Rack Mount Systems for the Home Experimenter? 14
Sadam Andler asks: "I am looking to replace my home's multiple PC test network with a small rack. Separate cases are too bulky and will block access to each system. What I have in mind is a filing a cabininet-sized box with 5 to 15 sliding shelves, one for each motherboard. Quiet cooling and power supply would be handled in a centralized manner. Each computer and its cabling should be easily accessible for the swapping or testing components. Is there a cheap solution for me?"
Re:Hmm... (Score:1)
Good luck
... or any thrift stores that take furniture (Score:1)
Wiped it down, put some Thinkgeek stickers over a few scratches and SHAZAM!, instant data center.
I got lucky, but you might help your chances by leaving a business card with the front counter. Maybe a quick description of what your looking for on the back...
Very happy with 1u boxen from PenguinComputing (Score:2)
the prices on penguincomputing stuff are coming down, I think the base level config is ~$1200. That should be close to a celeron 600 128 MB ram 10g HD 1 ethernet card.
Customer service was awesome and they threw in a bunch of extras (tux stuffed doll, pins, more I think).
I just did this.. here's how I did it (Score:2)
4u Rackmount w/5 5.25 and 1 3.5
hot swap raid 5
120gb available space
256mg ram
Duron 650
Here's the breakdown:
(realize that I ordered double of everthing, so your prices may vary slightly on a single server)
Ordered from: bzboys.com
2 Duron 650 $46.87/ea
2 256mb Micron PC133 $109.32/ea
Total: $354.91
Ordered from: kdcomputers.com
2 GlobalWin FOP32-1 $18.00/ea
1 Artic Silver Thermal Adhesive $14.00
Total: $63.55
Ordered from: linuxstore.com
2 3Ware Escalade ATA Raid Controller 6400 $239.00/ea
2 IWill KK66 Duron MainBoard $119.00/ea
Total: $716.00 + shipping
Ordered from: bixnet.com
8 Removable HDD Kits ATA66/100 (19.95)
Total: $174.49
Ordered from: servercase.com
2 Rackmount Case 4U w/4 5.25 bays $128.00/ea
2 350wPS AMD approved w/2 fans $45/ea
2 6cmFan $5/ea
Total: $406.00
Ordered from: nexthardwareshop.com
8 IBM 5400rpm 40.0 gb HDD
Total: 899.52
(drives adverted at $101/ea, but they rape on shipping, still ended up cheaper then anywhere else at around $111/ea total)
Grand Total: 2614.47 or around $1300 each.
Not to shabby at all. The escalade controllers fully support Linux and also support full hot swap, hence the addition of the removable HDD carriers.. instant hot swap array!
You could really cut your cost by going with less then $400 worth of drives, or smaller ones.
But then again, at around $11 per gig, still not bad at all.
Disclaimer: I don't have anything to do with any of the companies listed, but they seemed to do a good job, I got all of my orders in a week. Of special mention is KD Computers. I ordered on a Wed. at 2pm, they shipped that night and I had my stuff by Fri. morning. YMMV. HTH.
Re:Hmm... (Score:2)
As far as the cards are concerned, I had thought about that later. What you would want to try to do is either cut down the case (ie, physically cut it down, or take it apart) to just give the bottom and the card mount, or build your own mounts. Another possibility might be mounting a bar at the height of the card screwdown, and then mounting the motherboards on the shelf, so that you can anchor them to both.
Going the full chipset route is probably the best, if most or all the machines are servers (or, dare I say it - nodes in a Beowulf cluster), as it means you can put them closer together...
For the original Ask
Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!
Build your own rack (Score:2)
Parts Express [partsexpress.com] has the rails that you need. Search by keyword for "rack rail".
One should pause before making well-armed paranoids feel foolish, no matter how foolish they seem.
I would recommend (Score:2)
Re:Rackmount servers (Score:2)
Try checking audio equipment stores for the rack. You can get a 12U rack that rolls under a lot of desks that is a little bigger than a lot of server cases. My brother-in-law and I are planning on using one of these for his 3d animation setup. We are going to use a 5U case for the graphic workstation and 7-1U dual 1Ghz boxes for the batch rendering. This whole setup will roll right under his desk. It isn't much bigger than the Chenbro Net [chenbro.com.tw] cube case he is currently using.
