The server cabinet, which is also commonly called as an enclosed server rack, has a removable rear and front doors. The side panels and the adjustable vertical mounting rails are also included. The rack server cabinet that is being used in standard data center has a height of of 42U or 73.5 inches high. For the majority of server racks, these cabinets consist of 24 inches in width and they are 36 inches deep. Recently, the server cabinets have been popular across companies that has data centers and also server rooms.
A network cabinet is generally being used for several routers, switches, fiber patch panels as well as equipment being used for networking. For the majority of cases, the network cabinet is shallower compared to its server cabinet. They are generally less than 31 inches when it comes to deep measurement. There are times that it consists of a glass or it has a strong plastic front door. There is more to this also. The network cabinet commonly does not have perforated enclosures.
These type of cabinets are more popular because of the following primary reasons:
- Added security – compared to the insecure rack, the server rack cabinet gives added protection. The cabinets can be easily locked to avoid other visitors or unauthorized people to gain access to the equipment.
- Protection for Cables – together with the door and other side panels, the cables inside the server rack cabinet has much more less access compared to the outside air. This now helps in preservation of the cables in order to decrease the risk of cable damage because of some contaminants.
- Better filtration of air – the server cabinets can also be utilized by engineers to be able to provide a wide variety of air segregation or filtration strategies. For example, this can be used when there is a cold or hot aisle containment and cabinet-level type of containment.
With this in mind, there also comes some great disadvantages:
- High Price – unlike to the server rack, this cabinet is greatly more expensive.
- Cannot be accessed easily – because of some physical restrictions for this cabinet, it usually takes more time to do a manual operation or even do system maintenance of the equipment being housed inside the cabinet.
When a design engineer is building a data center, in deciding what type of server rack or cabinet to be used – and even network rack & cabinet – to use should be the top priority. The right one should be able to meet some of the installation demands and it can help you to greatly improve the power protection needed, including the cooling, cable management, and also the physical security.