I Made The World's Smallest Server Rack - With UPS and SSD Storage

[@MarkLapasa]

man, this is screaming quality workmanship. Bravo.

[@arturwelp1877]

I am planing on building a UPS using 26650 or 18650 cells

[@MadeInJack]

Awesome build ! I'd love to see a full mini-NAS with this design style, using 2 drives for RAID1 and a UPS for a full rpi-based solution. Great work!

[@t0uchme343]

Significantly more visually appealing than a scuffed stack of RPi starter kits, I love it.

[@aaronmartin6077]

That looks so good!! I was looking for some ideas on how to make a minimalistic design for my server (which uses a rpi4). Keep up the great content! 👌

[@liamhoffen8529]

You have wonderful packaging ideas for the Pi and accessories. I love your designs, and have one. I've taken to adding a pushbutton to them and cycling the OLED display on for 30 seconds every 10 minutes, or for 30 seconds on demand via the pushbutton. In that way, the OLED doesn't start burning out display areas on the screen.

[@MichaelKlements]

I like the idea of having a pushbutton to turn the display on temporarily

[@xienjougao3131]

just buy a fanless mini pc n5105 or n6412 or j4125.. it is the smallest, not that one, we call RPI as the expensive mini computer in the world.

[@tarrynweigand981]

"I used an acrylic bending tool, other wise known as my wifes hair straightener"

[@MichaelKlements]

Haha I’m not that brave

[@vipupas]

@@MichaelKlements according to you which is best single board computer for coder and hacker .

[@brodyyoung2061]

@@vipupas lmao

[@SuchByte]

This is so well done! What I'd really love to see would be a option to add two SSDs and use them in a RAID setup for redundancy.

[@HEINLUMBY]

As always, I love the cases, and enclosures you design. For this version 2 you could use some power banks that output up to 20w per port, and have a few "blades" (RPIs mounted sideways) then for the third teir you could add a RPI with a few ssds to act as a SAN/NAS. Additionally you could add a small managed switch and a RPI running PiHole and you have a full blown data center in a tiny enclosure

[@MichaelKlements]

Thanks for the great ideas - I'm still looking for a small ethernet switch, even a compact 6 port is too big for this case. I'm looking at stripping down a 4 port industrial DIN rail mount switch as these seem to be the smallest form factor that I can find.

[@sarmentinho]

Switch Flex Mini from unify 5 ports, gigabit and can vê PoE powered, which allow you to use the ethernet going to the mini rack to be network and power. Size wise 107.16 x 70.15 x 21.17 mm, vs the Pi size, ~88 x ~58 x~16mm, not bad ☺️

[@microdesigns2000]

@@MichaelKlements Phoenix 1085039 or 1085256.

[@sarmentinho]

@@microdesigns2000 much Bigger volume than Switch Flex Mini from unify, (almost 30% more volume) needs another power input, and not even gigabit.

[@microdesigns2000]

@@sarmentinho yes the Phoenix switches are gigabit and pretty small for din-rail mounting. I've bought a few of these. The unify switch is pretty small ! But it is not din rail mounting.

[@lloydrmc]

Impeccable form and function, per usual.

[@AlistairBrugsch]

Fantastic design! One thing I'd change though is not making the uprights print as part of the base. As they are, the layer lines going across them makes them much weaker. As separate pieces they can be printed flat with better layer strength, then it makes it easier to make the height modular too. That would be an instant buy for me.

[@MichaelKlements]

Thanks for the suggestion, that makes a lot of sense! I'll look at doing this for version 2

[@BruceWayneReal]

For the screen, use the second i2c interface.

[@kawasutanku]

this would make an awesome pi media center with something like Plex or OSMC running on it, well done

[@kavod777]

This is super cool. Thanks for sharing!

[@BattlingNebula1]

This looks amazing! Can't wait for you to upload files and make this myself

[@DavidJones-pi8rl]

I am currently running an Argon 40 Argon One case for my Raspberry Pi Server and had been thinking of buying the Argon 40 Eon Raspberry Pi 4b NAS case. But this design is so much better and will enable me to use either use a spare SSD I already have or alternatively use a couple of my portable Samsung T1 or T3 SSD! The things I wouldlike to see added are a powereed USB 3.0 hub and the angled network cable you mentioned in the video .

[@JoeMcMullin]

Great work, love the design!

[@MichaelKlements]

Thanks Joe

[@markowens5446]

ANOTHER NICE BUILD KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK

[@NovaspiritTech]

that looks so good

[@dirtyd1398]

That whole project is awesome :)

[@MichaelKlements]

Thank you!

