One of the most central components of a computer network, especially in a mid-sized
to large business or even especially at an enterprise level organization,
is networking equipment racks. Now equipment racks provide both a very stable platform to
mount all of your networking components onto but they allow for a safer more efficient setup
overall as well the industry standard for width on these equipment racks (up until the time this
video was made) is that they're all 19 inches wide. It's not a set standard, if you will,
to the best of my knowledge, but it is a an overall accepted standard for most manufacturers
or all manufacturers of networking equipment. So they're 19 inches wide. Now they come in a
variety of different heights depending on how many components, you know whether you're talking
about switches, routers, servers, etc., how many components are actually needed for this equipment
rack. You may have a wall or a ceiling mount rack that's only say 3 to 4 feet high for holding only
a few pieces of equipment and you may have those mounted up in the corner of a room or in a wall
on a wall somewhere or they're kind of out of the way. You may also have freestanding models
that actually reach from floor to ceiling. These are the huge models that hold lots of different
components. Because this width (the 19 inches) has become an overall accepted kind of industry
standard, most manufacturers of switches, routers recommended servers, connectors and everything in
between make them to fit the kind of that kind of standard 19-inch rack. Some rack-mounted
servers come equipped with full out keyboards and monitors of their own. Some UPS units or
Uninterrupted Power Supplies have the capability of being mounted on these equipment racks as well.
So you'll see all types of different networking components and server related components in these
equipment racks the further you progress in your own networking career or business if and when you
ever get the chance to walk into a server room or what they call a "cool room" with a large number
of these primary networking components in these racks. And these cool rooms are kind of what you
see on some of the more elaborate pictures like here's a picture of one I'll show you now. These
are big cool rooms the bigger your organization the bigger it gets. Like YouTube has got several
massive sites with these so does Amazon so does Google. Especially some of the bigger companies.
The big tech companies are going to have massive massive large rooms of these to handle all the
servers all the switches and components that are needed in most networking environments. In
most moderately mid-sized businesses to larger corporations or organizations you're going to
find semi-decent sized rooms whereby all of your networking and a lot of your server equipment is
housed and again they use these equipment racks for that purpose. Now aside from the 19-inch kind
of standard width on these racks there's also kind of a standardized height measurement that everyone
uses in the industry and it's called a "U" and that's just short for Unit (and yes I know such a
mysterious new word that we're using for this but aside from that) each U or unit of height is 1.75
inches so when you purchase a switch, router, or server, or any other networking hardware
component that you plan on putting into one of these racks or when you're planning on putting
it in an equipment rack of any kind the height specifications for each piece of equipment are
measured in U's. So most switches and routers take up 1U in height but you may have bigger
routers or servers or storage arrays that measure 2 or 3 U's in height. 2 U's obviously would be
3.5 inches and you can go up to 4 U's. Some units take up 4 U's which is 7 inches in total from top
to bottom. And an equipment rack may be listed as a 42U rack. When you're looking at equipment
racks like when you're going to purchase them or looking to purchase them brand new or the ratings
on them they will list themselves as a 42U or 36U or you know that that tells you how many height
units can fit into this a single rack meaning it can hold 42 U's of height of total equipment. Now
as you go along you will discover that a lot of things come into play with these equipment racks
you don't always want to stack components one on top of the other one on top of the other all the
way up and down a rack. Sometimes you may have a server or even a router or a high-speed piece
of equipment that does need a lot more air circulation around it to keep it cool so it
doesn't overheat and go bad on you. In those cases you would actually leave a space or a U space in
between that component and the ones above and below it just to provide it more circulation,
more cooling air. So the measurements that we use on these equipment racks like 42 U's in height are
what allow admins, techs and engineers to plan accordingly when adding new equipment or moving
equipment into other equipment racks. A few of the things you'll run into in the networking
field with equipment racks is whether or not to have what's called a 2 post rack which is
usually used if you're only going to have like a server or router and a couple of switches and
this is a 2 post rack is whereby those components mount on the front to corner poles of the rack and
they just kind of sit straight out they don't connect anywhere else on the equipment rack
just on the front 2 poles. And if you need a more sturdy 4 post system they call it a 4 post system
for mounting heavier equipment more components you're going to get a 4 post system whereby all
4 posts of the rack are used both in the both in the front and the both of those in the back. Now
there are also rack mounting tracks or rails that you can mount to the rack and then mount
the switch or the router or whatever piece of equipment to those rails to allow you to pull
the device or a piece of equipment out much like a drawer on a dresser. You can kind of
slide it out to access it if you need to. And this allows you easier access if needed for
maintenance or removal or a replacement of the device or piece of equipment if that's needed.
So that's the short and sweet of networking equipment racks and the basics of how they work,
why they're needed, and what to look for on them. As you progress into a professional networking
career or business you will see more and more of them. So first chance you get make sure to
check one out and get your hands on one. Your experience will come in handy in the near future