42U Racks and Server Cabinets

42U server racks and floor standing data cabinets from Server Room Environments with models ranging from low-cost racks designed for computer and server room applications to cabinets for extreme and harsh environments with internal air conditioners. Our 42U 19inch racks range offers a wide choice of models with 600-800mm widths and internal depths up to 1200mm. The racks are made from steel and finished in a black or grey powder coat paint with other colour choices available. Each rack offers front and rear door options (lockable steel, mesh or glass) as well as in-rack fan trays, shelving, trays, cable management and blanking plates for air flow management and energy efficiency.

42U Rack and Cabinet Guide

When selecting a rack or cabinet there are several factors to consider.

Rack Height

A 42U rack or cabinet can house equipment whose total height when placed into the rack is no more 73.5inches or 186.69cm (18.67m) with 1U=1.75inches or 44.45mm. Care therefore has to be taken when selecting a rack to make sure that there cabinet height is sufficient to house the IT server, networking peripheral or IoT device.

Rack Width

The standard rackmount width is 19inches (482.6mm) and cabinets are typically available in 600mm or 800mm width. Most products will either fit to the front rack pillars using cage nuts onto flanges attached to the rack-mountable device, or slide rails running from the front to the rear pillars or sit on internal shelves or slide-out trays. Room should be left around the rack for adequate air flow and access.

Rack Depth

The depth of cabinet available range from 600-1200mm. Care should be taken when selecting a rack depth to ensure that it is suitably long enough for the equipment to be housed including any necessary space for cables (bend radius) and connection access. How to manage cables is important for any rack size for easy cable identification and to avoid accidental disconnection.

Open or Closed Racks

The majority of server racks and data cabinets supplied are enclosed rather than open frames. An enclosed cabinet with a front and rear door and side panels is more secure and will provide with more efficient airflow management.

42U Server Cabinets

We supply a wide range of 42U server cabinets made to order and stocked in the UK. The typical lead time is 5-7 days unless the cabinet is ex stock at time of order. Please also view our server rack accessories range for optional extras to extend the functionality of your cabinets. Options available include shelves, blanking plates to improve air flow, brush strips, cable rings, cable trays, and cable management items, lockable drawers, fan trays, patch panels and plinths. We also supply a wide range of rack mount UPS and PDUs to provide you with a complete server rack for you server room or data centre application.

Data Cabinet Sourcing

If you have a preferred brand of server cabinet we can source a matching cabinet through our extensive supply chain. Typical brands supplied include APC, Schneider, Eaton, HP, Legrand, Panduit, Rittal, Tripp Lite and Vertiv.

If you cannot find the 42U server rack or data cabinet you need please contact our projects team who can also arrange for an on-site build from a flatpack server cabinet kit.

A server rack is a frame into which 19inch rackmount servers, storage and associated networking devices are mounted or ‘rack mounted’. The frame may be 2 or 4-pillar in design. Equipment suitable for a server rack is termed ‘rack mount’ or designed for ‘rack mounting’. A server rack with side panels and a front and rear door assembly can be called a server cabinet. The front door may be solid metal, perforated hex mesh or glass. The rear door is typically solid or perforated hex mesh. The doors and side panels do not just make the server cabinet more secure but also assist air flow management. Server racks and cabinets are defined by their height in ‘U’ where 1U=45mm and their width and depth with typical sizes being 600, 800, 1000 and 1200mm.

If your cabinets are only partially populated and has perforated ventilation holes in the front and rear, you may not need additional cooling fan kits. Server manufacturers typically recommend a minimum perforation factor for the doors of the cabinets that would be used to house their servers and this is typically from 63% upwards; to allow adequate air flow from front to rear.

Server racks are designed for front air intake and rear cabinet exit. Cool or air conditioned air should be drawn into the front of the rack by fans within the servers themselves or within the server racks and this then exits as warm air out of the rear of the cabinet. In a data hall server racks are typically positioned in rows and the rows positioned so that the fronts face each to optimise cool air and hot air flows. This is a basic for of hot-aisle/cold-aisle containment. The server racks may themselves be within a separate containment known as a hot-aisle/cold-aisle container. For some server racks we can also offer rear cooling doors to help collect the hot exhaust air. The cooling doors fit onto the rear of the cabinets and use chilled water pipes within the rear door. We can also supply additional cabinet fans for extra cooling capacity.

We have over 30 years of experience working within data centre and server room environments. Our knowledge and experience means that we know how to design, install and maintain the right cooling, energy management, power and monitoring solutions for any critical IT environment.

Field based engineering locations: Chester, Warrington, London, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds, Belfast, Dublin and Glasgow for nationwide service coverage, site surveys, maintenance and emergency call outs.
Call us for a free survey.

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