[@rbnjr]

excellent build quality, i say add more shelves to populate with all the ideas i see listed here in the comments.

[@rbrantley86]

Love it. IS there anywhere I can purchase the Case from? I don't currently have a 3d printer.

[@MichaelKlements]

You can reach out to me through my Etsy store - www.etsy.com/au/shop/TheDIYLifeCo

[@aldara6166]

Holy crap this is FIRE!! I love this! How much would you charge to sell me one? No really, I'm serious I'd buy one from you in a heartbeat!! Awesome work, looks more high quality than what you would buy commercially!

[@MichaelKlements]

Thank you! I've put the 3D printing/laser cutting files up for you to make your own. A lot a time goes into making one up so it would cost way more than what I would consider to be reasonable. That's mainly why I haven't put them up for sale as a finished product.

[@romayojr]

i’m a year late but i would this right now i need it. are you taking orders at all?

[@MichaelKlements]

Send me a message through my Etsy store and I can make one up for you.

[@TheAnoniemo]

Nice idea, but this kinda removes all the advantages of a real rack by integrating all components into one and not having room for expansion. If I could make suggestions for a future revision? Obtain a generic 5V USB UPS, this way you can keep it separate from the Pi in a rack slot. You could integrate a power distribution board (USB hub) to power multiple devices from the one UPS. Connect the SSD with a USB Type A to Type A cable, this way the SSD is wired through the front and can be removed without also removing the pi. Leave space for upgrades, maybe a 2.5 inch HDD or a small ethernet switch could be added later for more functionality?

[@zacharyhart7025]

I like the switch idea.

[@MichaelKlements]

Thanks for the ideas! I really wanted to add a switch but couldn't find anything small enough - I even looked at repurposing a 4 port industrial DIN rail switch which looked quite compact, but landed up making the whole rack 50% larger.

[@TheAnoniemo]

@@AlexanderBingham except a drone operator is a kind of pilot and has to deal with rules of the airspace. For large drones you need some sort of licence I believe.

[@TheAnoniemo]

@@AlexanderBingham do IT people that deal with server racks risk their lives?

[@zacharyhart7025]

@@MichaelKlements how about BotBlox SwitchBlox Industrial

[@massimo79mmm]

i just discovered your channel, it's simply amazing

[@MichaelKlements]

Thank you!

[@bo-bodad8253]

Beautiful work!

[@mahirfredericks4013]

nice job, great production quality boet.

[@marcelk.4371]

It looks beautiful 🤩

[@SireSquish]

If you're looking for ideas - the racks could be made to accommodate anything that's in the appropriate form factor - that way, people could make these kind of things for different SBCs, and extend them to have taller cabinets/more rack space depending on needs.

[@MichaelKlements]

Thank you @SireSquish, I do include a blank rack in the CAD files so that they can be adapted to suit other SBCs etc.

If you have problems with I2c OLED, try dhanging its adress to differetn on, usually there are solder jumpers on back of them. But i belive there is problem somewhere software wise... try scanning I2c with i2cdetect -y 1 and see if there are 2 / more adresses. Usually display adress is 3C and RTC is 68 (if active on system, it will show as UU). Awesome build.

[@MichaelKlements]

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't think its an address issue, I think the two scripts (one for the UPS and one for the display) are trying to communicate at the same time.

@@MichaelKlements Ah yes, that did not occur to me

[@DavidMeggers]

I’m just looking at the Pi…in a box…new…slightly envious 🙂 Great project

[@atom6_]

Yeah that is the real secret; where did he get it from?

[@wxfield]

Nice work..from start to finish.

[@usererror1969]

really nice. I want one. great video

[@christophersmith108]

Very elegant design!

[@MrBlakBunny]

certainly a design i'll adapt, i run a couple of printers so having all the pi's in one case could be useful

[@tgirard123]

If Christmas wasn't coming up I'd probably throw down some cash and build this. Going to have to wait till next year

[@donmccormick615]

What would you be able to do with a server this small? I’m rather new to the realm of servers and raspberrypi

[@MichaelKlements]

I'm running an ad blocker, media server, file sharing and home automation software

[@mattghoward]

so i replaced the RPi GPIO header with one that has a socket under the board - then i have added ups and ssd under the board and cooling above the board - because once you ad direct cooling you cant put anything above the board - still working on that - modifying heat pipes etc

[@Nobe_Oddy]

That little guy is AMAZING!!!! So clean!!! I really would LOVE to be able to make a case for my little Pi, but I don't have a 3D printer (or acrylic cutter lol)

[@MichaelKlements]

Thank you!

[@ferky123]

I would say to use a 90° USB C angle connector or use a cable that has one to help with cable management.

