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Racks vs Custom Mounting/Shelving Solutions?

Posted by Cliff on from the what-to-do-what-to-watch-out-for dept.

Tairan asks: "I work for a small company that has recently been growing. We are very short on space, but may be expanding in the next month or so. I just bought a couple new servers, and need a way to contain them. Right now, they are all stacked on my desk, around my office, and down the hall. I would like to have a central location where I can get to all the machines. I?ve been thinking about a rack unit. I hear many racks are extremely noisy , and quite bulky for the small amount of space they provide, so I am doubtful of that option. What I am considering, is building a custom cabinet/ shelving unit. Has anyone ever tried anything like this? What are some things I should keep in mind during my endeavor? If I do have to buy a commercial rack, are there any other considerations or recommendations from anyone?"

1 of 14 comments (clear)

  1. Been there, done that by LiNT_ · · Score: 3
    I've tried quite a few of these solutions.

    Wanting to gain some experience with networking I decided to build a LAN in my room. It's not a small room, but it's not a large one either. My requirements were to keep the noise and heat down as well as have an aesthetic appeal to it.

    I started by trying to build a desk with integrated rack mount cabinets on the side. It worked but it was huge and became a pain to work with. I eventually gave up on that design when I ran out of money to do the air conditioning and switch to a seperate power circuit. My cabinet/desk had a good design to it but in the end I decided it wasn't what I wanted. Too much money and even though I thought it would save money to build it myself, in the end I could have saved money going with rackmount retail products.

    Next design....rackmount everything! I thought about this one for awhile and eventually this is what I would like to do. But for now it's not feasible. The cost for 3 cabinets, 10 cases, seperate power circuit, UPS's, etc, was something I couldn't afford. Besides, the majority of my computers were P2 233's or P133's. Why spend $250 on a case for a computer that was only worth $100-200 to begin with?

    My current decision, wire racks. I've found these for around $300 for a 72" wide by 24" deep rack. They offer excellent cooling, they're sturdy (600lbs per shelf) and they're relativly cheap. I still have to bring in another power circuit as well as UPS's and Air condition the entire room, but in the long run, this is the only feasible option for me. The only problem is the noise. So far I'm not too worried about it, I've been putting up with a few computers sitting out in the open for awhile now. Lately I haven't even noticed. Besides sometimes it nice to have some computers humming while I sleep, it keeps me dreaming about my next hairbrained idea.

    What I've learned from all of this:

    1. If you build something custom it will cost 10 times what you planned on even if you plan on bieng 10 times over budget
    2. It's more fun to dream about building it than to actually build it
    3. Start off simple, then add all the cool things you have to have
    4. I'll never be happy
    5. Credit cards are hard to pay off

    Just be prepared if you decide to do this yourself. It takes a long time and a lot of money.

    LiNT