A home for a home lab: StarTech 12U desktop open frame 2 post rack

 My wife (aka "Senior Management") decreed that I needed "a table or something" for the network gear that was starting to accumulate in the spare room I use as an office. 

Of course, since pretty much all of it either had rack mounting hardware or could be persuaded to sit on a shelf, a 19" rack made sense and forms a much more suitable home for network gear. 

After hunting around a bit online, I decided a 12U open frame 2 post rack would probably do the job well - without being the imposing monolith of a 42U four post rack, wallbox or similar, which probably would get rather more in the way of raised eyebrows from Senior Management, too - if I could even fit it in the flat. 

 I eventually settled on a "desktop" 12U open frame two post unit from StarTech, the RK12OD. 

The product photo looked promising (yes, it really does lean back like that):

It was pretty easy to assemble, with only 8 screws required at the base; it's well engineered enough that you don't have to be too fussy about alignment to get the posts reasonably parallel with each other. It comes with 20 cage nuts and screws, but I bought 50 off eBay. It's almost certainly intended for fairly light 19" gear, like musician's sound modules and other A/V gear, but it seems to be happy enough with networking gear in it, and doesn't look like it's about to crack under the strain. Obviously, if you want to mount something heavy or something that takes a rail mount, you really ought to get a four post rack or cabinet. 

Note that the product does actually have a backwards "lean" to it, but I've not noted any propensity to tip backwards - but be aware that this lean may make things on shelves have a propensity to migrate backwards; this can be easily solved with something like self-adhesive velcro. You ought to put heavier gear towards the bottom, in common with all racks. One day, I may re-rack with that in mind, but there doesn't seem to be any stability issue at all with the gear in there now.

As second hand Juniper SRX mounting brackets seem to be more expensive than second hand Juniper SRXs, I made do with shelves for the Juniper gear. It also leaves enough space for the power transformer for the SRXs and even a Raspberry Pi server on the shelves. With so little gear, "wasting" a U for a PDU wasn't a problem. It also means if you're clumsy, you're less likely to inadvertently stab yourself in the face with a rack post!

Early days - just two SRXs and power.
Note the slight backwards lean of the posts.
The SRXs actually have 3M velcro "command strips" under the front edge to stop them sliding backwards over time - or during ethernet cable insertion.

In common with many 19" posts, there are cage nut holes on the edge of the uprights, as well as on the front face. This comes in handy for attaching things like PDUs without using a U of space. I found a basic PDU with surge suppression online; after turning the mounting ears around 180° on the PDU, it was quite easy to attach it to the side with cage nuts - another one could easily be added to the other side, too - which is handy, because that PDU only has 6 outlets, and this is a 12U rack! If I find a need to power up more than 6 devices at the same time, I'll add another one to the other side - possibly one that takes IEC C13 plugs instead of the UK ones; after using them in datacentres, I am a fan, particularly in countries with bulky plugs (like the UK and South Africa).   

One U saved - PDU moved to side of the rack.

Note the cage nut holes in the side of the upright - there are about a 19" unit width height of them (i.e if the unit is flat, you can mount it along here). I'd prefer more than two cage nuts holding things together, but it still seems solid enough for mounting things like PDUs.

After I had 7U of eBay Cisco gear delivered today, there are only 3 U left - hence I decided to save some space and re-mount the PDU on the side, as seen above. Below, looking a bit cramped with the PDU at the top, displaced up by 2/3rds of a U to get the power cables to clear the top router - another thing that made me consider revising the mounting arrangements.

Only 3 U left! 

I was expecting the top three Cisco routers to have rack mount kits - they were pictured with them in the eBay advert - but apparently that was only "illustrative" of what they were sending out... Anyway, they were willing to part with 3 sets for a modest amount extra, so those should arrive shortly. I really don't like using shelves if I can avoid it - and I really dislike using other gear as a shelf!

So, if you find yourself in need of a "home" for a modest home network lab, check out two post open frame desktop racks! StarTech make bigger (and smaller) units, too.