Re: Re: Advice on cheap data cabinets and rackmount switches....

[Jim Noble <yahoo-groups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

noel_pilot wrote:

> Hmmm depth,
> hadn't really thought of that one!
> Will be putting in a server case, the xcase 4U one that was used in
> the Jukebox server build article on this site.
> Advice anyone on the depth?


Get 800mm depth if you can (or more!). 800mm width would be handy for
cable routing and putting in vertical PDUs (long power strips) etc, but
less important.

The handles on the front of my EYE-4800 chassis are in contact with the
glass when the cabinet door is shut, and there's <100mm of space for
cables behind, which can be a bit on the tight side...

The S411 case is 560mm deep...

> Would you mind explaining the difference between managed and unmanaged
> switches?!


The latter has lots of fancy traffic shaping features you'll probably
never use. :-)

> Cabinet will be to house server, switch, a shelf or two for router,
> adsl modem and print server, and anything else i can rackmount!!
> I guess the biggest will be the server pc and the UPS (altho the UPS
> is a fair way in the future and I may well have upgraded the cabinet
> by then!)


How studly is your desk? That lot is going to weight quite a bit -
especially if the UPS has a decent runtime (ie lots of batteries).

Don't forget to think about cooling and noise. Enclosing everything in a
cabinet puts a strain on the internal cooling, and you may well need to
have a fan tray in the top of the cabinet.

Until recently I had a dual redundant PSU in my server, which has 3
screaming 40mm fans. I had to swap it for a quietish normal psu as it
was way too noisy. Mind you, with 2 case fans in the server, the UPS
fan, a couple of relatively quiet ones in the switch, 4 medium speed
fans in the fan tray, and 2 high speed fans controlled by a thermostat,
it still gets a tad noisy in summer :-)

Had to turn the lot off a couple of times, when we had people staying in
the spare bedroom next door :-) Looking forward to moving the lot to the
garage soon!

Jim

Ps. www.upsman.co.uk for the UPS when you get around to it...