[@TheRealInscrutable]

Adorable and practical!

[@adamwalter2573]

Looks good, but a bit overcomplicated. UPS can be made from any 12v car battery. Big enough, it can hold power for up to few days without recharge, so enough time for power go come back, so no any additional hardware is needed (signal for no power/ac restored and so on). I take a server as a bunch of hardware laying around, connected with open cables, sitting somewhere in the ceiling or attic :) However, a big plus for the chasis :)

[@KifKroker]

amazing project, beautifully done!

[@rawa9891]

Absolutely Cool 😎 I want this... NOW!

[@gsmitchell]

Really cool, thanks for sharing!

[@denniszettersten9607]

Quit an amazing machine...i want one..!! :) GJ man...!!

[@Tru3Tech]

super cool!!!! Great project man. can you add 2 or even 4 m.2 ssds? :)

[@nunux75]

Very nice build. I suggest you add 2 Keystone holder / frame for mounting, to get USBC and Ethernet at the back of your mini rack.

[@gearboxworks]

Nicest build I have seen of yours. Have you considered putting a large low-profile low RPM fan at the back for airflow more like a regular rack?

[@MichaelKlements]

Thank you. I haven’t really had any thermal issues with the current setup but there is definitely enough space on the back to put a larger fan.

[@wallacegilbert3888]

Very clever design!

[@prads_101]

is it possible to use an external ssd instead of the SATA drive hat? i see that it has to be connected to one of the usb 3 ports, so why not just use a ssd? will it work with the given pi sugar ups?

[@W9HJBill]

I love it! I have 2 of your other PI cases, the Y60 with and without the SSD.

[@christopherbuckett8542]

I'm very curious to see how much storage you can fit on this kind of platform. Coming from someone who has never messed with a Pi before, I'm wondering if you could make some kind of low profile storage server using several M.2 Sata SSDs. (Or if it would be worth doing)

[@hunterbeachcowkk7hqy786]

yooo lookup jeff Gerling on KZbin he made quite a few pi storage projects

[@hunterbeachcowkk7hqy786]

kzbin.infovideos

[@hunterbeachcowkk7hqy786]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6XHh6KqiJhjZ5o

[@MichaelKlements]

As hunter beachcow "KK7HQY" has said, Jeff Geerling has a number of videos on Pi storage projects that you should check out

[@MrJoegotbored]

This is so clean. Looks great and looks easy to maintain/swap in new parts as you grow the project. Great work!

[@loosemoose6293]

So I don’t own a 3d printer or a laser cutter can you recommend businesses or a link for a prebuilt case ?

[@sasivatsal7244]

Informative content, Thanks for sharing!!

[@funkymonk4688]

Super cool!! Would love to see a rack that could hold a pi, wif and internet router that could all be printed on a prusa mini. I made a small rack shelf but I lack the design skills to do what you can where things have actual mount points. Mine is more just a shelf

[@MichaelKlements]

I've added 3D printable racks to the design files, I'll look ad adding 3D printable side panels and a door (although they won't be clear then) and you'll then be able to 3D print the whole case. The side panels would be pretty easy to just cut from clear or tinted acrylic by hand as they're mostly straight cuts and you'll then have a much better looking rack.

[@spuds7677]

I think it would be cool to have several R-Pis in one case like this. So like a "4U" you can run up to 4 R-Pis and or devices in it. So you can have the ability to run a customized setup to fit your needs. You can have 1 UPS, 1 SSD and 2 Pis or in the "4U" case, or if you need, pull the SSD and run 3 Pis and a UPS This would be handy to have for sure.

[@MichaelKlements]

Thats a nice idea, maybe making it slightly wider would also allow two Pis to fit next to each other on one rack, so you could then have up to 8 Pi's in a relatively small enclosure.

[@zhaoshikai]

@@MichaelKlements Micheal, this is great idea, hope we could see it in your youtube channel soon! 🙂

[@peterruppert7856]

Looks amazing! Great job amd great video!

[@ZippyDooDa435]

So creative, always enjoy your creations.

[@happy_waves9786]

Looks really nice my only problem with it is the hinged door blocking the rj45 port. So if you’re running your pi as a server using a wire connection you need to either let de door open or just not install it

[@billyjbryant]

Or use a Low Profile 90° Ethernet cable as he stated in the video.

[@happy_waves9786]

@@billyjbryant touche

[@the-real-random-person]

This guy is ALWAYS using these displays xD but that's so useful!

