High-density disk array enclosure

• US 9,715,258 B1
• Filed: 03/23/2016
• Issued: 07/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bai, Yun, Gao, Le, Li, Qiang
• Primary Examiner(s): LEA EDMONDS, LISA S
• Application Number:
  US15/077,929
• Time in Patent Office: 489 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/187 Mounting of fixed and removable disk drives
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 33/126 Arrangements for providing electrical connections, e.g. connectors, cables, switches
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 33/128 of the plurality of recording/reproducing devices, e.g. disk drives, onto a chassis

Abstract

In one embodiment a disk array enclosure includes: a two rack (2RU) enclosure configured with a multiplicity of rows of backplane slots on an inner bottom panel of the 2RU enclosure, a multiplicity of 2.5 inch disks mounted lengthwise in parallel to the inner bottom panel, and a multiplicity of paddle cards, each connected to one of the 2.5 inch disks and slotted into one of the backplane slots.

Claims

1. A disk array enclosure comprising:

a two rack (2RU) enclosure configured with a multiplicity of rows of backplane slots on an inner bottom panel of said 2RU enclosure; and

a multiplicity of 2.5 inch disks mounted lengthwise in parallel to said inner bottom panel; and

a multiplicity of paddle cards, each connected to one of said 2.5 inch disks and slotted into one of said backplane slots.

2. The disk array enclosure according to claim 1 wherein each of said paddle cards is connected to at least a signal/power connector on one of said 2.5 inch disks.

3. The disk array enclosure according to claim 2 wherein each of said paddle cards provides connectivity between an associated said signal/power connector and bone of said backplane slots.

4. The disk array enclosure according to claim 2 wherein said signal/power connector is positioned at approximately 90 degree angle from said backplane slots.

5. The disk array enclosure according to claim 2 wherein said signal/power connector is a Serial General Purpose Input/Output (SGPIO) bus according to the SFF-8485 standard.

6. The disk array enclosure according to claim 1 and further comprising:

a removable top panel.

7. The disk array enclosure according to claim 1 wherein said multiplicity of rows comprises at least two rows.

8. The disk array enclosure according to claim 1 wherein said multiplicity of rows comprises four rows.

9. A method for efficient allocation of storage volume in a two rack unit (2RU) disk array enclosure, the method comprising:

installing backplane slots on an inner bottom panel of said 2RU disk array enclosure;

rotating an angle of signal/power connectors by approximately 90 degrees on a multiplicity of 2.5 inch disks by connecting each of said signal/power connectors to a first connector on a paddle card interface, wherein said paddle card interface is configured with a second connector disposed at an approximately 90 degree angle to said first connector; and

for each of said 2.5 inch disks, connecting said second connector to one of said backplane slots.

10. The method according to claim 9 and further comprising:

accessing said multiplicity of 2.5 inch disks via a removable upper panel on said 2RU disk array enclosure.

11. The method according to claim 9 wherein said installing comprises:

installing said backplane slots in at least two rows along said inner bottom panel.

12. The method according to claim 9 wherein said signal/power connectors are Serial General Purpose Input/Output (SGPIO) buses according to the SFF-8485 standard.

13. The method according to claim 9 wherein said installing comprises:

installing said backplane slots in at least four rows along said inner bottom panel.