What's the deal with rack mounting the ProLiant 7000?

I've been busy building up my rack today, and put in the 1200 and the
5500 without any great dramas, apart from lifting the 5500 to head
height - talk about working out.

Now the rail kits I'm using are seconds from the local Compaq wrecking
yard. The 1200 was good in that I bought it with rails, so I bought
another 2 pair of rails (all the same as the 1200 - no choice - that's
all I could get), and 3 pairs of the large Compaq slides, the 740mm
fixed-length ones. The slides were of all different "mechanism lengths"
inside, if you know what I mean, but I could live with that.

The 1200 of course slotted straight in, as it was complete with the
correct fittings when I bought it.

Drilling one new hole and elongating the last one made the "1200" rails
fit the 5500 and in it went.

So far so good.

I really would have liked to have had the "proper" rails for the
machines but beggars can't be choosers. I had fitted the last rail pair
to the 7000 and figured that I could live with the fact that to push the
machine home, I'd have to toggle the track interlocks manually (all the
rails are identical to the ones for the 1200, and of course the slides
are all of different mechanism length inside, so the inner member isn't
long enough to trip the interlock except on the one holding the 1200).


I got the 7000 to connect, and started to slide it in. The bloody thing
popped off the tracks - the inner and outer members didn't lock
together. I pulled it out and tried again. I went through this several
times and then I became suspicious - something wasn't right here.


Measuring the baseline distance between the rails on the 1200 and 5500
revealed the machine's body with to be around 420mm (at the rail
mounting point). Measuring the 7000 said... 410mm!

WTF?

I've never seen a rack kit for the 7000, so I'm making the assumption
that the rails for a 7000 must be a lot deeper, to make up the
difference. I'll assume that the slides are all the same, except of
course in the length they travel.

So can anybody tell me what my options are, considering I can't find a
"genuine" 7000 rack kit at this stage?

WTF?

I've never seen a rack kit for the 7000, so I'm making the assumption
that the rails for a 7000 must be a lot deeper, to make up the
difference. I'll assume that the slides are all the same, except of
course in the length they travel.

So can anybody tell me what my options are, considering I can't find a
"genuine" 7000 rack kit at this stage?

the rails for the 6000/7000/8000 are massive ... something like 3 times the
size of the ones for the


check here ....

http://cgi.ebay.com/Compaq-Proliant-...QQcmdZViewItem


search criteria on ebay was "proliant 7000 rails" ....

-= LC =-

In article ,
says...

the rails for the 6000/7000/8000 are massive ... something like 3 times the
size of the ones for the


check here ....

http://cgi.ebay.com/Compaq-Proliant-...QQcmdZViewItem


That'd be about right: they're on the other side of the planet!
Thanks - at least I know now what they look like. All I need to do now
is somehow get a set in Sydney.

"." wrote in message
om.au...
In article ,
says...

the rails for the 6000/7000/8000 are massive ... something like 3 times
the
size of the ones for the


check here ....

http://cgi.ebay.com/Compaq-Proliant-...QQcmdZViewItem


That'd be about right: they're on the other side of the planet!
Thanks - at least I know now what they look like. All I need to do now
is somehow get a set in Sydney.

Hrmm, yah well .... its like the song says .... its a small world after all

-= LC =-

In article ,
says...

Hrmm, yah well .... its like the song says .... its a small world after all

I've just found a photo of a 7000 wearing rails and I'd swear they're
exactly the same as what I currently have with the sole exception being
their length.

I've pulled the 7000 half-way out and peering into the spaces between
the slides and the rails at the rear, I can see that there is about a
10mm gap (almost half an inch) between the body of the slide and the
body of the 7000 - the rails are not resting on either slide, just
sitting in mid air. Do you know if this is because the proper slides are
that much wider, or is everything wider?

What about 5mm worth of washers on each side to space the rails out from the
case a little bit?

You might also see what the local hardware store has. I have a couple of
servers that ride quite nicely on $20.00/pair Home Depot heavy duty drawer
slides.



"." wrote in message
om.au...
In article ,
says...

Hrmm, yah well .... its like the song says .... its a small world after
all

I've just found a photo of a 7000 wearing rails and I'd swear they're
exactly the same as what I currently have with the sole exception being
their length.

I've pulled the 7000 half-way out and peering into the spaces between
the slides and the rails at the rear, I can see that there is about a
10mm gap (almost half an inch) between the body of the slide and the
body of the 7000 - the rails are not resting on either slide, just
sitting in mid air. Do you know if this is because the proper slides are
that much wider, or is everything wider?

In article ,
says...
What about 5mm worth of washers on each side to space the rails out from the
case a little bit?

You might also see what the local hardware store has. I have a couple of
servers that ride quite nicely on $20.00/pair Home Depot heavy duty drawer
slides.


Drawer slides in a 19" rack? Hmmmm that might be an idea, if they fit
and can take the weight.

I have a 5500 hanging from a pair in my rack and they seem to be a little
heavier duty than the stock rails.



"." wrote in message
om.au...
In article ,
says...
What about 5mm worth of washers on each side to space the rails out from
the
case a little bit?

You might also see what the local hardware store has. I have a couple
of
servers that ride quite nicely on $20.00/pair Home Depot heavy duty
drawer
slides.


Drawer slides in a 19" rack? Hmmmm that might be an idea, if they fit
and can take the weight.

In article ,
says...
I have a 5500 hanging from a pair in my rack and they seem to be a little
heavier duty than the stock rails.

I wouldn't have thought that "home hardware" type stuff would fit into a
19" rack but I suppose you learn something new every day. I'd still like
to find the "real thing" if I can. I went up to a wrecker this morning
and yes he did have the rails on an old 7000 so we had a look and yes,
the rails are the same except for their length, but we didn't have the
corresponding slides to look at so I figure the slides must be a lot
thicker to make up the width.

Why on earth Compaq decided to make the 7000 server 410mm wide at the
rails instead of all their other stuff at 420mm.... what a pain in the
arse.