HALP! Buying a server rack

Luq

I work for a mid size public university, in the Computer Science department. I will be deploying two Apple Xserves (1U) in January and I need to buy a rack to store those as well as future servers. While the Xserve is only 24" long, I am unsure what future hardware sizes may be. The dept uses an incredibly diverse selection of hardware and OS' as you might expect. I have never been involved buy a rack, or planning a server room, or anything like that previously. My IT expertise is in other areas. Regardless I have to get a quote today due to some bureacratic deadline about spending money. I was only told to order a rack yesterday at 4pm...

Any help at all would be appreciated. I have no idea what brand is good. I know I don't need a huge rack as it's just for our dept. I need to access the systems from the front and back, although I would assume that is standard. Doors should lock as well. I do have a raised floor cooled room to deploy this. As of now all the department's servers are just sitting on shelves in there, none of them actually being rack uhh size.

Thanks for any assistance you can render.

Ruckus

Do you have a particular brand of server that you tend to order besides Apple? (for instance I use HP Proliant servers almost exclusively now)

If you do, you may want to look into the compatability of your preferred vendor versus other equipment, and example is that Dell has a method that isn't directly compatable with oem racks, but they sell extra mounting equipment to make them compatable.

Personally, I've only ever used APC Netshelter VX racks, and haven't ever had any trouble with them. The chunkiest server I had was a Dell PowerEdge 6600 which had plenty of room for cabling in the back.

Luq

Most common brands would be Dell and HP. The Dell servers are traditionally those gigantic poweredge towers though. Is it a problem that it requires a mounting kit to fit on the same rack as the xserves? Or is it just a tiny bit more initial work?

edit: looking at the 25U http://www.apcc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=ar2105blk&tab=models#

Luq

Looking at these racks, it's hard to tell if they actually come with the shelves for the inside. Do I have to buy all that separately?

Ruckus

Luq wrote: »

Looking at these racks, it's hard to tell if they actually come with the shelves for the inside. Do I have to buy all that separately?

Shelves are extra. Usually the servers themselves come with Rails which bolt to the frame of the rack, and the servers slide in and out on the rails. That's where compatability comes into play, because the method of fastening the rails to the rack varies by manufacturer, but most offer a standardized kit or adapter.

vonPoonBurGer

Luq wrote: »

Looking at these racks, it's hard to tell if they actually come with the shelves for the inside. Do I have to buy all that separately?

Yup. When you buy a rack, you get... a rack. It'll have a bottom, sides, top, back door, front door, and the internal support struts. Everything that gets mounted inside the rack is separate. Take my advice though... don't get shelves. Keep the rack for rackmount gear. Rackmount UPS, rackmount LCD panel with keyboard and trackpad, rackmount KVM, and of course rackmount servers. Shelves in a rack is a big waste of rack space. I used to work with a bunch of racks that had shelves in them, and the crap on the shelves was always in my way when working on the rack. Eventually we got a separate shelving unit for the junk on the shelves, the racks became offlimits to non-rackmount gear, and I was much happier as a result.

One other note... That rack uses square holes. There are two types of rack mounts, to my knowledge, square hole and round hole. When ordering rackmount servers (or rackmount anything, for that matter), you're sometimes given the option of choosing rails compatible with square hole or round hole racks. If it doesn't specifically say anywhere, make sure to ask before finalizing the order. I speak from experience when I saw that nothing is more annoying than unpacking a new server and finding that you've got square pegs that you somehow need to fit into round holes. You do not want your 80 lb., $6000 server to be "sort of" secure, things should fit exactly and it should be in there rock-solid. I think square hole is more common, but it may just be the IT shops I've worked in. Also, a lot of rack rails are designed to fit either one. Still, it's good to confirm ahead of time.

Luq

Thanks for the help guys, I think I've definitely settled on that rack. I just need to pick out the rackmount stuff vonPoon pointed out and I'm good to go. Apple does have the option for square or round when placing the order as well, so I'll be sure to get square. Thanks for all the help!