Reddit mentions of CableCreation External Mini SAS 26pin (SFF-8088) Male to Mini SAS 26 (SFF-8088) Male Cable, 1.0M …

You can definitely stick with the Fractal series. I did because I couldn't have a loud, unsightly machine setup anywhere in my home. I have my main system w/ 10 Drives + 2 SSDs + 3 NVME drives in an R6. That has a DAS connected with 19 drives inside an R5; 8 stock bays + 3 in 2x5.25 bay adapter + extra 3 drive cage + extra 5 drive cage.

As you are in Europe, you might not even have to pay crazy shipping charges to buy spare drive cages from https://www.fractal-design-shop.de/Define-R5_1. In the US I had to source the extra drive cages from r/hardwareswap but that proved to be easier than I expected. Here is a pic I took before I added the 2nd 5-bay drive cage: https://imgur.com/a/TWL8IB1

Edit: Request for more info...

I have not done a build log as I am not yet "finished" with the build, but it looks like there is sufficient demand for parts info so here it goes:

I have an R6 for my main NAS server loaded with the motherboard, 10 3.5 drives and one SSD. The R5 has two extra drive cages (3 + 5) as well a 2x5.25-to-3x3.5 bay adapter.

The expansion cards I use are:

• 1x LSI 9210-8i with SAS to SATA cables for 8 of the 10 internal drives in the R6. The other 2 + SSD use SATA ports on the motherboard.
  
  
• 1x LSI-9207-8e connected via 8088 cables to two HP SAS expanders powered in the R6 by riser cards which connect to the drives with the same SAS to SATA cables as above.
  
  Additional parts I used:
  
  
• An SFX PSU is important so you can fix the extra drive cages. Don't skimp on this one. You don't need a ton of Watts (I'm using a 600W Gold) but you need quality, you are hooking up thousands of dollars of drives to it!
  
  
• Power splitters: One & Two
  
  
• Power switch to turn on the DAS PSU and reset it any time you need to take the NAS offline (DAS always must be powered on first)
  
• Fan controller for powering fans in the DAS
  
  More inspiration can be found here: https://www.serverbuilds.net/16-bay-das

Awesome. I am by no means an expert but had to do a tonne of reading to come up with my setup and from what I can tell there are a few ways of doing the following:

PSU: Assuming your main PSU is strong enough you could in theory use extenders to power your DAS from the same PSU but I think there are a few downfalls to doing this. As a result I would suggest getting a redundant PSU (400w+). You can buy special adapters which fit into the 24 pin plug or alternatively you can use a paperclip. Either way what you're doing is making the PSU turn on as soon as it has power from the wall opposed to needing a power button. Sample jumper listing

SAS Controller board: This is the component you need plugged into a PCI slot in your primary NAS box. I bought a LSI SAS9200-16e16 - H3-25140-02B. I didn't need to do any flashing with this and it was plug and play with my NAS box which is running Ubuntu Server. Sample listing

SAS Expander board: This is the board which is connected back to the controller board. Think of the controller board as an outlet and the expander board as a multi-plug type situation. The ebay listing title I got was called HP (487738-001) 3G SAS EXPANDER G6, G7 - FH PCIe-x8 INT/EXT (468406-B21). You will also need a pci power blank to mount this board to and power it in place of a motherboard Sample listing

In theory from what I read it is possible there are alternatives to using one of these but this is the route I wanted to go down. The benefits as I understand them is that you can disconnect your DAS from your NAS in a very clean way. Sample Expander board listing

SFF-8088 SAS to SFF-8088 SAS cable: This is the cable which externally connects your NAS to your DAS. In theory, this is optional as you could go down the route of buying a SFF-8088 to 4xSATA cable. The downside of this however is it doesn't allow the NAS and DAS to be clean separate units IMO. These are very expensive at a lot of outlets but can be had for $14.99 here (I am UK based and even with import taxes this is cheap).

SFF-8087 SAS to 4x SATA cable: This is what connects the data from your DAS drives back to the SAS Expander board. A single cable connects to four drives so I have two of these connected to my controller at the moment. Sample listing

I saw some people had issues with their Norco backplanes, but mine has been good. For DAS setup, you'll need a powerboard (or some cheap motherboard should work?) to turn on the power supply?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SuperMicro-CSE-PTJBOD-CB2-Power-Board-for-JBOD-/361966696885?hash=item5446e579b5

The mid fan wall is a little tight to the backplane connectors so I went with the right angled ones.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KFEVQ4E/

I originally bought a Y splitter for the fans, but it was loose fitting, so I swapped it out for one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0763FGH6S/

If you want a semi "Professional" look then you'll need a bracket coming out of each case plus cables to connect them externally, plus more internal cables $$$... This is where a DIY DAS starts nickel and diming you. The other option is just running the SFF-8087 cable coming off of the expander thru the cases and snake it into your Proliant+9211 card. With that scenario the expander would have to be secured near the back of the case so a connecting cable would be long enough.
https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Internal-Mini-Mini-SAS/dp/B011W2F626/

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA00Y51H7218
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GPD9QEQ/
https://www.amazon.com/CableCreation-External-26pin-SFF-8088-Cable/dp/B013G4F3A8/


Another thing is that expander card has dual aggregation, so you can double its speed if you have 2x 8087 coming out of one expander, but then you can only have 16 drive input. I did the math in the past (not sure if it was correct tho), but I think a single link expander will be the limiting factor if you try to run all +16 drives at once. While not an issue for regular access, it would slow down a parity/backup type process that accesses multiple drives at once (Snapraid comes to mind). Of course I guess not an issue if you run this while your sleeping or whatever, but overall 20-24 HDD on one expander should be fine'ish...

SFF-8088 cables aren't that expensive.

$15 on amazon

no. the cable I linked to is correct if you are using an H200 internally to the backplane in an r710. That cable you linked too is the connector on the old PERC 6i. I would honestly get rid of that card. It's no good. The backplane of the r710 and the H200 use the same connectors.

So wait now you are getting a DAS? I thought you were getting another server with its own processors and everything? In that case there is no reason to connect it with an R710. You only need to do that with jbod devices that are headless.

The h200 is used internally. The H200E is used externally and uses a different connector. That is the card you would use if connecting to a jbod device. https://www.amazon.com/CableCreation-External-26pin-SFF-8088-Cable/dp/B013G4F3A8/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1499059230&sr=1-2&keywords=sas+external


You told me you were going to go with a supermicro chassis with 12 bays that has it's own processors and everything. That is a standalone server and has no use being connected to a r710. You are still going to need a HBA for it though which would need to be internal.

You get what I'm saying?

You have exactly the right HBA already. Nice job! All you need now is SFF-8088 to SFF-8088 cables.

$14.99 https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B013G4F3A8