Well I finally managed to get my C7000 in the bottom of my computer rack this evening.
Placing this C7000 beast in the rack was no simple chore by myself as it is awkward and weighs a couple of hundred pounds.
I had tried to get a larger rack that would fit this chassis better into my upstairs computer room but size and weight prevented that.
I then ordered the C7000 rail kits (409795-001, 409800-001, 409803-001) which was a bit too long and found they were too long to connect them to the back of the computer cabinet. I tried to find the right extensions for my older computer cabinet that would also work with my rails and came up with “2RU Recessed Rack Adapters”.
I had to flip the Rack Extenders the opposite way they are meant to be used to make them work. I then had to remove the insert pins that normally hold on the cabinet and drill the hole size bigger on the rails so I could get the screws through. I was so trying not to do any fabrication, drilling, rivets, nuts and bolts as I have had to do in the past, well that didn’t work but the drilling was minimal.
I did all of this portion over the weekend but was interrupted by a sprinkler system plumbing issue that had me looking for a part all weekend as my line for my veggie garden in the back had the compression fitting fail near the valve.
So now tonight I removed all of my LAN connections and power from my C7000 and was able to get it in place by rocking back and forth then rolled in place using the furniture dolly I have had it on. Once aligned with the rails I tried to slide on the rails but it was about 1/8th an inch lower than the rails of the computer rack.
I tried getting this beast in place a corner at a time, tried using a car jack, straddled it tried to get that extra 1/8th inch nothing worked. I finally sat there letting the sweat pour off me and decided to get it lined up grab one side of the handles lift and rock and presto the C7000 started sliding in on the rails smoothly and the abruptly stopped.
Looking at the backside of the rails they were pinched in where the universal rack extensions protruded about 1/16th of an inch on each side maybe more towards the inner part of the cabinet and the c7000 chassis needed all that room.
I moved the C7000 chassis up to relieve the pressure off the backend of the rails, flipped the rack extensions around and they still extended too far inward on the computer rack to allow the chassis to slide back all the way.
After drilling to make holes bigger, getting in awkward positions to get the back rails done I decided to heck with it I would take the rack extensions off and let the chassis stay in the rails but protrude out that extra 2-4 inches and rest on the sturdy bottom of the back of the computer rack.
After removing both rack extension adapters keeping side pressure on the computer rails by keeping the chassis partially inserted I then made sure the rails extended and rested on the bottom of the rack on the backside. I slid the chassis back and it was prevented from going over the back of the computer rack by a portion of the chassis that hung down again about 1/8th of an inch. I was stuck again with no way to get leverage to lift the rails and chassis then pull it back.
I then thought if I could lift the rails a couple of inches with a bar or long device I could slide the chassis back. I then remembered I have a nice piece of 2×6 wood in the garage. I cut the wood to a manageable size but long enough so I could get leverage on the 2×6 comfortably. I slid the 2×6 under the rails flat made sure the chassis was forward a bit plus partially on the furniture dolly then turned the 2×6 piece of wood on edge and it lifted the rails about an 1 inch to 2 inches over the back and I angled it to make it sturdy. I then went to the front slid the chassis all the way back so it was over the back of the rack within the rails and let the 2×6 wood down.
That’s how I got that beastie C7000 into my computer rack. Now I just have to get some back ordered CPUs and mezzanine cards. Once I get everything I can transfer and retire 4 more servers and just run my blade servers. I already removed 4 servers out of the rack.
