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I run network and systems for a LAN party that attracts >30 people at bimonthly events. We have two VM servers (Dell PowerEdge 1950-III), a NAS that supplies storage to the VMs (Dell PowerEdge 2950-I), a caching server for Steam (Dell PowerEdge 1950-II) and a firewall (Sun Fire V20Z) - and it's becoming cumbersome to have to assemble and disassemble this gear at the start and end of a LAN party.
To this end, I need something rackable that has sufficient portability that I can easily load it into my car at home, unload at the event, supply it power and Interblogs, and easily disconnect, power down, load into my car at the event and unload at home. This also makes it easier for others to take the reins should I move on/get hit by a bus.
My idea is to buy a pair of 8RU (or 10RU?) flight cases, bolt them together (likely through the vertical rails on either side), get some sliding rails for the servers (bonus if there's cable management) and mount the servers that way.
Am I playing with fire here and is there a better way, or am I onto something?
Aaron Mason
Posted 2016-11-23T00:53:13.157
Reputation: 196
All those Dell PowerEdge are rack-mountable. Why not buy a short/small rack and just pre-mount all of them so they all can be wheeled off as needed? It will make the total weight of the rack quite dangerous to hand-carry but as you said, it will be easier to pack up. You can also buy rack-mountable power points so all the server can stay connected and powered, and just a single power cable going out, while all the servers are connected to the rack-mounted power point. – Darius – 2016-11-23T01:33:55.817
@Darius that's essentially what I'm planning, unfortunately anything retail in Australia that's small enough is too short and aimed at communications. I've pretty much got to go to >20RU to find something deep enough for server use. – Aaron Mason – 2016-11-23T02:22:50.443
Unfortunately this may ends up as shopping recommendation so I can't recommend anything in particular. The search term you need is AV Rack. AV rack is also same width with standard server, but may differ in depth, and height. Most AV racks are available as low as 8RU. – Darius – 2016-11-23T02:31:47.397
That's the problem I've got - the AV racks I can find at 8ru go no deeper than 600mm, and I need 820mm at a bare minimum. The flight cases I'm eyeing off are 420mm between the vertical rails, and when bolted together, give me ~860 once you factor in the gap between the vertical rail and the edge of the case. – Aaron Mason – 2016-11-23T03:33:00.810