Flush Monitors for Open Frame Rack
RackSolutions utilizes open frame racks for its own internal use. In fact, they happen to be the racks RackSolutions designs and manufactures at its facility, P/N: RACK-111. In the photo you can see we have a pair of flush mount monitors, P/N: 7U-RACKMON. These flush mount monitors provide a very clean professional look and are compatible with the Dell E176FP flat panel monitor.
Below the monitor on the left is a rackmount drawer, P/N: 4UDRAWER-162. If there is one product that will be indispensable in a rack, the rackmount drawers are it. Under each monitor, there is a small slide out keyboard, P/N:1UKYB-126. These are very economical keyboards with a handy storage bin behind the keyboard itself.
Notice the large, tool-less filler panels in the center rack, P/N: 102-1481. If there is one thing that can be done to prevent cooling issues, even in an open frame rack, it’s using filler panels to eliminate the mixing of hot and cold air. On the far right of the photo is a Vertical Cable Organizer. This cable management bar comes standard on the rack and can be mounted on the front or rear, wherever cables need to be managed.
The rack on the far right has all the networking equipment as well as the phone system. Using a 4Post rack works ok for this type of equipment, but the large amount of cabling can be managed more efficiently using a 2post rack. However, in our racks we use it for the smaller, peripheral equipment. Notice in the top of the rack on the right. There are numerous, small, peripheral types of equipment all mounted on a sliding shelf. There is also a sliding shelf installed in the center rack that is used just as a pull-out work space.
Tool-less Fixed Rail for Open Frame Rack
Another product that is used extensively in our racks but not very apparent in this photo is the tool-less fixed rail, P/N: 2UKIT-109-QR. These rails take longer to get out of the box than they do to install in the rack. They will mount any type of rackmount server.
These rails allow the server to be quickly installed or removed from the rack. They are not slide rails. Therefore, the server must be supported when removing the rails from the rack. There are numerous advantages to using this type of rail; it will mount your legacy servers that don’t have rails. It will mount your current servers without your having to purchase the expensive OEM rails. It will mount the next servers that you upgrade to without your having to ever buy another set of rails.
If you consider that OEM rails can cost upwards of $250-$300 a set and in this small 3 rack installation there are 17 pieces of equipment that require rail kits, the cost savings just for rails could be over $4,000 for a single hardware refresh. If this cost savings is projected over several generations of servers, the economics of using a generic type of mounting system is significant.