Description
HP 826691-B21 SFF Backplane Kit and Drive Cage
The 826691-B21 is an HP SFF backplane kit and drive cage for the ProLiant DL380 Gen10. A backplane is the board your drives plug into at the front of the chassis. The cage is the metal frame holding those bays square and in position. Buying one isn't about replacing something broken. It's about giving a server bays it never left the factory with, which is a different kind of purchase entirely.
Key Features
- SFF backplane kit supplied together with its drive cage
- Listed by HP for the ProLiant DL380 Gen10
- Adds a bank of small form factor bays to an existing chassis
- Provides both the board the drives connect to and the frame they sit in
- Built around 2.5-inch SFF drives rather than larger 3.5-inch ones
- Ordered under HP part number 826691-B21
Performance and Applications
The backplane decides what a bay will accept. SAS and SATA drives talk to one kind of board, while NVMe drives need a backplane wired for PCIe, which is why HP sells separate kits for each. Pick the wrong one, and you end up with bays your drives can't speak to. A DL380 Gen10 bought with its front bank filled and more storage coming is exactly where a cage kit pays for itself, since adding bays to a working server costs a fraction of adding another server beside it.
Compatibility and Installation
Check your server generation first, because HP builds these kits per model and per bay position. You'll need cabling between the backplane and your controller too, along with enough ports on that controller to drive the new bays. Drives and carrier trays are separate purchases on top.
HP 826691-B21 Backplane Kit for Adding SFF Bays to a DL380 Gen10
For a DL380 Gen10 with its bays full and more storage on the way, this supplies the hardware those drives need to connect to. Backplane and cage together, matched to the chassis receiving them.
