Buying rackmount cabinets - be careful for the delivery

[willawake]

Bought a rackmount cabinet 37U today and the supplier says that we will need an additional person to assist in moving it from the parking to the office. OK....but the driver shows up on his own with a 120kg cabinet which they have not even fixed the wheels i ordered and they did not even bring a manual pallet mover. So we sent it back and they will send it via a professional transporting company which they will pay for.

whatever problems will happen again on monday i will not be suprised.

It is good practice to check all the details for the transporting of these heavy cabinets and better not to deal with new suppliers for these major items. Live and learn......

[Topcat]

I went through a similar ordeal when ordering my server cabinet. It's a dual motherboard cabinet, the largest I could get without going to a full blown rackmount array (which I don't have the physical space for).

Anyway, it came UPS, and the first one that showed up looked like they played basketball with it... The case empty weighs around 100 pound and is very sturdy, so it was hard to believe they could bend it all out of shape (came in a HUGE box)... I refused the delivery, and they bought me another one... The second time, they came prepared with an extra set of hands, and all was well...

Good Luck with yours!!

[willawake]

oh man, dont speak of that, last thing i need is a busted cabinet. Happy they sent you another though, good guys.

I forgot to post the manufacturer of the rack cabinet for our european friends :

http://www.triton.cz

This is a czech manufacturer of rack cabinets. they seem very dedicated to design and usability. I think that their product will be good. The price is good.

The other choice in Greece (if you forget IBM, DELL, APC which cost way too much) is a local brand.

http://www.rentron.gr/

Actually i chose the triton because it has all the features i need including removable panels and many accessories but it is also more attractive than the local brand (important for management). A major factor was all the information available on the triton site therefore making an effective presentation possible to the management. Their site also gave me the opinion that they are dedicated to making improvements in their products.

actually i am dreading monday, it will be a major PIA to get that cabinet where i want it. Hope the floor will stand it fully loaded heh heh. Would definately spoil many people's day to have a loaded server cabinet coming through the roof.

[willawake]

I got it and it is a beauty...highly recommended. I think i will need a holiday after the installation though, it is really kicking my ass. It was delivered by 2 guys who really should be applying to the olympic weightlifting team. That is a heavy cabinet which you really do not want to mess around with, definately broken bones if it falls on you.

[Topcat]

As they say, this thread is useless without pics!! Post a few pics when ya have a chance...

[willawake]

Pics? why would you think i took pics :o

this is presently a work in progress, needs more $$$$



Triton S69 37U rack cabinet 1760H x 60W x 90D with one side door off



Fan installation at the roof. This is one part I dont like as it is installed with
four little bolts which seem unsafe.



APC Smart UPS 1000VA with APC rails installed



2xAPC installed (excuse the bad pic)



Panduit modular patch panel, cable guide, cisco 2950t switch
and levelone kvm 4 port. (excuse the bad pic)



Panduit modular jacks



Cisco Front



Cisco Side - the rackmount arrangement is not good here
as it is with two screws when it should be three. Bad
design. Therefore the cisco has a tendency for the rear
to hang down slightly therefore i had to put the KVM below
to support it which actually stays completely horizontal.



Cisco rear



APC Front



APC topless



APC ass



APC nude



Mailserver P4 1.7 running win2k server and mdaemon mailserver and
below is a firewall (smoothwall based). The present fileserver is tower
and wont convert so will upgrade in the future to intel rackmount chassis
based server - following large injection of $$$. Presently i have also
been supplied with the wrong rails for the two atx rack cases and the
2 shelves, (1 for various use and 1 for a monitor ) are also too small.
While i wait for them to be exchanged i will probably pull lan cables
and finish the conduit installation.



Blanking panels for future server space. Would fit two 2U servers
with nice air space around - future ambitions.

I am writing articles on my site and will post the link when i am finished.

[Topcat]

That's sweet! How much did that set you back in cash? Is that for your own personal use, or are you building that for someone?!? You could stuff a lot of Unreal Tourney servers in that...

[willawake]

Thanks the more $$$ the better it looks of course. I am building that for a company with 17 users. It is being done on a minimum budget.

Cabinet only : 678 euro or 558 dollars + accessories
Total : 4345 euro or 3571 dollars

Full List of Costs
http://users.otenet.gr/~wwalsh/rack/rack2004.xls

Add 17 workstations and UPSs, 1 fileserver, pc parts for the mailserver and firewall, 2 laser printers, photocopier, fax, 2 inkjet printers, 2 scanners, 2 laptops, 19 phones and KSU phone system, furniture and installation costs for all that and you have an office. Total costs for companies really make my eyes water.

[Topcat]

That's not bad... It's a hell of a nice rig! I paid around $1200.00 USD for my server case which hold 2 motherboards, and 2 double redundant Zippy PSU's. I'd like to have gotten a rackmount, but I just didn't have the room for it at the time. I still have many years of use from my existing case, as it is... Upgrades are in the works for it now as a matter of fact... After 3 years of service, the VP6's will finally be put out to pasture... :roll:

They will be retired with honors, and never forgotten!! :? 8)