Get thee to the nearest surplus yard... (Score:2)
These come in different sizes, and are hard to modify as far as height, so pass on any that are too big. Be sure to get the side panels.
Some of these (especially the OD Green ones) come with a (caution: heavy) power supply in the bottom, usually twenty-four or forty-eight volts, but regulators to move this down to PC voltages are not too expensive.
The sliding rails for these are available new, and the best thing I've seen is to put a standard two rack unit shelf on the rails, and then just lay the motherboard and componets out on top of it with appropriate spacers. Not terribly pretty, but much cheaper than rack-mount cases, especially if labor is not a factor.
Centralized power (Score:2)
Rackmount servers (Score:3)
Hmm... (Score:4)
Take a trip down to Walmart (or K-Mart, sometimes Target). In the hardware section, look for steel shelving. Walmart sells these shelves (by the seashore?) that are made out of the flimsiest damn steel you can imagine. Pick the right day, and you might be able to pick some up for $12.00 a box. The shelves are about 42" high, 30" wide, and 12" deep, generally with 4 shelves. Supposedly, each shelf can hold around 200 lbs. Now, putting them together is a bitch, because they are very flimsy, until you get them tightened up. Once tight, though, they are damn strong. I bought six of them earlier in the year, used 1.5 to build an almost "double-high" shelf, set them side by side (3 tall shelves), anchored them to the wall (and to each other), and filled them with books - excellent bookshelves!
The same could be done to hold computers (or even just bare motherboards, using risers/standoffs to keep the boards from shorting out on the shelves), just more shelves per shelf (since the shelves are spaced far apart in a regular configuration). You will generally end up with leftover parts, which might be useful elsewhere. Sometimes, they package the boxes wrong, and give you extra parts (normally, you get extra parts - though I would imagine it would be possible to end up with fewer parts in a box as well). These shelves are el-cheapo, the boxes may be mangled, the parts may be drilled wrong or bashed/bent - but you get what you pay for, and all you have to do in most cases is break out the power tools and do some bashing to get it all to fit.
Add some back and side panels, and a large piece of plexiglass to the front for a "custom" look - cut holes in the top and stick some 120VAC muffin fans in for ventilation (you might have to drill holes in the intervening shelves for proper airflow, or replace them with something else).
Hell, I have talked enough on this that I might try it myself. I honestly think you could build just about anything with these shelves - they are excellent!
Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!
My experiences (Score:4)
Here's a couple ideas that I thought were pretty neat.
My last words of warning:
If you do buy rackmount I would avoid the Top Power cases. I've found them to be horribly engineered.
Boomrack makes really nice cases although thier a tad more expensive than most others.
Rackmount Pro [rackmountpro.com] has some good prices and great service but watch out for the Top Power cases they sell.
Stay away from ebay sellers that sell from Atlantec. While I can't prove it I'm relatively positive that they have a bunch of shill accounts that they use to bid up thier auctions. They always start off low and then in the last day they'll be bid up to retail price by someone with zero to two feedback. Normally I woudn't think anything of this but it happens EVERYTIME! Thier items never sell for more than a couple dollars less then what they sell for in thier web store.
Cheap and effective solution: Carpentry. (Score:5)
If you want to make things even more compact, gut the cases and screw the motherboards directly on to the shelves. Make sure you use screws small enough not to short against anything else on the motherboard, and make sure you put a sheet of cardboard or something else insulating under the motherboards (I've never trusted bare wood to be a perfect insulator; residual sap can really ruin your day, though I suppose a good paint job takes care of that). You're still not going to get a 1u machine, but it'll be easy to access the guts of each system.
If you *really* want a 1u form factor, look into getting some of those PCI riser cards that turn cards 90 degrees. That should get thet board height down to something reasonable, as long as you aren't using more than one or two cards per system (integrated chipsets are Your Friend if you're building a rack; you generally don't care about sound or a kickass graphics card for a server box).
Failing all else, remember that even the cost of a conventional rack is likely to be much less than the cost of the systems you're putting into it.