The tc-rail-26 rails fit rack depths from 28.4" to 39", but before you go setting your rack to 29", check the specs for your other rackmount equipment to see what their minimum rack depth is.
The only thing I need depth for is the rsv-l4500. Everything else is either network gear or going on a shelf. Thanks!
If you have the space, I’d make it a bit wider - 32" to 36". Who knows what you’ll have in the future.
This is what I ended up with (27"). Where I plan to put this is a bit tight on space so I’m trying to hit the bare minimum footprint I can. I’ll probably regret it in 5 years but that’s a future jdiacobbo’s problem. I’ll let that guy deal with it.
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I’m wondering about mounting the Rosewill RSV-L4500 vertically. Has anybody done this or have any concerns, fears, suggestions, etc.?
Do you really really need to?
Also absolutely do not use any kind of vertical network rack or network rack or basically anything that even wall mounts…
I don’t really “need” to. It’s more of a preference. I’ll explain.
I’m starting the process of building a 20U rack, but this thing is much longer than the other equipment that’s going in the rack. Since the rack is going into my home office, I wanted the rack to look more like a tallish stereo cabinet (about 18 inches deep). This chassis needs an additional 8-10 inches of depth, which would make it stick out away from the wall and into the office more than I’d prefer.
I have a 1U switch, 1U pfsense (based on JDM’smini-ITX build), 1U patch panel, & 1U UPS mounted vertically in a 4U rack in my closet. I like that this rack fits against the wall and is out of the way. So, I was wondering about mounting this chassis in a 4U vertical rack like my network rack to reduce its physical footprint.
I think there are vertical racks that meet the weight requirements of a server and hard drives in this chassis, and I know how to mount stuff to studs. So, mounting vertically seems like a way to get this behemoth out of the way. But I haven’t found any posts anywhere of someone mounting this specific chassis vertically.
It sounds like you think it’s a bad idea. Can you explain?
Extend the rack to accommodate the longest piece of equipment.
I’ve never seen servers mounted vertically as a matter of course. Not even in fringe cases, though I assume they exist. They get terribly heavy and are designed to be horizontal. You can go ahead and get creative with your own methods of mounting but if you’ve got a rack, might as well just rack the things normally. Server racks and small typically don’t really go together, conceptually.
Good point on “ Server racks and small typically don’t really go together.”
A vertical mount is a good way get extra dust, water, anything inside of the case.
I think I’ve got an idea. I’m thinking of building a cabinet in the garage, so it won’t matter how big it is. I’m thinking I can build it on a wall that’s between the garage & master bedroom closet. To provide cool air, I’ll put a vent in the wall and fans pulling air from the closet & exhausting into the garage. I’m in Oklahoma, so it gets really hot in the summer. So, there will need to be good airflow from the closet through the cabinet. I’m not sure how much airflow I’ll need?? And, I don’t really know how to figure out how much??
and
pull air from
Why does it need to be on the wall? Can’t it just be a server rack which is on wheels?
This is the one I’ve used and recommended for years. It’s held up to multiple moves without issue.
What equipment do you plan on running? I kept my ~500W rack in my garage in PA for years, and it got well over 100F in there. I never had any issues, but I did have the fans running full blast.
This seems like a tremendous amount of work to not have a horizontal server
I was thinking about building a cabinet against a wall between the garage & house, so that I could pull air from the house through a vent. I was initially thinking to pull cool air into the rack. But a Google search of “homelab” or “server in garage” suggests summer temperatures are less of a problem than humidity, cold ambient temps, and ambient temp changes. Have you had problems with HDDs in PA related to cold ambient temps? I’m in Tulsa, OK, which gets really cold in winter and really hot & humid in summer.
I’ve only bought 4 posts for the rack, so the rack could be open or I could enclose it in a cabinet. Whatever I do, I’ll have to build some kind of frame/ structure between the posts.
I’m not sure what the power draw is, but It will house the following: in the rack:
- Unraid server #1 (AMD 5600G) in 4U rackmount chassis with 7 mechanical HDDs, 1 SDD , & 1 NVME.
- Unraid server #2 (Intel i7-12700k) in 4U RSV-L4500 with 15 HDDs & 2 NVMEs.
- TrueNAS (Intel Xeon e3-1225 v3) in 4U case with 4HDDs
- 1U mini-ITX pfsense build (based on one of JDM’s builds)
- 1U 24 port network switch
- 1U UPS
- 1U patch panel
These are pics of switch, pfsense, patch panel in a vertical rack. It’s in my clothes closet where all Ethernet in the house is home run (so it’s tough to get a decent pic). It’s a 4U rack, which is why I was thinking about a vertical rack for the RSV-L4500.
I like that it is completely out of the way & right where all the house’s Ethernet is home run (Ethernet comes out of wall below the rack).
The 2 pics were taken at different times. I moved the components around a bit.
I still think it’s a great way to collect dust in places where it doesn’t belong, not to mention if you spill a drink, have a water leak, etc.
Gravity, right :-). I only dust my computers if I have to open up a case. When I do, I use a shop vac. I don’t do things correctly and I don’t like it, but change is hard.
I think I’m going to go old school - i.e., horizontal. Now I’ve got to figure out where the rack is going to go. The garage makes me nervous given how extreme the weather is here - real cold winters & hot, humid summers. A couple years ago, I enclosed one of my 3 garage bays and have a mini-split for air-conditioner & heater. But I don’t leave the mini-split on unless I’m in the garage. I’m probably overthinking all of this and should just rack it all in the garage.
Rack it all in the garage, and monitor it as the seasons progress.
Sounds like a plan!!
Many thanks for the excellent information!
@Mthrboard or @JDM_WAAAT , the square washers that come with the iStar rails, what are they called? I can’t find them anywhere.