Will a 2-post open rack suffice?

Now that I've suddenly picked up some stuff that is rack mountable, I'm giving more thought into acquiring one. But being as rural as I am, there's pretty much no chance of getting one through craigslist or the like. So I've found some 2-post racks on ebay that are within my price range. Here is an example. Most of these say about a 1k weight capability, which is of course absurdly plenty.

Never having owned a rack, I'm not sure if I'm missing out on something key by getting a 2-post rack instead of a full rack. I don't really care about ventilation or power. This will mainly hold patch panels. The only things I have now that could go in a rack are my autopatch 4ydm, and a media PC. I'll probably be getting a distributed audio system (Breathe audio, probably), and if that's rackmounted, then I'd want it to go there too.

Obviously, this would need to be secured. Id' plan to bolt it to the basement concrete floor, as well as probably attached the top to the floor joists above somehow.

Thanks for the help!

I have a 2 post rack and it works well except since I didn't bolt it down I had to put a brick under the back of my UPS so the rack didn't tip backwards. The rack itself is very strong and the one you linked to has a bigger base than mine so I would think it would be very stable, especially if you bolted it down.

Eric

I have a few 2-post open racks in the wiring closet, they are holding up all my rack mountable PCs as well as others. You can buy shelves for these as well if you have something not rack mountable. As for UPS, my APC allows mounting the ears in the middle so they actually work quite nice, as they're heavy and acting like anchors, they sit at the bottom of the rack.

A 4-post rack would allow rails for rack-mountable PCs so instead of loosing screws each time you need to have access to the inside of a computer, can just slide out the PC. But factoring out the cost of a 4-post rack and the frequency of accessing the PC, I opt'd for a cheaper solution

Great, thanks for the replies! A 2-post rack is something I can afford...and now all my rack mountable stuff will have a nice home.

Dude scan craigslist and eBay you can get full on enclosures for the price of new 2 posts. Then you can do climate adjustments too, not to mention they look cooler.

I didn't want to bolt my 2-post rack to the floor, but I did secure the top of the rack to some nearby stairway structure to stabilize it.

I also ran a ground wire to a nearby copper waterpipe so I don't light up myself or another family member in the unlikely event of a failure of any component in the rack.

Beelzerob,

Slightly off topic, but why do you think you will be getting the Breath Audio system? I ask because I am looking at that one, the HTD, and maybe the Russound CAS unit. Anything made up your mind in favor of Breath?

--Jamie

Haha...collin, the only things in craigslist here are tractors and free manure. The closest major cities are 3 hours east or west...and with gas as it is, that's nontrivial driving distance in my truck.

I looked through ebay and couldn't find a full rack for anything close to a new 2-post one ($90 shipped). Maybe it just requires that "patience" thing again (boy do I hate that....). About the only advantage I could see in a full rack is if I could put a filter on it so that I have a single source of air filtering for all the PC's or hardware in there.

What I may do instead of bolting to the floor is build a short subfloor (2 X 4 or even 2 X 2 + plywood) for it to sit on and then bolt it to that, as well as affixing at the top.

royalj7 said:

Beelzerob,

Slightly off topic, but why do you think you will be getting the Breath Audio system? I ask because I am looking at that one, the HTD, and maybe the Russound CAS unit. Anything made up your mind in favor of Breath?

--Jamie

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Oh, I definitely gave a wrong impression....I have in no way made up my mind on it yet. I mentioned it mainly because I find Breathe, HTD (and a few others) to be really pretty similar...so as an example of the kind of hardware I'd put in a rack, I figured it'd be a good one to choose.

So far, everytime someone mentioned in a thread that they're looking into breathe, I mention HTD to them...and when they say they're looking into HTD, I mention Breathe to them. Hehe...so I'm trying to get them to make up their minds for ME. But I haven't sat down and considered it hard enough to know the difference. For me, it will come down to controllability and keypads, I'm sure.

2x4's, screws, and plywood FTW! lol

Having installed numerous racks at work, my suggestions would be these:

- Make sure the rack is steel, if you are going to be mounting anything with some weight to it (computers, UPS, etc.)
- I would definately bolt it down! Of course, I live in CA, so in addition to bolting it down, I would also put a seismic strap from the top of the rack to the wall.
- Photons ground wire is a good idea. We always ground our racks. Cheap, easy, and good practice.

I personally hate cabinets, except when you are installing componants that are designed for four post cabinets. For crap that isn't meant to go into a 4-post rack, the open 2-post is much better. As far as looking better, it's easy to make your 2-post racks look as good as a 4-post cabinet. It just takes a little organization.

Sacedog said:

Having installed numerous racks at work, my suggestions would be these:

- Make sure the rack is steel, if you are going to be mounting anything with some weight to it (computers, UPS, etc.)
- I would definately bolt it down! Of course, I live in CA, so in addition to bolting it down, I would also put a seismic strap from the top of the rack to the wall.
- Photons ground wire is a good idea. We always ground our racks. Cheap, easy, and good practice.

I personally hate cabinets, except when you are installing componants that are designed for four post cabinets. For crap that isn't meant to go into a 4-post rack, the open 2-post is much better. As far as looking better, it's easy to make your 2-post racks look as good as a 4-post cabinet. It just takes a little organization.

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Good input! I'll definitely secure it, not just rely on weight distribution and balancing. And I'll secure it from the top too.

That is a good idea about grounding it, photon. The wiring room is in the same place as our electrical panel, so I could find the ground there if I wanted. For that matter, couldn't I just run a ground wire from the ground pin of a power outlet, or is that a no-no? (there are no lead or metal pipes in our place that I can think of).

Personally, I think the 2post racks look really nice. And more than that, I think sace is right that it's more a matter of your wire organization than anything else on whether it still looks nice once you're done.

The "Hometime" TV show has done a few programs that included centralized voice/data/audio/vidio in a basement utility room. They used ready-to-assemble cabinets from Home Depot as enclosures on at least one of those programs. They mounted the cabinets back-to-back (with backs removed) and with the side against a wall. That gave them great access to the front and back of the equipment, and it probably kept the spider population down a bit. I thought it looked rather good, and was probably cheaper than an enclosed rack. I nearly went that way myself on this house, but I have no need to hide my toys 'cause we have a huge basement

Another unusual way I've seen to mount the patch panels and punchdown blocks is to mount them into drawers. It is really tidy, and really easy to access. I'd like to try that method, but I think I'm in my last house, and I'm happy with my backboard.

Photon said:

Another unusual way I've seen to mount the patch panels and punchdown blocks is to mount them into drawers. It is really tidy, and really easy to access. I'd like to try that method, but I think I'm in my last house, and I'm happy with my backboard.

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I like this idea- I'm moving to a full cabinet (since it was free ;-), and I've been postponing moving my network patch panel on figuring out how I wanted to mount it so that I can access to the back to punch down. . . maybe a drawer would do the trick....

Thanks

Markd

Accessibility is key to me...I'm planning on putting the rack in-line with the wall so I can walk to either side. Being only a 2-post rack, I'll probably leave it far enough out in the room so I can walk completely around it. Nothing I hate more than having to squeeze into a place to get at something.

I'm not really worried about the aesthetics of any of this equipment...I think with good cable organization, it'll be a piece of art unto itself.

Besides, the whole wiring room is separated from the rest of the basement by a wall and door...so there's nothing I'll have to hide.