1y ago

Thoughts on server/network racks?

Every couple months I get the urge to organize my lab/home office equipment into a rack/cabinet, but never follow through on it. I ocassionally look on craigslist for deals, but everything is either too far away or too big. I'd rather pay more for a smaller rack that doesn't go all the way to the ceiling and will just show up on my doorstep. A 6U would fulfil my current requirements, 12U is probably more than enough in reality but as an engineer I find myself eyeing 15-18U to be conservative.

This iteration of the search has me eying these options:

sysracks 18U server rack - slightly bigger than I want, but still reasonable. Some questionable reviews on manufacturing/shipping quality, but this seems like a solid cost/value ratio: fully enclosed, room to grow, wheels, accessories like shelves and such I'd want anyway. Feels like maybe overkill, but for the price...
NavePoint 15U Portable Rolling Network Rack - closer to the size I want (12/15U options), cheaper but no accessories, like shelves, I'd need bringing it closer in price to the sysrack. Similar manufacturing/shipping concern reviews. I like this one, but hard to feel like it's not a worse deal than the sysrack.
some startech variant - these seem generally higher build quality (sturdier) but higher cost and more "bare bones" looking. also often adjustable depth making it potentially more future proof. but I'm not sure either of these make up for the increased cost.

What do you think? Any advice or wisdom you can share? I'm feeling like finally following through this time because my office is a tiny mess. Leaning toward the NavePoint currently.

14 comments

I got some massive 48U rack off Craigslist for like $50 and then cut it in half with an angle grinder, got some steel and screwed it all together to keep it stable. It ain't pretty but the Frankenstein monster vibe adds to its character.
And I'm using the other half for audio equipment down the line so it all worked out

You could also get a set of rails from navepoint and custom build for a bit cheaper. Or IKEA lack rack diy.
But I agree, all this stuff is too large for my taste and current gear too. I'm eyeing 10in 9U for my minilab, which is now comfortably tucked away hiding in some furniture in my living room.

My server closet was a mess. I kept justifying it by saying I didn’t need to waste money on proper rack equipment. Finally cracked and upgraded to a 15u rack and got some 3D printed rack housing for some of my non-rack equipment. Everything looks so clean now. Vanity project? Yes. Expensive? Yes. Am I happy with it? Yes. Do I wish I did it five years ago? Yes.
Do it. Go a little bigger than you need. Airflow. Expansion. Whatever. I probably could have made an 8u work but I’m happy with a 15u.

Both my dad and I'm looking into racks too but haven't pull the trigger yet. My dad has more stuff because he has a house and I only have a flat. He has everything in a cabinet and my stuff is behind the table on the floor it looks terrible.
But only my dad has some rackable things, mt stuff is just raspberry pi, small switches, etc. But I feel once we'd have racks we'd start buying rackable stuff in the future.
- I tried this it was so loud. I'm not sure if since it's the future you can buy a quiet rack mount servers. a few years ago I was doing a home rack in a small space was pretty much a space heater/airport plane takeoff sound simulator. I still have a mini rack but I basically use it to hold smaller computers from minisform or beelink. The DDR5 models make perfect hypervisors and they are cheap enough to cluster without feeling like you are killing the environment.
  Although I do turn some older severs on in the winter to keep warm rather than use a space heater.

I got a 12U roadcase rack at Guitar Center last year. It's nice but it's only 17in deep which means my choices for server chassis were pretty limited and I haven't been able to find any rack rails that fit.

I can highly recommend NavePoint. I have this one and absolutely love it. Very high quality, and their support is top notch if you need it.
Their shelves are also very good.

I'm a proponent of the "get a 'lil more than you need right now" philosophy, but I also don't want to spend a fortune.
I also didn't really see the point of an enclosure - my stuff wasn't enclosed before, and the open framed racks are cheaper, so I settled on a Tedgetal 20U open frame rack and it's actually quite excellent for $200.
Nothing was bent, everything was packed well, no missing parts. I had enough of my budget left over for some slightly fancier screws and a few Navepoint 1U shelves, because I have some heavier equipment that isn't rackable.
The included shelves are ok for lighter things - I have several SFF machines I use in a Proxmox cluster that live on those.

I don't have a whole lot of experience with different racks, but I did pull the plug on a 12U one recently. It surprised me how much it helped with organization and cable management. I knew it would make those easier, but it instantly solved all of my previous organizational woes.
Definitely recommend!

I've had the sysracks 18U for about 2 years now and am happy enough with it. It's allowed me to organize all of my network devices in one footprint and nothing has broken (yet). My only complaint would be the noise but I'm not sure that's fair as it is a server rack.... At some point I plan to replace the top fan with a larger/quieter alternative.

That's pretty awesome that you want to go down this route and you'll certainly benefit from the experience. Are you actually building out your lab as training for your career?
- Not really, its mostly a hobby/nerdy/because I can thing. I am a software engineer with a decade of experience. The job sometimes requires virtual sys admin work (VM/container, cloud networking, etc). Setting up my own baremetal cluster has given me more insight into how things work, especially on the network side. Most of my peers take for granted that traffic gets in or out of a cluster, but I can actually troubleshoot it or design with it in mind.

I have owned and otherwise dealt with a few different Startech 4-post open racks and have been very happy with them. I currently use one of their 25U racks for my lab, but am running out of space...

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