I have a lot of gear in a colocation facility right now. Some of it is going to come home with me now.
I do not know anything about the "rack mount" side of the industry. I lease a rack, and I put my stuff in it.
I have a few 1U boxes, a few 2U boxes, and a few 4U boxes. 1U switch. One is a new Xserve, which means it is deep.
I think I can get by with around 12U to 18U. I want to keep it as small as possible, since I do not have a lot of spare space at my home. I will not be able to bolt to the wall, floor etc, so it should not be tall. This is something I would love to more or less just be a box that sits on the floor but gives me the ability to mount nicely, do nice cable management etc.
Are the "post" style racks junk? I am liking the open space, and the no limitations on depth of something like this: http://www.rackmountsolutions.net/images/products/Martin-relay-rack.jpg
However, that thing is way too tall, and probably way too expensive. I am looking to be around $300.00 or less. More if I have to, though I would prefer not to.
These look near perfect: (See comment for this link, the system will not let me post a second url) but I am worried the Xserve will not fit in it.
If anyone has any good links, or website recommendations of good past experience, I would appreciate it.
I am almost considering that I may be able to build something with random scraps of stuff at Home Depot as well.