A storage server, comprising:
- a plurality of storage drives, wherein each of the storage drives comprises a device connector and a plurality of mounting holes;
- a left backplane comprising a plurality of disk receptacles and a plurality of plug receptacles, wherein each of the disk receptacles of the left backplane is mated with the device connector of a respective storage drive of the plurality of storage drives, and the plug receptacles of the left backplane are aligned in a vertically stacked orientation;
- a right backplane comprising a plurality of disk receptacles and a plurality of plug receptacles, wherein each of the disk receptacles of the right backplane is mated with the device connector of a respective storage drive of the plurality of storage drives, and the plug receptacles of the right backplane are aligned in a vertically stacked orientation;
- a backing plate comprising a left surface and a right surface, wherein the left backplane is secured to the left surface of the backing plate and the right backplane is secured to the right surface of the backing plate;
- a plurality of host adapters, each of the host adapters comprises a left receptacle group and a right receptacle group, each of the left receptacle groups comprises a plurality of plug receptacles, each of the right receptacle groups comprises a plurality of plug receptacles, wherein the host adapters are aligned in a vertically stacked orientation;
- a median plane, wherein:
- i) the median plane equally bisects the backing plate,
- ii) the median plane is equidistant to the left surface and the right surface,
- iii) the mounting holes of each of the storage drives mated to the left backplane are bilaterally symmetrical about the median plane to the corresponding mounting holes of each of the storage drives mated to the right backplane,
- iv) the plug receptacles of the left backplane are bilaterally symmetrical about the median plane to the corresponding plug receptacles of the right backplane,
- v) the left receptacle group is bilaterally symmetrical about the median plane to the right receptacle group for each of the host adapters;
- a plurality of cables, wherein:
- vi) each of the plug receptacles of the left backplane is coupled to a corresponding plug receptacle of the plurality of plug receptacles of the left receptacle group of a host adapter of the plurality of host adapters using a respective cable of the plurality of cables,
- vii) each of the plug receptacles of the right backplane is coupled to a corresponding plug receptacle of the plurality of plug receptacles of the right receptacle group of a host adapter of the plurality of host adapters using a respective cable of the plurality of cables;
- and
- the storage server is free-standing and designed for independent operation and is not intended to be mounted within a separate server rack cabinet.