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  1. #1
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    Aug 2003
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    Questions about space...

    Just wondering about how different sized boxes can fit and where they can. First of all, lets just take a basic box such as a Dell PowerEdge 400SC. How many of those would you propose could fit on a 42U cabinet? 48U cabinet? How about power, how many amps of power would be necessary for a single box? For 10 boxes? If you had a cage or private suite, would you use mini-towers over rackmounts? Would the lower cost of mini-towers be worth it for the extra space you'd need to pay for compared to some 1U's. I'm not looking for specifics based on datacenters, just a general idea of what can fit where. Anyone can answer any of the questions

  2. #2
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    tipped on their side a midtower is like 3.8-4U tall. if you stand them side by side you waste a lot of space, but theyre about 19" tall so they sit on their side nicely.
    jubba joo!

  3. #3
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    I'd always pick rackmount servers. I know they are well made cases with good power supplies, can't always say that about cheap desktop cases. As for a 400SC, they are 7.5 inches wide, so you'd need to allocate at least 5u for one, allowing you to fit 8 in a 40u rack and 9 in a 45u+ rack. That's as opposed to 40 1u servers. I'm sort of surprised at how wide thoe are, most mid-towers seem to be made to take a little less than 4u.

    I normally allocate 1A per server, which seems to work as a decent average, but depending on the specs of the servers, etc. it may be more or less. If you're going with a full rack and 15A of power you'll have more than enough if you're doing the towers, but nowhere near enough with 1u's.
    Karl Zimmerman - Founder & CEO of Steadfast
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  4. #4
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    It's almost always the power that limits the amount of servers per rack. Most facilities offer 15-20 amps. Figure 1 amp for a single server and 1.5 for a dual processor server.

    In a rack you also have to plan on losing rack space to switches, reboot devices, firewalls, shelves and other things.

    You should also plan on loosing space for heat. We automatically add 1/3 U between each server to allow for air flow.

    We charge a premimum on towers. Typically they take up much more space and use much less bandwidth than a rack mount client. They also seem to require more support due to server failures.
    SiteSouth
    Atlanta, GA and Las Vegas, NV. Colocation

  5. #5
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    reboot devices? excuse my ignorance, but are their hardware devices that can reboot servers in absence of people?
    jubba joo!

  6. #6
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    Charlotte, NC
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    If you're going to deal with towers, get a bread rack. Most datacenters don't offer bread racks, but if you want to start out with a small cage + your own racks, be my guest . I'd have to say that the Poweredge 400SCs have some really attractive pricing. A Dell PowerEdge 650 (1U) with a P4 2.4, 512MB RAM, 40GB HD, and lowest support option would cost $898, while a PE400SC with a P4 2.4 (w/HT), 512MB RAM, 40GB HD, and lowest support option would cost $450. What you have to consider is how many servers you can fit in the space that you have, and the cost difference over 6 months or 1 year between the rackmounts and the towers. If you're getting a cage and have to buy your own racks or shelves, shelves will be cheaper, but you fit fewer servers on them.

    -Josh

    898 597

  7. #7
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    SiteSouth
    Atlanta, GA and Las Vegas, NV. Colocation

  8. #8
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    Aug 2003
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    Originally posted by Joshua
    If you're going to deal with towers, get a bread rack. Most datacenters don't offer bread racks, but if you want to start out with a small cage + your own racks, be my guest . I'd have to say that the Poweredge 400SCs have some really attractive pricing. A Dell PowerEdge 650 (1U) with a P4 2.4, 512MB RAM, 40GB HD, and lowest support option would cost $898, while a PE400SC with a P4 2.4 (w/HT), 512MB RAM, 40GB HD, and lowest support option would cost $450. What you have to consider is how many servers you can fit in the space that you have, and the cost difference over 6 months or 1 year between the rackmounts and the towers. If you're getting a cage and have to buy your own racks or shelves, shelves will be cheaper, but you fit fewer servers on them.

    -Josh

    898 597
    Right that is why I want to do towers. Im just not sure if it'd be cost effective for the price you'd have to pay for a cage/suite. Also, I think I could do what ev1 does and put 20 towers to a shelving rack. Since all these would be laid side by side, this actually might be able to fit more servers per sq. ft. than a rack... It's just you'd need to be dealing with hundreds of servers, not just a rack/cabinet full...

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