What is a 19 inch Rack?
A 19 inch Rack is IEC 60297, EIA 310-D, DIN 41494 standardized cabinet for mounting various electronic devices. Each equipment module has a 19 inch wide front panel including ears or edges that stick out on each side to allow the modules to be attached to the rack rails with screws.
The equipment designed to mount in 19 inch racks are typically known as rack mount, rack mount chassis, sub-rack, rack mountable, rack mounted system and may also be called a shelf. The height of rack is measured in a standard unit known as a rack unit which is 1.75 inches and denoted by U. The height of most of the 19 inch racks available is 42U, which accommodate a total number of devices whose sum is equal to 42U or less in any combination. Two or four vertically standing parallel strips of metal, known as rails or panel mount, constitute the mounting fixtures of the rack. Each strip is 0.625 inches wide and the strips are separated from each other by a gap of 17.75 inches, making the rack 19 inches wide. The distance between the mounting holes is 18.3 inches. There are also 23 inch and 24 inch wide racks available for special applications, but 19 inch racks are the most commonly used ones.
Mounting Equipments in a 19 inch Rack & Fastening the equipment
Tapped-hole rails are rarely used due to the possibility for the bolt to bind and break off or for the threads to become damaged, causing the mounting hole to be unusable. These tapped-hole rails were replaced by round-hole rails, in which a bolt is freely inserted without binding due to its threaded holes.
The next advancement in the 19 inch rack was square-hole rails which are capable of mounting equipment by using cage nuts which fit into the square holes and take screws to hold the equipment in the rack. It is relatively easy to install and remove the equipment from the square-hole rails.
Use of Slides
Equipment that needs to be frequently added to the 19 inch rack or removed from the rack for different reasons is a tedious job and may cause problems. To overcome this issue, slides may be used to mount servers or switches in the 19 inch rack. The equipment slides into hardware that is attached to two pairs of rails, which are directly mounted onto the rack, making the maintenance and inspection of equipments easier.
Mounting Servers in Racks
Server Racks may include some extra rack-mount hardware to mount servers into the 19 inch rack. The rack-mount hardware may include a folding cable tray that prevents a huge cable tangle from forming at the rear of the rack and making the server easily plug in and operate normally. Installing more than one server into the 19 inch rack in very common and managing a separate mouse, keyboard and monitor for each server is almost impossible. A device known as a KVM switch is used to share a single mouse, keyboard and monitor among all of the racks’ servers and allow control from one location.
Two types of Racks
The 19 inch rack is available in two types, Two-post racks and four-post racks. The two-post rack provides two vertical rails and allows mounting of equipment from the front panel holes and close to the center of gravity. Four-post racks provide two pairs of vertical rails and supports servers and switches mounted to both front and rear pairs of rails. Four post racks are also called equipment cabinets.
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