Will a 2-post open rack suffice?

[IVB]

I understand IVB likes 23" racks. He'd probably pay a premium to have it delivered, too.

Hey - how else could I find a way to pay for a 23-19" rack reducer, spending more money on this HA habit

BTW Beelzerob, it's strictly sliding shelves that i'm talking about. If you can handle fixed shelves, you're fine. I personally really wanted sliding shelves as my rack is inside a closet and I can only easily get to it from the front. Wiring it sucked ass, as I had to pull the component out, put my head inside it. Means I also have to keep equipment way too far apart, cuz y'all know I have a big head...

 

[boyfly]

hey, I'm new around here and am just getting into all this HA stuff, but here's a pic of a 19" rack I built for patch panels, switches, media servers, and whatever else comes up in the future. it's quite strong and built cheaply with stuff from home depot.

 

[Photon]

Wow! Under a sewer pipe, and next to the water heater dump pipe. You have a lot more confidence in your plumbing than I could muster.

Regards. . . .John

 

[boyfly]

haha... I get that comment a lot... but the white pvc is actually just a vent for the gas hot water heater... there is no liquid going through it. and there is no sewer pipe close to the rack. overall it was the best place to put the rack. at some point I may try to re-route the hot water heater vent just to stop the comments about it...

 

[sic0048]

I guess I should have asked this too....what is the "U" value of a rack? Like I see 42U and 38U, etc. Up to now, I've just been concerned that it's 19".

Straight from Wikipedia (they seem to have a better definition that I could come up with ).

A rack unit is a unit of measure used to describe the height of a server, network switch or other similar device mounted in a 19-inch rack or a 23-inch rack (refers to width of rack). One rack unit is 1.75 in high.

One rack unit is commonly designated as "1U"; similarly, 2 rack units are "2U" and so on. The size of a piece of rack mounted equipment is usually described as a number in "U". One rack unit is also sometimes referred to as "1RU"; most server racks have 42 U of height.

On a related note - get as big of a rack as you can afford that fits in your space. You think you'll have enough space, but you'll be amazed at how quickly you can use it up. Kinda like the number of cat5e wires you had run....

 

[nick_l]

Question: Has anyone ever tried using 2 2-post racks to basically make a 4-post? Does anyone see any problems with this?

 

[IVB]

doesn't work that way; the posts in a 2-post rack are in the center. You'd waste 8" in the front, 8" in the back assuming you could put them dead-flush with each other.

 

[beelzerob]

Well dang...a month later, I'm finding that getting a 2 post rack at a reasonable price is much harder than having decided to get one. I've got searches running on ebay and RSS feeds from all the local craigslists, but nothing reasonable yet. Of course, perhaps it's just my definition of reasonable...but I witnessed a 2 post rack, 42U, go for $51 shipped from ebay...so something close to that is my goal. but I'm beginning to fear that was one of those once-in-a-lifetime rare deals on ebay. I could "buy it now" on a bunch of 2 post racks for $100, but my tight fiscal nature just won't let me.

The search goes on....

 

[IVB]

i'm going to sell mine since i've removed everything from the media closet and the basement is too short for it, but i think shipping from NorCal will kill you

 

[beelzerob]

Hehe...is that the infamous 23" rack?

Ya, shipping is the weird thing....I've seen ebay racks with a flat $25 for shipping, and then I've the exact same racks where the shipping alone is over $100. Proximity doesn't seem to play a real big part in that difference....I wonder if some people are just trying to ship them assembled.

The sucky part is that with gas as much as it is....even if I find a decent priced rack in either Pittsburgh or Philly, the gas alone would probably double the price. As it is, I've seen racks on ebay go unsold with starting prices of $10, but local pickup only just a few states away.

 

[IVB]

silly boy, the mighty IVB has two different racks. The one i'm ditching is a 7', 19" 2 post rack. I'm keeping the wallmount 24U 23" rack.

