How to Select your Server Rack

When selecting a server rack, several factors come into play. Server racks are crucial for individuals who need to manage their growing data and network. To ensure you are well-equipped for the future, choosing the right server rack is essential. The first step in this process is selecting the server rack manufacturer.

The server rack manufacturer landscape has changed significantly over time. While there are now more options available, this increased variety can make it more challenging to find the right rack. However, with careful consideration of certain key factors, it is possible to find the perfect rack server.

Key Factors to Consider

Your Wants

Before starting your search, it is crucial to determine what you want in a server rack. This includes considering the dimensions, such as U space and other operational challenges. Ensuring that your server rack meets your needs is vital to avoid wasting resources and time.

Your Budget

Considering budget constraints is essential when selecting server racks to ensure cost-effectiveness and alignment with organisational financial goals. By carefully evaluating budget considerations, organisations can make informed decisions that balance functionality, performance, and affordability. This ensures optimal utilisation of resources while meeting current and future IT infrastructure needs within budgetary constraints, ultimately maximising return on investment and minimising financial risks.

Weight Capacity

A fundamental aspect of selecting the right server rack is understanding the weight of the equipment it will house. Servers, switches, and other networking devices vary significantly in weight, depending on factors such as size, configuration, and construction materials. It's essential to accurately assess the weight of each piece of equipment that will be installed in the rack to ensure compatibility with the chosen rack's weight capacity. Overloading a rack beyond its weight limit can compromise structural integrity, posing risks of equipment damage, rack failure, and potential safety hazards.

Physical Dimensions

Beyond overall rack size compatibility, attention to specific height, width, and depth requirements is essential to accommodate various equipment dimensions and configurations. The height of the rack, typically measured in rack units (U), determines the number of devices it can accommodate vertically. Consider the height of servers, switches, and other components to ensure adequate rack space allocation without wasted capacity. Similarly, evaluating the width and depth of the rack is crucial to accommodate equipment form factors and mounting options while allowing sufficient clearance for cable management and ventilation.

Reputation

Reputation is a trait that takes time to build and can be lost quickly. When selecting a server rack manufacturer, it is essential to research their reputation. This can be done through traditional methods such as asking friends or family members who have used their services. Online customer reviews are also a valuable resource, although it is important to be cautious of biased reviews.

Expertise

It is crucial to buy from a company that is an expert in the products they sell. For server racks, this is particularly important. Look for staff with relevant qualifications and experience to ensure you are getting a product that meets your needs.

Security

Your server racks should not be forgotten in terms of security. They are an important asset that needs to be protected, and appropriate security is integral to the welfare of your servers. For maximum security, contemplate server racks that have front and rear doors that lock — many models come with this. Some racks may have an option for access control, or come with monitoring decides that alert you to something being amiss in terms of temperature, water leaks, security breaches, and more.

Additional Considerations

Ventilation

Overheating in a data center can damage your servers beyond repair. And the biggest contributor to reduce overheating in your data center is ventilation. In order to improve airflow in your data center, you could choose server racks with a mesh front door and a perforated rear door. You could also consider buying server racks with removable doors, which can allow for quick and easy release of hot air in emergency situations. If sophisticated ventilation solutions are not within the scope of your budget, you could also place a fan above the servers to keep them relatively cool.

Enclosements

Choosing to keep your racks enclosed or open, each comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, an open rack dissipates maximum heat into the surroundings but a closed rack provides your servers with moisture-, dust- and chemical-protection. A closed rack is also more aesthetic compared to open racks.

Assembly

The proper assembly of your rack, along with the strength of material with which it is built with, determines its load capacity. Therefore, it would be unwise to consider rack assembly as a trivial task. We would suggest hiring trained professionals to do the assembly for you, to avoid any errors in the assembly which could cause structural failures and even damage to your servers.

Adjustability

It is important that your rack system should allow for flexibility, adjustability, and easy accessibility, all of which should be an important part of your data center design plan. Inspect the type of servers and cables which will go into the making of your data center and optimize the racks and other elements of your data center in such a way that connectivity and accessibility are never compromised on.

Customizability

Most times, buying server racks off-the-shelf might not give you the flexibility that you are looking for. This is where server rack customization can help you. Depending on the type of servers, PDUs and the other elements of your data center, a custom built server rack can help you optimize all of the points mentioned above and give your data center, the business edge it needs.

Size

Size is incredibly important to consider when deciding on server racks. The size of your servers is going to determine the size of the racks your purchase. This means that you need to know the precise dimensions of your servers prior to buying anything. In addition, purchasing racks that are wider than your servers is recommended in order to better access and manage cables.

Accessories

Consider the accessories and data center supplies that you will purchase along with your server racks, and if the racks you are buying will accommodate these accessories. Cable management systems, power strips, additional mounting rails, lighting inside the racks, and exhaust fans, are some of the accessories that you may require or desire and each will affect your purchase in a different way. Make sure you have a completed list of accessories you intend to get prior to deciding on a server rack.

Air Flow

Ventilation is incredibly important in the success of the racks and equipment you purchase. Up to 40% of total operational costs for a data center will come from the energy put towards powering and cooling the large amount of equipment they need. Servers create plenty of heat while running. If they do not have correct ventilation, the heat will accrue and, over time, ruin your equipment. Any satisfactory cabinet will include vents. Some higher-end ones will come with other add-ons to ensure maximum air flow — things such as exhaust fans or liquid cooling. If security is no concern to you, think about having doorless panels or an open rack.

Conclusion

Choosing the right server rack manufacturer requires careful consideration of several factors. By considering your wants, budget, space, reputation, expertise, security, ventilation, enclosements, assembly, adjustability, customizability, size, security, accessories, air flow, weight capacity, physical dimensions, and budget considerations, you can ensure that you find the perfect rack for your needs. Contact HardRack now for more information.