this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
11 points (92.3% liked)

Selfhosted

40198 readers
518 users here now

A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

Rules:

  1. Be civil: we're here to support and learn from one another. Insults won't be tolerated. Flame wars are frowned upon.

  2. No spam posting.

  3. Posts have to be centered around self-hosting. There are other communities for discussing hardware or home computing. If it's not obvious why your post topic revolves around selfhosting, please include details to make it clear.

  4. Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or github here. Just post the link for folks to click.

  5. Submission headline should match the article title (don’t cherry-pick information from the title to fit your agenda).

  6. No trolling.

Resources:

Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.

Questions? DM the mods!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

I have a very short equipment rack installed in my server closet. It is only 16 inches deep, fine for most networking uses, but not great for most rack-mount server cases.

I am looking for case suggestions that would fit my rack, 16 inch depth maximum. Height isn't a problem, the rack has a ton of vertical space, over 15U, it's the depth that's an issue.

Thanks!

all 15 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] grue@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I've looked all over the Internet for <16" short-depth cases multiple times over the years, and I've learned the most important question is this: what do you want to put in it?

I'll tell you right now that some of the things I've wanted, like...

  • A 2U with hot-swap caddies all the way across the front (like this or this, but <16" deep at the cost of fitting only an ITX motherboard), or

  • A 4- or 5U chassis that can fit an EATX / SSI EEB (12"x13") motherboard and an ATX PSU at the same time, or

  • A chassis of any size that has both the motherboard/PCI I/O and the drive bays on the front (front drive bays are normal and you can get front access I/O, but not both at the same time)

...simply do not exist, as far as I can tell. I'm pretty sure all of these things are geometrically possible (I did the math), but apparently I'm the only one who wants such weird stuff.

You can get a basic-bitch whatever-U case that supports a mATX motherboard and hard-mounting a couple of internal drives, with sharp metal edges, a shitty plastic door, and a price double (or more) what similarly low quality would cost in a desktop form-factor all day long, though.

[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago

Yeah, seems like there isn't a big group of folks that are looking for this kind of solution.

I've thought about designing a case to my specs that could be 3D printed or maybe be built with some very basic steel sheet, but that's more DIY than I have time for right now.

[–] gaf@borg.chat 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Sliger has a few rackmount chassis which are only 15 inches deep.

[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago

Oh nice, these might be exactly what I need, thanks!

[–] InformalTrifle@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I’ve not used them yet but was looking at https://www.plinkusa.net/

They have a variety of heights and depths, some of them being 15”

[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago

Great resource, I'll check them out.

[–] towerful@programming.dev 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

https://g2digital.co.uk/

These guys do short depth PCs. I wish I knew where they got their cases from, because they are really nice!
But I haven't found anything decent in the wild (I eventually gave up and got a deeper rack so I can use old r730 servers)

[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for the link! Yeah, I'm starting to think I might just need to give up and get a deeper floor rack.

[–] DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

There are some good short chassis like the Silverstone RM-23-502-MINI, but the minimum length for the recommended rails is still 22 inches :(

[–] Codilingus@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Chenbro makes quite a few ATX shallow rack mount cases. I have one and have no complaints.

[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago

I'll check them, Ty!

[–] Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09227RQV2?psc=1&amp;ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

This is my favorite rack mount chassis I've worked with ... and it coincidentally is in that ballpark.

[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago

Interesting design, I'll look at it, thanks!