Buying a server rack

[jowdemanne]

Hi guys! 

So i've built my first server a couple of months ago and am now thinking about buying a server rack for it. 

Right now I only have a 4U server but I know that later I'll put some more in it, like a pfsense router, maybe some things for home automation and stuff like that but that's for the future. 

What I'm hoping here are some pointers for buying my first rack. Things I need to look out for, what is important and what is not so,... 

A question I had was about the widths of racks. I've found a couple of racks with different widths. Do the bigger ones just have more space left on the sides or are there differences in width in rack equipement? 

Thanks! 

[Lurick]

I would say at least 95% of all equipment is for 19" racks, if you aren't sure, go with the 19" racks as those are pretty much standard across the industry.

[Electronics Wizardy]

12 minutes ago, jowdemanne said:

Hi guys! 

So i've built my first server a couple of months ago and am now thinking about buying a server rack for it. 

Right now I only have a 4U server but I know that later I'll put some more in it, like a pfsense router, maybe some things for home automation and stuff like that but that's for the future. 

What I'm hoping here are some pointers for buying my first rack. Things I need to look out for, what is important and what is not so,... 

A question I had was about the widths of racks. I've found a couple of racks with different widths. Do the bigger ones just have more space left on the sides or are there differences in width in rack equipement? 

Thanks! 

Get a 4 post rack. Get a rack without screws(you want square holes)

Get a full depth one(4 feet normally)

19in of course.

[DaltonM]

I install networking equipment for my job. Most racks are 19". 

You can get one that screws into the wall, http://www.rackmountsolutions.net/Wall_Mount_Relay_Rack.asp

I use ones like this often. You switches, severs, routers, UPS what ever will fit in with usually 4 screws into the RUs.

Consider rack airflow when creating a lay out, usually UPS is at the very bottom (or on the floor, it's heavy)

 

Make sure switches that get connected together are in logical positions, if you can leave and RU for extra cable slack between that's plus. 

 

Make sure you have a secure mounting point for a wall mount rack, a backerboard screwed into studs. 

[alpenwasser]

51 minutes ago, jowdemanne said:

Do the bigger ones just have more space left on the sides or are there differences in width in rack equipement? 

Assuming you're talking about 19" racks: The 19" standard doesn't really define the outer dimensions of the rack cabinet, which is how you end up with different widths. Around here, the common widths you can easily buy are 600mm and 750mm, with the latter offering more space for cable routing (useful if your cables are stiff and you don't want to violate their minimum bend radius, for example). 600mm offerings are more common here though (might be different in other markets).

 

Other things like depth, hole shape and such have already been mentioned.

 

Since information on server-grade equipment is often hard to come buy on the internet, I have often resorted to reading the documentation/user manuals of manufacturers for getting a better impression of a product's capabilities and characteristics.

 

APC make quite a few racks, it might be worth just picking a bunch at random and having a look at their user manuals, for example this one.

 

[leadeater]

My advice is to get the deepest one you can fit in the location you want to put it. Be careful of network/comms focused racks as they are much shallower than ones designed for servers, but even server ones come in different depths.

 

We had a hybrid blade chassis on trial in our data center and that was actually deeper than the HP server racks so clearly we weren't going to buy any of those .

[brwainer]

7 hours ago, leadeater said:

My advice is to get the deepest one you can fit in the location you want to put it. Be careful of network/comms focused racks as they are much shallower than ones designed for servers, but even server ones come in different depths.

 

We had a hybrid blade chassis on trial in our data center and that was actually deeper than the HP server racks so clearly we weren't going to buy any of those .

but.... HP racks are among the deepest I have seen.... did they expect the chassis to be able to hang out the back?

[leadeater]

1 hour ago, brwainer said:

but.... HP racks are among the deepest I have seen.... did they expect the chassis to be able to hang out the back?

They are older HP racks so not as deep as the current ones (1070/42.13" and 1300/44.3". The server was actually a Huawei X6800, http://e.huawei.com/au/products/cloud-computing-dc/servers/x-series/x6800, which is 898mm deep but you have to add in front clearance and rear cable management clearance so while it would fit it was basically touching the front and back doors and you can't cable that.

 

The server requires a 1100mm/43.3" depth cabinet.

 

Edit:

An HP DL360 Gen9 is 698.5mm (SFF) or 746.7mm (LFF) just for reference.

[Totohenk]

Norco server racks are also a great buy

[Mikensan]

I bought my 4 post from Amazon for something like 250. I originally wanted a cabinet just simply for aesthetics. If you find a half rack for $200-$400 with server 25-37" depths, buy it. Those things sell like hotcakes and are hard to find. Don't pay for full size racks (42u-48u), you're doing most those people a favor by just coming to get them. If you live in the MD/VA area you can come get my 36u beast for free.

 

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Adjustable-Levelers-Management-4POSTRACK25U/dp/B00O6GNLQE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1479754889&sr=8-2&keywords=server+rack

 

 

Also if on a budget, the lackrack is a good choice too.

https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack