How to setup a server rack, successfully!

The steps below will take you through what to keep in mind when purchasing and setting up a server rack. We will go through where to keep it, what size to buy and useful accessories to consider.

Firstly, you need to consider your long-term placing of the server rack. At Redback Racks, all our floor standing racks come standard with castors and stabilising feet, it is always best practice to wheel your rack into a suitable position before setting up your equipment. Other things to keep in mind when deciding where to keep your rack include:

• Accessibility
• Heat
• Noise

If you do not have access to a server room, you may want to consider an acoustic rack for noise reduction.

Now that you have found a place to keep your server rack you need to consider the size of the cabinet.

How much space do you have available?
How much equipment will you be storing in the rack?

The last thing to consider when purchasing and setting up your server rack is the accessories you need with it.

All Redback racks come standard with cage nuts, shelves and castors/stabilising feet for floor standing racks or wall mounting brackets for the wall mount units. Other accessories you may need to consider are:

• Ventilation – keeping your equipment at optimum temperature may extend the life and assist it running. Our ventilations options include a range of fans, digital monitoring units and aircons.
• Cable management – We’ll let these images do the talking of advantages of cable management

• PDU/Power Rail – Power distribution units (PDU) are also known as power rails; and are a common accessory purchased with a data rack. When selecting your PDU, it is important to know how many outlets you will be requiring, for our Redback Racks, you have the option of 6, 10 and 15 way in horizontal and vertical mounting, which is suitable for most applications.