[@mrmotofy]

I wonder if the back panel could be modified to use a Keystone jack for rj45, or power

[@MichaelKlements]

Yes this would be quite an easy modification to make

[@rawdelicious]

So cool, this is a complete machine! Does the battery charge via the cable, didn't understand that. Looking fwd to the build with bigger cooling, I will get that one!

[@shykitten55]

That is just amazing. I don't want this to sound like a criticism of the design, but I would put the door opening from the other side. And as most of build is black, I think it would be that much better if the bolts/screws holding the fan in place were also black. But all in all fantastic build.

[@MichaelKlements]

Thanks for the suggestions, it would probably make more sense to have the door open up the other way given that the Pi's ports are now all on the hinge side

[@gurmukhp]

Was using PLA ok? I'm worried about it maybe deforming? Attempting to build a rack with a unifi cloud gateway, intel nuc and some SSDs

[@MichaelKlements]

Mine's printed in PLA and has been fine for a few years now

[@gurmukhp]

@MichaelKlements great to know! The deforming temp of PLA is around 50 degrees Celsius, and my units hit around 40 atm, so was worried about it going hotter when in an enclosed cupboard, currently they're just on the floor 😎

[@danielvalledelafuente4350]

Hey! quick Question: Doesn't it make a bottleneck to have a SATA SSD connected through USB 3.0? Thanks for the video and the ideas! I'm doing one myself

[@bacon.cheesecake]

usb 3 is basically as fast as sata, but that is an m.2 drive which is way faster, so it is definitely bottlenecked, but it's very compact convenient so I get why he uses it..

[@danielberglv259]

@@bacon.cheesecake M.2 does not mean NVMe. It's just a connector. The drive that he is using, is SATA.

[@danielberglv259]

I have a NAS running on a Rpi4. It has multiple SATA NAS HDD's from WD, connected to USB via a USB hub and is using ZFS. It performs flawlessly. Now Jeff Geerling did some testing once and it would seam that you start getting a performance hit when you go beyond 3 drives. Anything up to those 3 drives will work fine. Especially since the first bottleneck for a Rpi4 NAS, will be the NIC, that seams to cut off at around 75MB/s

[@bacon.cheesecake]

@@danielberglv259 I knew there were m.2 drives that weren't nvme, but I always assumed they were still faster than SATA, but nope, you're right, it's just SATA in a slightly more convenient form.

[@MichaelKlements]

The M.2 SATA drive and USB 3.0 ports on the Pi have very similar speeds, both around 500-600MBps. As others here have said, it's a SATA drive with an M.2 interface, it's not an NVME drive (which would be wasted on the Pi).

[@Kuzurimo]

Love it, definitely would like one!

[@bunkey-ed2vc]

So what can you use these for? Thanks!

[@Capitaine.Albator]

That’s next level, impressive! 👍🏻✌🏻🇨🇦

[@haydenc2742]

Very cool!!! Just ordered the stl's from you

[@JosipBenko]

Do you, by chance, sell the server case pre assembled?

[@cattanijerome]

Nice project. congrats

[@jeremybrun2503]

Do you plan on offering kits for this server rack case design on Etsy?

[@g6h48]

its looks awesome! :)

[@igorschmidlapp6987]

So, when are you going to start selling the kit, or. are you leaving that up to Adafruit? ;-)

[@ckthmpson]

Please,mass produce these. I'd buy one. Either just the case itself, or an entire kit.

[@lllever]

Amazing work! And how about the read/write speed after all the connectors?

[@Hellofaraby]

u got 1 subs from me, i like ur project and i plan to build one

[@adolfogonzalez1305]

awesome case. wish you would sell it and make it so that there is the ability to fit a larger heatsink.

[@MichaelKlements]

I'm going to try fit a low profile Ice Tower into this design, I think there is already enough headroom between the Pi and the top cover. Update: There isn't enough headroom for the low-profile Ice Tower cooler, I'm going to have to use a larger standard heatsink rather.

[@scrcrccrd]

would it be possible to see a conteinerized NAS solution in the rack? a step by step guide. good video man :)!

[@MichaelKlements]

Unfortunatley my favourite NAS software, OMV, isn't able to be run as a container. You can however install Docker alongside OMV and have them both running on the Pi.

[@DunOpondo]

Good job 👍🏿

[@ThushyCyber]

Really superb thanks

[@Unknown15916]

Very nice. You must have had all the dimensions of the components beforehand. - Robert

[@kristianwind9216]

This is so cool! Please let me know if you were to sell it at any point...

[@whitepawrolls]

Now add the 4 bay nas board mod :) Its too bad we can't still get a pi though without paying scalper prices.

[@HaimPeretz]

Beautiful!