 

[nick_l]

doesn't work that way; the posts in a 2-post rack are in the center. You'd waste 8" in the front, 8" in the back assuming you could put them dead-flush with each other.

IVB,

Assuming that you were replying to me, could you please elaborate? I have worked with two post racks in the past (although it has been about 12-15 years now). What I'm proposing is taking a two post rack and screwing the front of a rail mounted rackmount server to it and taking a second two post and screwing the back of the rails to it, effectively making a four post rack (mounting and leveling and such not withstanding).

Perhaps I'm being dense but I cant make sense of your post in this context, but then again it might not be in reply to me, in which case "Nevermind!" (as Emily Litelle would say).

Nick

P.s. Just for the sake of clarity, the racks I'm talking about are something like this [post="0"]http://www.blackbox.com/Catalog/Detail.aspx?cid=111,1338,1376&mid=3554[/post]

 

[kgingerich]

doesn't work that way; the posts in a 2-post rack are in the center. You'd waste 8" in the front, 8" in the back assuming you could put them dead-flush with each other.

IVB,

Assuming that you were replying to me, could you please elaborate? I have worked with two post racks in the past (although it has been about 12-15 years now). What I'm proposing is taking a two post rack and screwing the front of a rail mounted rackmount server to it and taking a second two post and screwing the back of the rails to it, effectively making a four post rack (mounting and leveling and such not withstanding).

Perhaps I'm being dense but I cant make sense of your post in this context, but then again it might not be in reply to me, in which case "Nevermind!" (as Emily Litelle would say).

Nick

P.s. Just for the sake of clarity, the racks I'm talking about are something like this [post="0"]http://www.blackbox.com/Catalog/Detail.aspx?cid=111,1338,1376&mid=3554[/post]

I see no reason why that wouldn't work.

 

[beelzerob]

Well, some patience and a whole lot of craigslist checking, and I've finally secured my 2-post rack for $50/shipped, with some wire management pieces and some kind of patch panel thrown in. I'm pleased.

The only downside is I'll have to wait until August to get it...I found it in Denver where my inlaws live, and they've gone and gotten it for me, but I won't see it until their scheduled visit. Ah well, more time to get the wiring room ready for its arrival!

 

[beelzerob]

Well, this is an amusing end to the tale....

Let me first state that while I did re-assemble the 2-post rack, it has otherwise just sat in the wiring room unused, waiting the day for when I can finally arrange the cables and get to it.

Then, Santa delivered this to me last month:

Two full 19" racks, bolted (apparently) together. I got it from work, and while it wasn't free, I can at least say that it cost something under $5.01. If NOTHING else, I'm pleased to have it just for the rack blanks that are attached. I needed some blanks to make into coax patch panels.

So then....someone help me understand just what the appeal of a full rack is. I obviously don't need 2 full racks, I could probably barely fill the 2post rack I had. I can probably use one of these things, if I can unconnect them, which I think I can. They do appear to be bolted together, not welded. I'll have to take them apart anyway just to get it down into the wiring room. Is there any reason I can't use these things? I mean, they're definitely old...but is a rack a rack?

The full rack doesn't give any more support to the items I put in there...they're still only attached by their front plates. Granted, there's a lot more room for stuff...there's multiple bolt locations within the thing, so that's kind of neat. And they're obviously more inherently stable than the 2 post rack. And I guess they'll work better for shelves, especially sliding.

It also came with a power strip in it, which I was pretty happy about, until I saw this:

They cut the power cord (bottom left nub). I'd still ilke to use this, mainly because these things are like $20 or more at Lowes. However, this power strip is held togeter with rivets, not screws. So, to get inside that thing and replace the power cord, I'd have to pop the rivets off and then find a way to re-attach it. Is it worth it in anyone's opinion? I have a dremel, maybe that'd work for getting the rivets.

Anyway, this is the conclusion of my tale. Whereas half a year ago, I didn't have any racks, now I have a 2-post rack (which I still really like), and 2 full racks, very solidly made.