Front input/output (I/O) expansion module for a computing device
An input/output (I/O) expansion module includes a first substrate, and an expansion slot disposed on the first substrate. The expansion slot is configured to be communicatively coupled to a backplane slot disposed on a backplane of a computing device. The computing device is external to the I/O expansion module.
1 . An input/output (I/O) expansion enclosure, comprising:
a rackmountable chassis;
a riser card mounted within the chassis, the riser card comprising one or more I/O expansion card slots each configured to receive a corresponding I/O card; and
a cable configured to communicatively couple the one or more I/O expansion card slots of the riser card to a conversion module installed in a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVME) drive slot on a NVME backplane of a rackmountable computing device external to the rackmountable chassis of the I/O expansion enclosure.
2 . The I/O expansion enclosure of claim 1 , wherein the one or more I/O expansion card slots comprise at least one Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) slot.
3 . The I/O expansion enclosure of claim 1 , further comprising:
a power supply configured to provide power to the one or more I/O expansion card slots.
4 . The I/O expansion enclosure of claim 1 , wherein the NVME drive slot is a first NVME drive slot, and wherein the conversion module is configured to couple with a plurality of NVME drive slots of the rackmountable computing device, the plurality of NVME drive slots including the first NVME drive slot.
5 . The I/O expansion enclosure of claim 4 , wherein the cable is coupled to the first NVME drive slot and a second NVME drive slot of the plurality of NVME drive slots.
6 . The I/O expansion enclosure of claim 1 , wherein a first I/O expansion card slot of the one or more I/O expansion card slots is configured to receive a peripheral component.
7 . The I/O expansion enclosure of claim 6 , wherein the peripheral component comprises a storage device.
8 . The I/O expansion enclosure of claim 6 , wherein the peripheral component comprises a graphics processing unit (GPU).
9 . The I/O expansion enclosure of claim 6 , further comprising a cooling device configured to cool the peripheral component.
10 . The I/O expansion enclosure of claim 6 , wherein the peripheral component comprises a networking device.
11 . The I/O expansion enclosure of claim 1 , wherein the riser card comprises a plurality of I/O expansion card slots.
12 . The I/O expansion enclosure of claim 1 , wherein the cable is configured to carry both data signals and power.
13 . The I/O expansion enclosure of claim 1 , wherein the riser card mounted in the chassis is a first riser card of a plurality of riser cards mounted in the chassis.
14 . The I/O expansion enclosure of claim 1 , wherein the rackmountable computing device comprises a server.
15 . A system comprising:
a rack unit comprising one or more rack spaces;
a computing device installed in a first rack space of the rack unit, the computing device comprising a peripheral component bay accessible from a first side of the computing device, wherein the peripheral component bay comprises a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVME) storage device backplane having NVME storage device slots each configured to receive a corresponding NVME storage device;
a conversion module installed in the peripheral component bay of the computing device and coupled to at least one of the storage device slots present on the storage device backplane; and
an input/output (I/O) expansion module external to the computing device and installed in a second rack space, the I/O expansion module comprising:
a chassis; and
a riser card mounted within the chassis, the riser card comprising one or more I/O expansion card slots each configured to receive a respective I/O expansion card; and
a cable connecting the I/O expansion module to the computing device and configured to communicatively couple wherein the one or more I/O expansion card slots of the riser card to the NVME storage device backplane of the computing device.
16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the I/O expansion module further comprises a power supply configured to provide a first supply power to the one or more I/O expansion card slots.
17 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the cable is configured to carry operating power from the computing device to the I/O expansion module.
18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the cable is coupled to both first and second NVME storage device slots of the NVME storage device backplane.