JP2000149523A - Server with independent hdd rack - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve a flat cable with which an HDD(hard disc drive) rack which has a plurality of HDD units in which fixed discs are housed is connected to an I/F rack in a server to improve the assembly performance and maintainability. SOLUTION: A server has at least an HDD rack 52 in which a plurality of HDD units are contained, an I/F rack 54 which is connected to the HDD rack 52 with a flat cable 67 and, further, in which an interface board is housed and an MB(main board) rack 56 with a main board which can control the HDD units via the interface board. The flat cable consists of a flexible cable which has slits partially. It is recommended to use a twisted-pair flat cable as the flexible cable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an HDD (Hard).
Disc Drive Rack and I / F (Inte)
r / Face) relates to a server having an improved flat cable attached between racks.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A RAID (Redundant Ar) comprising a plurality of HDD (Hard Disc Drive) units accommodating a fixed disk according to the prior art.
ray of Intensive Disks)
Server, for example, AV (Audio Vi)
In order to make it easy to replace the HDD unit during operation while being mounted on a rack, the server has a structure that can be inserted and removed from the front or above the server. That is, an HDD (Hard Disc D) comprising a fixed disk and a control board
live) A frame-shaped caddy is attached to the main body to form an HDD unit, and the HDD unit has a structure in which an excessive impact or the like is not applied to the HDD main body at the time of insertion and removal. As shown in FIG. 4, the server includes an I / F rack 11 containing an interface board at a position close to an HDD rack 10 capable of accommodating a plurality of HDD units described above, and an I / F rack 11 MB (Main Board) rack 1 containing the connected main board
2 and a single motherboard 13 to which these are connected, and are configured to transmit and receive signals and data via the motherboard 13.

[0003] The motherboard 13 is connected to a connector board 15 having an SCA connector 14 provided in the HDD rack 10, to which a flat cable 16 is connected for electrical connection, and to an I / F rack 11. The structure includes an I / F connector 18 and an MB connector 19 that is electrically connected to the MB rack 12.

[0004]

However, the flat cable attached between the racks and between the motherboard and the rack described in the above-mentioned prior art is formed in a plane shape in which a large number of wires are arranged and the entire surface is covered with resin. Even if it is flexible, it has no slits, so it is difficult to bend, it is difficult to assemble it in a narrow area, and the flexible cable itself is hard and rigid, so that there is a problem that it is difficult to perform maintenance after assembly. .

[0005] Also, after being assembled,
There is also a problem that the attached connector comes off due to the restoring force of the twisted portion.

[0006] Therefore, in a server having an HDD rack capable of accommodating an HDD unit, there is a problem that must be solved by adopting a structure that eliminates the rigidity of a flat cable used.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, a server provided with an independent HDD rack according to the present invention comprises: an HDD rack capable of accommodating a plurality of HDD units; An I / F rack that is connected to a flat cable and can accommodate an interface board, and an MB rack that includes a main board that can control the HDD unit via the interface board. Server, at least a part of the flat cable is formed of a flexible cable having a slit, and the flexible cable,
It is a twisted pair cable.

[0008] As described above, the flat cable used between the HDD rack and the I / F rack is narrow because a part of the cable having low rigidity is flexibly bent because a part of the cable is a flexible cable having a slit. Even in the area, the cable can be easily assembled. Also, since the assembled cable is not subjected to excessive force,
Since the restoring force is weak, a stable mounting state can be maintained, and a flexible bending portion can be easily moved, so that maintenance is easy even in a narrow area.

[0009]

Next, an embodiment of a server according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a server according to the present invention is formed in a cabinet 40, a panel section 50 for performing various operations at a front position thereof, and an HDD in which a fixed disk is housed. An HDD rack 52 on which a plurality of units 51 can be mounted, and an I / O for accommodating an interface board 53 at a position adjacent to the HDD rack 52.
An F rack 54, an MB rack 56 capable of storing the main board 55 at a position adjacent to the I / F rack 54, and a DC power supply, for example, a power supply voltage of 5 volts and 12 volts at a position adjacent to the MB rack 56. And a cooling unit 59 composed of a cooling fan 58.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the HDD rack 52 is formed in the shape of an upright cubic car, and has a structure in which dampers 60 are provided on both side wall surfaces in the longitudinal direction.
The damper 60 is mounted on a chassis mounting plate of the cabinet 40 (not shown). With such a structure, the HDD rack 52 can be attached to the cabinet 40 in an independent floating state. Since the damper 60 absorbs an external impact, the impact applied to the HDD rack 52 is reduced, and the HDD
An anti-vibration function for the entire rack 52 can be obtained.

