Hi, for one of my projects I want to use a rackmount case. standard 19" width I think with 1U height possibly 2U. does anyone know where I can purchase one of these prefereably with the rackmounting 'ears' already in a metal case which I can easily cut the holes into. also, what are the internal dimensions of a rack case? thanks, computer
http://www.x-case.co.uk/ http://www.maplin.co.uk/ -> http://www.maplin.co.uk/Products/Module.asp?CartID=040111115535169&ModuleNo=34159&MR=N
anyone know the dimensions needed for a 3.5in hard drive (the length, height and width of the rails)... I'm planning an interesting mod using rackmount case. Also, the height, width, depth etc needed by a slimline CD or DVD drive would be nice including the space for IDE and power cables (using the flat ones folded round). Thanks, computer
okay, well after a lot of thinking through, I am thinking of the following: - 4U case which is vented - 2x 1GHz Mini-ITX Boards, one as server one as firewall - 4x 3.5" Hard Drives, probably 120Gb each - Firewall running with compact flash or usb bootable drive, server with RAID10 - 2x Right angle 90 degrees PCI riser cards with the server having PCI raid controller and firewall with PCI adsl modem - 2x laptop slimline DVD drives on top probably from ebay cheaply - 1 550w two fan atx power supply mounted to help airflow and to run the two mobos from one power supply, with server the 'controlling' one but acts like there is 1 power and reset which does both (perhaps two resets, one each board)... - 2x LCDs in the front to run on linux displaing various info - front mounted ports I haven't got a 3D program (reccomendations?) so I used excel auto shapes I know I know here is a little diagram of a crosscut and front panel, its sorta hard to workout foreground/background but its sorta possible too what do you think? I'm going to put an 80mm or 60mm fan at the front between the two boards, with an alu strip running between the boards so air flows round the case from left back to right back via the front, I'll probably add a 40-60mm one in the back as intake with the PSU having two fans, and two CPU fans, its gonna be noisy, but I might 7v mod someof them. computer
sounds like a sweet idea. top view please? how are you planning on powering both boards? splicing in another atx mobo header? look forward to getting more info.
oh, about the 3d drawing program, look for info around this forum on sketchup. I haven't used it (got my own stuff), but the results look pretty good
Where are you getting the case from? I have an exact scale sketchup model of the 4U maplin case if you want it.
looks nice, but what is going on the right side, where it looks identical to where the dvd and lcd are going?
yea, I like symmetrical things, so its sort of symmetrical internally too. the server is on the left, firewall on the right. sorta like two modules, each having 1 mobo, 2 harddrives, 1 lcd, 1 dvd, etc. isn't sketchup very expensive, but if I can get a free/cheap one, then a maplin 4U case is good. I was looking for something like maplins, but trying to shop around to save money i'll do a top view later, and about powering the two mobos, I found a guide on some forums somewhere, distributed computing or something like that, I can't find the link again... but basically, get a ATX Y cable or make one from two extensions and cut the green wire to one mobo (power signal)... any serial LCD suggestions, as cheap as possible, with about 2x20 or soemthing and good software for linux? computer
well, about the lcd's, I can't help you out on linux compatible software, but if you want to go the cheap route, look at getting the serial controllers seperately, and then finding the parallel lcd's. i've seen controllers advertised for ~$24 and you can get 20x2 or 20x4 parallel lcd's at www.allelectronics.com for instance, for no more than $15 so for the two you're way under the cost of a new matrix orbital or similar. just pay attention to the controller chips that are mentioned. most will support the HD44780, so make sure you get a lcd with that also.
4U cases are nearly the same size as a full size ATX case and therefore do not need Risers of any kind. My last machine was in a 4U case and I enjoyed the extra sturdy aluminum construction as well as the built in handles. http://www.skyhawkusa.com/ has several models that I recommend checking out. I'm not sure what their UK distributors are. As far as your design I DO NOT recommend mounting your motherboard on-top of your hard drives. Their upper cover does not provide enough sheilding to be safely mounted that way, plus you'll run into cooling and clearance issues.
so where do you suggest I mount them? is there enough room for two full-size CD-ROMs or are slimlines going to be the only fitters? Would 4 harddrives on top of each other fit in the case?
A 4U offers a wealth of space, especially if you're talking abour Micro ATX boards. My 4U was capable of fitting 5 standard 5.25" drives. I suggest working more on the concept. Here's the stnadard dimensions of a 4U case. 21"L x 19"W x 6"D
okay well after making a bit more progress on the thoughts. I have come to the conclusion that I might as well split them up. I am thinking of a 1U case like this for the firewall. I'd work on this first. again, I haven't done any actual dimension checking yet to make a scale model. I never do a scale model on PC, I sketch it out on paper, then buy the case and make mockups of any expensive-to-get-if-it-will-work parts, and test using old HDDs, etc. So, I was thinking of a layout similar to the Gigabyte SR125ED server. I am not sure how they fit a full size mobo in there, but any diagrams on the internals would be greatly welcomed. I wouldn't need 4 harddrives, I would only have 1, and I would place a front-fan in where the far-left HDD is, to act as intake, with the shuttle PSU as the outake fan. the mobo would be put straight up to the back, with the standard mobo I/O plate. A custom PCB would be made for the front USB, serial and power/leds crimped to the correct headers (board must have at least 2 onboard USB, 1 onboard serial). There would be a slimline DVD in the same place as them with the front buttons and connections as theirs. The HDD would probably be mounted under the DVD or in the 3rd HDD space on theirs. Also, can you get the HDD caddy's like theirs for IDE? Not 5" standard caddies, but the smaller ones, almost 3 1/2" like theirs? Does that make any sense? computer
the server would be in a 2U case probably, like the HP integrity rx2600 (i saw pictures of these and they look like I want ). I'd want 4 HDDs for Raid 10, so would probably be layed out like the one in my previous post, with the 4 in a row. A DVD above two, and power, etc alongside it. A front intake fan might not fit, but might be on the left of the buttons and DVD. I would hopefully use another shuttle 250w SilentX psu (becuase of the extra watts), but 4 HDDs, a mobo and a DVD might require more power. I would probably run a PCI raid card in a high-spec mini-itx or buy a atx mobo with onboard raid. the other option is to use shuttle style Flex-ATX mobos. I'm not too fussed on rear I/Os, but they would probably be straight from the mobo I/O plate. again with a custom PCB for the switches/and front I/O ports. I'd like to have some sort of IDE drive caddies, so if a drive dies, I can shutdown, pull it out and replace it easily and let linux rebuild the drive (easy enough someone else can replace it). any comments or suggestions? computer
okay well, I was looking at motherboards. I have scrapped the 4U/2 Mini-ITX board idea and going for a 2U 1 proper mobo idea. I can't find out how to buy a Flex-ATX mobo on like ebuyer or dabs, but I have found this mobo: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...m9kdWN0X3NwZWNpZmljYXRpb25z&product_uid=51280 It looks great apart from the fact of the SATA HDDs. I already have 2 IDE drives I'd want to use anyway, ideas?
