Building a new server rack (pics and worklog)

[zag]

Why did you go for the Dell and the APC UPS?

 

Ben

 

The Dell one came free with the Rack order we placed. Not sure which is best yet, might just use it as a spare.

 

The APC units are 3000va so pretty big

[zag]

Update: Installed the gigabit switch, cable tidy rack, Dell equipment Shelf and The KVM 1U pull out unit.

 

The equipment shelf is really good for keeping the network cables all lined up.

 

I'm also loving the pull out TFT monitor but think I will keep the keyboard and mouse seperate as USB devices as all the Dell servers have front USB Ports. Shame the TFT looks very oldschool with a big bezel though.

 

[zag]

Does anyone have any advice for reducing electric shocks from the rack?

 

I keep getting shocked everytime I touch it at the moment. Don't even have anything plugged in yet!

[Andrew_C]

EARTH yourself via a resistor before you touch it! Change the carpet, or maybe your underwear.

 

Seriously, be careful touching connectors with a static charge on you.

[zag]

Got an electrician out in the end to do it. He found the dedicated earth points and connected them up to the electrical box.

 

No more electric shocks for me

 

 

The cables are all nice and tidy at the front now. Not so much at the back though

 

 

And the battery backup is connected and turned on. Was happy to see it go to 100% battery after it sitting on the shelf for 2 years before install

 

 

And a final pic of the first server installed. you cant really see the custom bezel but once the blue hyper-v ones are installed they should all be colour coded and stand out nicely.

 

[sonofsanta]

Look at those network cables just dangling down in the middle at the back... how can you live with yourself

 

Top tip: just tidy them up with the twist tags for now, because no matter how final you think your arrangement is, you'll need to change something a day after you make that call.

[MatthewL]

Why oh why are you putting sockets at the front of the cabinet, put it at the back. I would also mount your switch at the back to and then you will not need to run loads of cables from the front.

[sidewinder]

Yeah it does seem like madness putting sockets at the front....being that all the power is coming out of the backs of devices!

[zag]

Excellent advice, thanks. Hadn't even thought of that and was wondering how I would close the door with those plugged in

 

I think I prefer the switch at the front though. More flashy lights the better

[sidewinder]

I think switches are best at the front anyway, because you need to be able to see the status lights. And they look cool

[nicholab]

I would drop the switch down a u and have the cables going over the top it will look neater. I would also take all the cable to a point at the back of the rack and Velcro them together. The other Idea is take the cable management bar off and put a bar form back to front of rack to fix the cables to. Edited May 25, 2012 by nicholab

[DSapseid]

When i re-did my server racks over easter (2 racks - 1 servers & 1 comms) i made a patch loom. 24 port patch panel each end 6m cables between them then mounted one at the top of the server rack at the back then the other at the front of the comms rack just below the switch. Now i only need 1m patch cables to go from the loom to the server/switch! saves running loads of cables from front to back!!

[mrbios]

+iSCSI SAN

-Local HDDs

+USB or SD cards for Host hypervisors

= win, especially if you ever go down the route of vmotion or whatever the hyperv equivilant to that is (if it even has one yet).

[alttab]

On a full sized 42u rack i've found what works for me is having the switch at the back but not at the top of the rack. So only a few levels up from where the servers would be mounted. that way you can get away with mostly using 1m cables..the 2m for stuff that needs to be networked toward the bottom and still route them correctly. on a small 22u rack you should be alright mounting the switch at the very top.

 

having switches at the front never really worked for me. it wasn't a great effort to walk a metre or so to have a look at the back - assuming you've got the space to look at what's going on round the back!!!! the number of places i've been into where there's barely the room to squeeze your head between the back of the rack and the wall.