Submittal
More Meaningful Connections
5 WHITE PAPER – Introduction to the Micro Data Center (MDC)
• Cabinets
In general, cabinets are designed for servers or switches. Server cabinets are
deeper with cable routing in the back, whereas switch cabinets may be more
shallow with cable routing in the front with the ability to utilize sides for additional
cable capacity. If combining servers and switches in the same housing, a server
cabinet should be selected to provide greatest design exibility.
• Racks
Racks can be a 2 post or 4 post design. Typically, a network rack with shallow
switches can t a 2 post design. Larger and heavier equipment is best handled
by a 4 post design, especially if mounting servers. If combining servers and
switches together in the same rack, a 4 post design should be selected to
provide greater design exibility.
Figure 4. Example Panduit 4 Post
Rack (half or full) with Cable
Management Deployed for Micro
Data Center Application
The remainder of this section describes in greater detail each of these points of consideration.
Housing – Racks and Cabinets
A rack or cabinet is typically used to house MDC elements in a centralized modular form factor. The
main difference between a rack and a cabinet is one of protection: a cabinet offers greater security and
environmental protection (i.e., from both dirt and workers) due to four walls and the ability of a locking door
mechanism, versus the open environment provided by a rack. For harsh environments, the MDC can be
housed in a NEMA-rated hardened cabinet with the proper cooling and environmental protection.
The housing (i.e., rack, see Figure 4) needs to accommodate all equipment, patch panels, and cable
managers while providing a growth factor of between 30-50% to accommodate future expansion. For
small MDCs, half-height racks or cabinets may be sufcient, while large installations may require full size or
multiple racks/cabinets.
Equipment layout
Equipment layout in a rack or cabinet depends on the number, weight, and type of components as well as
segregation. Common design practice locates enterprise network equipment at the top and industrial network
equipment at the bottom, with the DMZ positioned in the middle of the housing. Typically, heavy components
are located at the bottom of the rack or cabinet with the patch eld located at the top for best stability. In
general, like equipment should be grouped with spaces for free RU spaces for future expansion.
If combining servers and switches into the same housing, several design considerations come into play.
Common practice is to face the front of switches and the back of servers in the same direction, in order
to keep connectivity on one side of the housing for ease of access. This layout strategy mitigates the risks
involved with less organized wire management approaches, and reduces network interruptions resulting from
common cabling problems (i.e., difcult to access cables, cords that snag when pulled, etc.).