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I just bought 3x cheap 4U cases for fitting microatx hardware. But rails are not included.

Are slider rails mandatory or only for convenience?

Servers are quite light. It's compute nodes. Only psu + Motherboard + CPU. No hardrives.

user1219721
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  • How do you plan to mount? In a rack? Rack with shelves? – Dave M Jan 29 '13 at 16:38
  • I plan to mount it in a rack. Maybe I can alternate cheap server on top of good server with rails ? – user1219721 Jan 29 '13 at 16:40
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    @user1219721: Don't do this. The rails are designed to carry the load of *one* server, not many. – Sven Jan 29 '13 at 16:41
  • This is a useless question unless we know how the specific case is engineered to work. Please provide the make/model or even a product photo. – ewwhite Jan 29 '13 at 16:47
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    @ewwhite : I don't agree. The question is "Are slider rails mandatory or only for convenience?". This is a general scale question. It have been anwsered "most cases are not designed for use without rails, you should check about yours" – user1219721 Jan 30 '13 at 17:47
  • @user1219721 You didn't show us the enclosure you purchased. Without that information, we were all guessing. – ewwhite Jan 31 '13 at 13:36

3 Answers3

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If it's acceptable for you to put them on 1U shelf plates in the rack, you don't need rails. However, you will loose 3U for 3 of these (I absolutely don't recommend stacking them on top of each on one shelf unit).

Sven
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This depends entirely on how deep the cases are. If they're particularly-shallow, you may be able to mount using the front rack-ears only.

Can you link to the product you purchased?

ewwhite
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  • it's 500mm deep – user1219721 Jan 29 '13 at 16:47
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    At that depth, you can probably front-mount *if* the case appears to be engineered for it. (e.g. reinforced rack ears) – ewwhite Jan 29 '13 at 16:49
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    I'd call the manufacturer to verify that the ears can support the weight. 500mm is pretty shallow, and if the machines are light that might be the intended mounting technique. – voretaq7 Jan 29 '13 at 16:56
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I've had cheap whitebox servers without rails in a 2-post rack... It's not ideal, but it works.

Aaron Copley
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