[@matthmbg]

What would you suggest for a pi5 with nvme and ups. Finding it hard to know if i should get on top nvme hat and the ups underneath

[@MichaelKlements]

The easiest arrangement would be to use a bottom mount UPS and a top mount NVMe adaptor - these are commonly available.

[@favired612]

Excellent project. I would like a battery that allows the server to run 24 hours without power. Or a connector for connecting an external battery outside the case. Also, I would like to duplicate the raspberry charging socket on the outside of the case, because I want to change the charging cable without unscrewing the screws.

[@MichaelKlements]

There is already a battery connector on the UPS, to run for 24hrs you'd just need to swap the battery for a higher capacity one (I would guess around 80,000mAh at 3.7V for 24hr run time). As some others have suggested, a USB C keystone jack would be a nice addition to the back.

[@zk_6312]

Looks good though I hesitate to really call it a server with only one ssd. There is no redundancy in case the ssd should fail. Maybe in a future build you could add a couple more ssd drives and create a raid system. Then it really could be called a server.

[@sickros]

Hello there, Can you please try this with the Rasberry pi 5.

[@popsyann]

Very nice!

[@colinrogers9927]

Amazing work! What type of containers are you running? Does the pi handle them well?

[@MichaelKlements]

Im mainly running Pi-hole, Plex and Home Assistant although I might move Home Assistant to a dedicated Pi. I've had some trouble getting the Pi to reliably communicate with the Zigbee network when running in a container.

[@bco1981]

Looks nice, and really does look like a mini rack. though personally, i would have turned the insides 90 degrees to help the upwards airflow. And given the size of the case i probably would have used a bigger 80mm fan for even less noise. I wonder, can we use a usb batterybank as a UPS ? like a 30.000mAH usb powerbank ?

[@MichaelKlements]

Yeah a larger 60mm or 80mm fan would definitely be better for reducing the noise output - the 5V 40mm PWM Noctua fan is almost silent when running under 50% speed so I might swap this out as a temporary fix. A battery bank is fundementally different to a UPS. It also won't have any communication options with with Pi, so won't be able to initiate a shutdown on low battery etc.

[@DaiShuryoTechnus]

Is there a way to do this with an ODroid Board?

[@pivot9965]

Can you make a very good pi hole that can take huge amount of ppl at the same time?!

[@MichaelKlements]

What is a huge amount of people? The Pi hole server is only handling DNS, so shouldn't be a problem even if it's getting a few hundred requests a minute.

[@Diasdhiego]

Amazing project! How long is this UPS lifespan? It would be amazing for a 3 piece K3s environment. Does it have raid? Amazing again, thanks for the project and the video!

[@Duraltia]

Had a mild chuckle at the 300°C Soldering Iron for inserting the Threaded Inserts... I print *_ASA_* at like 260°C ( @ 300mm/s ) but when it comes to inserting those Threads, I only use like 250°C - May take like a second longer but gives you WAY better control over things like the Threads insertion Depth and location as the plastic provides some resistance 😉 Also starting @06:17 - Is that a Tamiya Nut Tool? Haven't seen one of those in like *_AGES_* 🤣

[@MichaelKlements]

Haha, I've ordered and am waiting on some proper tips for the brass inserts. At the moment the small contact area between the pointed tip and the insert means that they don't heat up that quickly. Yes it's an old Tamiya nut tool, got it with my first RC car some time in the 90's

[@Duraltia]

@@MichaelKlements I'm using a MiniWare TS80P USB-C Soldering Iron with the stock TS-B02 Tip ( fine conical ) and didn't have the impression of needing a special Tip ( not that there's one for that model ) for just improving the heat transfer - I guess having a "proper" Tip aids in aligning them 🤪 My Tamiya Collection consists of RC Tanks with the latest one added to the arsenal being a D.I.Y. E-100 ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIm9iaWvjbSCa6M ) that is using a set of spare Tamiya Gearboxes soo... Kinda a "married into the family" thing 🤣 I was just wondering where that Nut Driver found any use in the Tamiya Models until I remembered them being used for adding the Ball Sockets to the Servo Arms 🤔 Kinda a missed opportunity when I built my E-100 cause sure enough they were a P.i.t.A. to screw onto without the right tool 😅

[@MichaelKlements]

Yeah the proper tip is mainly to improve the contact area and keep the insert square with the iron. I've been working without them for a few months now without any issues, they'll hopefully just speed up my workflow. That's an awesome looking model, I love the recoil on the canons! I got the drive in a 1/10 scale King Blackfoot pickup, I think I've still got it somewhere in my shed - I must have a look for it.

[@g.s.3389]

very nice 😊 👍