How deep a server rack do you need?

Your rack needs a mountable depth at least as deep as your deepest piece of equipment. Across our catalog, a typical switch is 7.1 inches (180 mm) deep and a patch panel 1.3 inches (34 mm). A 1U Dell PowerEdge R240 is 24.0 inches (609 mm). A listing gives a depth too, but it can be any of three different figures. Check which one you are reading before you compare.

Compare your deepest equipment with the rack's mountable depth. Check which depth a listing gives before you compare.

Three depths on one rack

A rack can publish up to three depths, and only one of them limits how deep your equipment can be.

Depth is the space the rack takes up in your room. Use it to check that the rack fits where it goes.

Mountable depth is the figure that limits your equipment. Every item's own depth has to fit inside it, whatever holds the item in place.

Rail span matters when equipment bolts to the rear rails as well as the front. Its rail kit or rear brackets have to reach across the gap between the rails.

Which depth is the listing giving you?

A depth in a listing's title can be any of these figures, and the words around it tell you which.

"Deep" or "depth" on its own is usually the outside. How far that is from the mountable depth depends on the rack. On the StarTech 12U wall rack, which has front rails only, the two are 12.0 inches (305 mm) and 11.9 inches (303 mm). On the enclosed Tecmojo they are 17.7 inches (450 mm) and 14.2 inches (360 mm).

"Mounting depth" or "rail depth" can be either of the inside figures. On a rack with front rails only, it is the mountable depth. On a rack with rear rails too, treat it as the rail span. The rail span is the smaller figure, so a fit you judge against it still holds if the figure turns out to be the mountable depth.

If the title does not say which depth it means, find the figure in the manufacturer's spec table and read its label. Every product page here links the documents its figures were read from.

Typical equipment depths

Measured across our catalog. The typical figure is the middle one of the products we hold, not a rule for the category.

Our catalog holds one server so far, the R240 at 24.0 inches (609 mm), so this table gives no range for servers. Check your own model's spec sheet for its depth.

Enclosed cabinet or open frame

In an enclosed cabinet, the mountable depth is the limit. Behind it is a back panel or a door. Equipment deeper than the mountable depth does not go in.

In an open frame, deeper equipment overhangs the back. That usually works, as long as the room behind the rack has space for it.

One cabinet, two pieces of equipment

The Tecmojo's mountable depth is up to 14.2 inches (360 mm). Here are two items you might put in it.

Judged against the "450mm Deep" in the cabinet's name, both look as if they fit. Only the mountable depth tells them apart.

The Gearome planner makes this comparison for your own rack and equipment, along with rack units, weight and power. How it works takes one of its verdicts apart, figure by figure. Equipment that is not in our catalog can go in a plan as a custom item, with the depth you measured. It is checked the same way.