Help with design plans for rack mounting my stuff

[BigDave]

I'm in need of some advice/suggestions regarding the purchase of a single 42U rack.
I have no experience with rack mount installation, but as you can see by looking
at my current setup (yuck!), my metal shelf configuration is laughable!

The proposed rack does not have to have sides or doors, I'm just not concerned about looks.
After a little searching in the forum, I'm noticing the depth issue seems to be a point
that is brought up frequently.
My future plans are for:
2 - Supermicro CSE 743-T chassis which will house my primary and backup FreeNAS boxes,
they are 25-1/2" deep and take up 8U (34U of space left over)

2 - Dell N2024 switches (have currently) with space for 1U expansion (31U of space left over)

1 - pfSense 1U server, router/firewall (30U of space left over)

1 - shelf on rails for Printer, est. 6U of space used (24U of space left over)

1 - shelf on rails for small monitor and keyboard, est. 8U of space used (16U of space left over)

In the remaining space, I would like stationary shelf/shelves for wireless AP and UPS,

I also have no clue about slide out rails and shelves, my main question regarding this is
fitting rails to frame and obviously chassis. Are there standards? If I buy a used HP/Compaq rack,
would that only fit slide out rails of that brand, or would any rail do the job?

Any opinions, pointers and suggestions would be most welcome!
Dave

 

[BigDave]

I have my eye on this one. It's local to me and would possibly fill my needs.
Any thoughts?

 

[BigDave]

Purchased this one. It has never been used :D

Picked it up about 90min ago, it's exactly what I wanted and the price was low :)

 

[maglin]

That rack looks nice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[maglin]

Oh and you can get a 1U monitor and keyboard that is on rails. You will almost never need to use it though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BigDave]

Oh and you can get a 1U monitor and keyboard that is on rails. You will almost never need to use it though

Yes I've seen those, perhaps if I can find a used
unit at a cheap price, that would be nice. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[JDCynical]

A bit late, but the rack you picked up with it's threaded holes appears to use the older style clip nuts, such as these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012XRVYC/?tag=ozlp-20

Mine is like this.

If I had to do it again, I would pick up one with the square holes that use cage nuts, such as these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012XRVYC/?tag=ozlp-20

The reasons for this are because cage nuts seem to be a lot more common (easier to source) and I've had the spring steel on a few of mine break due to stress when I was moving the rails around.

 

[tfast500]

Post pics when you get things all installed

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[Ericloewe]

The reasons for this are because cage nuts seem to be a lot more common

The cynical engineer in me says that people got fed up of their Shenzhen special racks not being up to snuff with the required tolerances on the screw holes and threads and just went with an option that allows for their Shenzhen special racks to still work, despite atrocious tolerances.

 

[JDCynical]

The cynical engineer in me says that people got fed up of their Shenzhen special racks not being up to snuff with the required tolerances on the screw holes and threads and just went with an option that allows for their Shenzhen special racks to still work, despite atrocious tolerances.

The cynical admin in me agrees, especially with personal experience on the current rack having two sets of holes offset from each other, and having to perform some annoying shenanigans to get the rails mounted in the rack...

(down not across)

 

[BigDave]

A bit late, but the rack you picked up with it's threaded holes appears to use the older style clip nuts, such as these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012XRVYC/?tag=ozlp-20

Mine is like this.

If I had to do it again, I would pick up one with the square holes that use cage nuts, such as these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012XRVYC/?tag=ozlp-20

The reasons for this are because cage nuts seem to be a lot more common (easier to source) and I've had the spring steel on a few of mine break due to stress when I was moving the rails around.

My rack was very low priced (< $80) because it has unthreaded round holes, I knew this going in so the hassle of mounting things (while being a challenge) was also expected.
The rack was unused and unlike most equipment from that era has only a few minor scratches and no dents so it's resale value will be higher than a beat up cabinet.

Eventually I will save the funds for a proper square hole rack but for now I will play with what I have. If I understand things correctly, they make brackets to adapt round holes to square
for mounting the modern type quick rails to racks like mine. I'll purchase a set of four and play around with making those work.

