Homemade Server Rack – Work-in-Progress

I wanted to put my rack gear in a rack. I have my HP DL360, the pfSense router and my Ubiquti Switch 24 and I didn’t like having them on my wire bakers rack. I didn’t look neat.

When I looked into it buying a half-height rack was over CND$500 (plus shipping and taxes). I found plans for making a rack a Tom Builds Stuff – thanks Tom! Total price: about CND$150.

This is still a work-in-progress. I am putting on some finished sides (that I can easily remove if I need to). I will update this post once I have that done.

I was going to follow Tom’s plan for the outer enclosure but I clearly realized that I don’t have the skills for finished carpentry and I don’t have all the tools and space required. I also realized that the 2 x 4s that I hand picked are bowed, crooked, kinked, cuped and twisted – yes, all of them.

So I decided to use 1/4 inch Standard Hardboard Panel and used finishing washer and screws to attach the panels to the frame. I decided to use 2 ft. x 4 ft. sheets because I couldn’t get a 4 ft. by 8 ft. sheet in the SUV. The added benefit is that I also can take off one panel if I have to access the upper or lower half from the side. (Glass-half-full thoughts…) Here’s what it looks like now:

Here’s what it sort-of looked like (before a lot of changes):

About Mike Pelley

Let’s see… A little about me… I’ve been around information technology since 1983 with computers such as DEC Rainbows (weird machine – the standard DOS couldn’t format its own floppy disks – remember them? – and I had to format them on a friend’s IBM PC) to Radio Shack TRS-80 to Apple ][e and Apple //c in the beginning. I have programmed in 8-bit assembly language on 6502, FORTRAN and COBOL on IBM System/370 (and I still hate JCL), VAX BASIC and COBOL (and a weird and massive WordPerfect 4.0 macro) on DEC VMS (Alpha), C/C++ on Digital Unix (ALPHA), and C/C++, Perl (it may be powerful but I still hate it), PHP on Linux (Red Hat, Centos, Ubuntu, etc.). I have work with databases such as Digital RDB (later to become Oracle RDB), Oracle DBMS, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL and PostgreSQL on VAX, Alpha, Sun and Intel. Check out my professional profile and connect with me on LinkedIn. See http://lnkd.in/nhTRZe I still think that Digital created some of the best ideas in the world: VAX clustering, DSSI disks (forerunner to SCSI) and the Alpha processor (first commercial 64-bit processor – Red Hat screamed on an Alpha!). DEC just could not seem to be able to give air conditioners away to someone lost in the Sahara Desert! VMware is one of the best ways to get the most out of an x64 server. And I have tried Oracle VM, Virtual Box and Microsoft Virtual Server. Outside of that I am a huge military history buff starting in the early 20th century. I love Ford Mustangs (my ’87 Mustang GT was awesome) and if I had the money I would have a Porsche 928S4. If I had a lot of money I would have a Porsche 911 Turbo. I also play too much AmrA 3 Exile mod. Over 5,000+ hours... I have a wonderful son, Cameron. I have a long suffering (Do you really need all that computer junk?) wife, Paula. I live in Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador.
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