Where can I purchase a good server rack cabinet?

Question

We need to buy the first one and don't know where to start...

Thanks.

There's a company about 25Km from here that manufacturers and sells them direct to the public. — John Gardeniers, Jan 16 '11 at 21:01

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 16 '11 at 19:50

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I've used APC Netshelter racks, and quite like them. They're sold by a wide range of resellers. Never had any problems with mounting accessories in them.

answered Jan 16 '11 at 19:50

hmallett

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+1 for APC, after using generic racks APC are a real cut above - simple things like labeling the U's up the rack so you don't have to count them make a massive difference to the ease of use when installing in them. – James Yale Jan 18 '11 at 10:10

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 16 '11 at 16:51

3

I'm a big fan of Rittal racks.

answered Jan 16 '11 at 16:51

Chopper3

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score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 16 '11 at 17:16

Wrightline, Mainline, and Blackbox all have full lines of racks and cabinets:

http://www.wrightline.com/

http://www.mainlinecomputer.com/

http://www.blackbox.com

Chopper mentioned Rittal and they are kind of like "the Cadillac" ... I've worked with all of them and they are all plenty nice to work with for general purposes.

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 16 '11 at 16:50

1

Looking for a good rack cabinet? Try Dell. They've got really nice enclosures with everything thought out. Good security, airflow, cable management, etc.

answered Jan 16 '11 at 16:50

Jason Berg

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I've heard that those are actually Dell branded APC cabinets. Can anyone confirm or rebuff? – toppledwagon Jan 18 '11 at 06:41
@toppledwagon, either way, what difference does it make? – John Gardeniers Jan 18 '11 at 06:55

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 16 '11 at 16:51

Places like cdw.com and newegg.com sell racks, and there are certainly many others. Personally, I've purchased racks from cdw.com, but that was only because the company I worked for had a corporate account with cdw, which made the discounted price decent.

Regardless of where you go, if you search for "rack enclosure", that should give you at least a decent selection of items that can be used as a starting point.

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 18 '11 at 02:59

We're a Compaq/HP shop and one of things that had the most benefit for ease of server maintenance was to buy real Compaq/HP racks (I keep putting the / in because we bought all of our current racks just as they were switching over so about 1/2 have Compaq badges, 1/2 have HP). All the slides just fit, all the cable management arms work, they're sturdy, the doors come off when necessary...

I've looked at APC and they're also good.

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 18 '11 at 04:35

Use manufacture specific racks if you generally stick to one brand. Dell for example has pretty deep servers and standard racks will require extensions and the like to accommodate them.

If you are looking for cheap entry level racks, i assembled one from http://www.racksolutions.com/ with no hassle - at the time this was the cheapest/best non-enclosed rack I could find.

Where can I purchase a good server rack cabinet?

7 Answers7