Post pics when you get things all installed

Oh yeah, they're coming. Here's a shot of my newly mounted pfSense chassis on rails.
The outer rails went in the rack without issue, though mounting the inner rails to the
chassis took some of that "annoying shenanigans" @Justin The Cynical mentioned earlier ;)

 

[Mirfster]

Ahh I see you are one of those who prefer to mount the switch facing the back of the rack eh? ;)

 

[Jailer]

If I understand things correctly, they make brackets to adapt round holes to square

I got me one of them there square peg round hole adapters.

 

[tfast500]

Looking good I really need to invest in a rack someday haha

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[BigDave]

Ahh I see you are one of those who prefer to mount the switch facing the back of the rack eh? ;)

Just temporary actually, I haven't made a final decision as to the rack's permanent location. Once that's been done,
the network cables will be rewired and the switches will face front after that. I like all the twinkly lights showing through the door venting.:D

Funny note: The wife informed me this morning that something was "wrong" with our equipment when she looked down at the end of the hallway and
saw the HDD activity lights (red color) blinking like mad while FreeNAS was scrubbing the pool (the normal look is the steady green of the power lights).

 

[BigDave]

I'm putting together a rackmount chassis for my FreeNAS hardware. I purchased a used
SC836 chassis that came with a set of rails that were too long for my rack dimensions
(MCP-290-00053-0N).

So I looked for something shorter and decided that a round hole to square hole adapter
might work, so I ordered a set of MCP-290-00058-0N from one vendor and the adapters
from another. The rail kit arrived today, but the adapter kit is still a few days out :(

I open the rail kit box and began looking a bit harder at how I might use the adapters to
mount this in my rack... an idea came to me... It couldn't be this easy could it?
Take a hacksaw and cut off those "hooks" and just use three screws in each end?


I love it when it works out, don't you?
:D:D:D

 

[Jailer]

Redneck engineering at it's finest. I love it.

 

[BigDave]

A rackmount update today.

Last evening I came home to find the arrival of two new toys
First was a MCP-290-83603-0N which is used to mount the BPN-SAS2-836EL1 backplane in my CSE-836 Supermicro chassis.

BTW does anyone wish to purchase a BPN-SAS-836TQ backplane as a spare? I'll let it go super cheap, and I'll throw
in the cables. PM me if you're interested.

The original TQ backplane uses these...

The new SAS2 backplane uses this...


The changeout of the backplanes was super easy for me, but remember, I have worked with mechanical things every
day for the past 30+ years and taking things apart and putting them together is how I make my living;) YMMV

Some might ask why I didn't just purchase a 836E16 chassis and be done with it. First, it would involve alot more
cash lay out and second, there would be nothing learned and no enjoyment, this is after all my hobby :p

Oh, I almost forgot the second toy box that arrived...

I bought two Supermicro MCP-220-00043-0N harddrive trays that have an adapter to mount a 2.5in. drive,
for me this means no headache of having to open the chassis in the event of boot disk failure :)

With 16 bays in the new chassis, the plan is for future expansion to 2 Vdevs consisting of 6 - 4TB in each, leaving
four bays left over. My thoughts being one bay for FreeNAS boot SSD and the rest for inserting replacement disks,
badblocks burn-in, etc.

Stay tuned as I continue to prepare this equipment for final assembly and testing.
Dave

 

[Ericloewe]

I bought two Supermicro MCP-220-00043-0N harddrive trays that have an adapter to mount a 2.5in. drive,
for me this means no headache of having to open the chassis in the event of boot disk failure :)

Out of curiosity, do those carry a warning against mixing and matching them with 3.5" drives? I imagine these might lead to 3.5" being starved from airflow due to insufficient static pressure across them.

 

[Jailer]

Out of curiosity, do those carry a warning against mixing and matching them with 3.5" drives? I imagine these might lead to 3.5" being starved from airflow due to insufficient static pressure across them.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Air will always flow the path of least resistance.