@chyangfun.com
Let him know that you heard of him through Backblaze and he will know
which backplanes you need.

Take care,
-Casey
Backblaze Team

I plan to email James Lee to the minimum amount that can be purchased.  I will keep this board informed.