Each of the racks 5 having such a configuration
2, I / F racks 54, which are smaller than the height of the HDD rack 52 and approximately the same height as the HDD rack 52, from the left as viewed from the side, as shown in FIG. , The MB rack 56 and the cooling unit 58 in this order.

An MB motherboard 61 is arranged on the bottom of the MB rack 56, and an I / F motherboard 62 and an I / F connector 6 are provided on the bottom of the I / F rack 54.
3 and the HDD rack 52 is provided with a connector board 65 on which the SCA connector 64 is mounted.

The step between the MB motherboard 61 and the I / F motherboard 62 is electrically connected by a relay board 77. A flat cable 6 is provided between the connector board 65 of the HDD rack 52 and the motherboard 62 for IF in a floating state with respect to the cabinet 40.
7 are electrically connected. By using the flat cable 67 in this manner, even if the vibration damping function of the damper 60 of the HDD rack 52 operates and a delicate movement occurs, it does not affect the signal transfer.

As shown in FIG. 3, the flat cable 67 has a flexible signal line of a predetermined length and TX connectors 72 and 73 provided at both ends of the signal line.
It is composed of The number of pins of the TX connectors 72 and 73 is 100 P in the embodiment.

The signal line includes a signal line flat portion 75 having a predetermined length from the bases of the TX connectors 72 and 73 and having a continuous flat shape without slits.
And a flexible cable having a slit in a part thereof, and a twisted pair cable 75 in the embodiment. A signal line flat portion 76 having a flat shape without a slit at a predetermined interval is provided at a substantially central position of the signal line. When the flat cable 67 having such a structure is used, the HDD rack 5
Even in a narrow area between the I / F rack 2 and the I / F rack 54, the cable has low rigidity, so that the cable can be flexibly bent and can be easily attached. In addition, since the restoring force of the portion of the cable 75 after attachment is extremely weak, it is possible to maintain a neat state in a narrow area. Therefore, there is no problem that the attached connector comes off due to the restoring force of the cable. Further, in the case of maintenance, the cable can be easily moved, so that work in a narrow area is facilitated. Note that the signal line flat portion 76 provided at an intermediate position of the signal line may be omitted and formed by a twisted pair cable.

If a twisted pair cable is used for a disk unit adopting the SCSI system (corresponding to the space between the HDD rack and the I / F rack in the embodiment), signal noise can be cut off. As a result, the disk error can be reduced.

[0018]

As described above, the flat cable connecting the HDD rack and the I / F rack constituting the server according to the present invention is formed by a flexible cable having a slit, so that the flat cable is smoothly bent. This makes it extremely easy to assemble in a narrow area, and since the assembled cable can be easily moved, there is an effect that workability of maintenance can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view schematically showing an internal configuration of a server according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory view showing an arrangement relation of racks as viewed from the side.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view showing a structure of a flat cable connecting the HDD rack and an I / F rack.

FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory view showing an arrangement relationship of racks constituting a server according to the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

40; Cabinet, 50; Panel, 51; HDD unit, 52; HDD rack, 53; Interface board, 54; I / F rack, 55;
6; MB rack, 57; power supply unit, 58; cooling fan, 5
9; Cooling unit, 60; Damper, 61; Motherboard for MB, 62; Motherboard for I / F, 63; Connector for I / F, 64; SCA connector, 65; Connector board, 6
7; flat cable, 72; TX connector, 73; T
X connector, 74; signal line flat portion, 75; twisted pair cable, 76; signal line flat portion, 77; relay board

Claims (2)

[Claims] An HDD rack accommodating a plurality of HDD units, an I / F rack connected to the HDD rack by a flat cable and accommodating an interface board, and the interface board And an MB rack having a main board capable of controlling the HDD unit through the server, wherein the flat cable comprises:
The server with an independent HDD rack according to claim 1, wherein a part thereof is formed by a flexible cable having a slit. 2. The independent H according to claim 1, wherein said flexible cable is a twisted pair cable.
Server with DD rack.