Reddit reviews StarTech.com 4U Wall Mount Patch Panel Bracket - 19 inch Steel Vertical Mounting Rack for Network and Data Equipment (RK419WALLV)

I've really enjoyed lurking/learning in this community and decided to share what I've put together. I stumbled in here shortly after purchasing an R610 from savemyserver and the posts here have provided a lot of inspiration! Here's what my garage setup looks like:

On the Wall (Photo 1):
Two horizontal 2x4's attached to studs provide a foundation for the 4U wall-mount rack and the pegboard (which is suspended by screw hooks and swings out to provide access to the backside). Had the ISP install a new coax drop in the garage to feed the modem. Use a pair of ZyXel PLA5456's to get a wired connection to the top floor; the throughput is crap but I don't see much latency or jitter (photos 5 & 6) and it's a better experience overall than wifi in some parts of the house.

1. Juniper SRX210
   

• Used for labbing, currently unplugged
  
• On loan from employer
  

2. Ubiquiti AP-AC-LR
   
3. RaspberryPi 2 (in a cobbled custom-designed LEGO enclosure)
   

• Backup OpenVPN server (primary is a Pritunl VM)
  

4. Intel NUC
   

• Used to be my server before the R610 came along, now it's unplugged and waiting for another project
  

5. 4U Startech Wall-Mount Rack
   

• See details below
  

6. Seagate HDD
   
7. Seagate HDD
   
8. ActionTec MOCA Adapter
   

• For the TiVo, renting from ISP
  

9. Arris CM850 Cable Modem
   

• Renting from ISP
  

10. Dell XPS 630i
    

• Destined to be NAS/iSCSI datastore
  

11. APC UPS XS1500
    
    
    Rack Detail (Photo 2):
    Here are the details of the rack-mounted gear:
    
    
12. Dell PowerEdge R610
    

• VMWare ESXi host
  
• (2x) Intel Xeon E5645 2.40GHz Hexa Core Processors
  
• 64GB (8x8) PC3-10600R DDR3 RAM
  
• (4x) 140GB 10k SAS HDDs (RAID 10)
  
• 260GB 7200 SATA HDD
  
• 240GB SATA SSD
  

2. Cisco WS-C2960G-24TC-L
   

• Core switch
  
• On loan from employer
  

3. Juniper SRX340
   

• Core router, firewall
  
• On loan from employer
  
  
  Server Mount Detail (Photo 3):
  The server is resting loose on the 4U rack - the front is sandwiched between the wall and the Cisco switch while the rear is suspended by a wall-mounted 40 lb. hook (look for the orange prongs). The hook is mounted to a 2x4 and drilled into a wall stud (hidden by the server in photos). The only way it's going anywhere is a big earthquake, in which case I'll have bigger problems anyhow.
  
  
  Network Diagram (Photo 4):
  My day job is networking so that's the part I most care about when diagramming. I'm using a "router-on-a-stick" topology with a four gig LACP LAG connecting the router to the switch. The switch feeds all other equipment according to VLAN. The R610 uses one port each dedicated to management and iSCSI traffic (although I have yet to actually use the iSCSI part) with the other two ports LAG'd to the switch (although this LAG doesn't use LACP because I'm not using VDS). That LAG trunks the rest of the VLANs which terminate in individual port groups. I keep a separate vswitch and port group isolated to give me a spot to put interfaces where they can't hurt anybody.
  
  The SRX340 is the DHCP server, firewall, and DNS cache for all VLANs except VLAN-UNTRUST (which is the L2 domain connected to the cable modem, a DMZ of sorts; anything in it can get a WAN IP). Most subnets are split in half with the first /25 reserved for static clients and the second /25 handed out via DHCP. All subnets follow the 10.0.X.0/24 scheme, where X = VLAN ID, except for VLAN-MGMT because I like using 172.X.0.0/24's for loopbacks, tunnels, and other bits internal to the route engine.
  
  DNS is a little weird. It flows like this: [clients] > [SRX] > [PiHole VM] > [OpenDNS]. This provides local caching, ad blocking, and content filtering, in that order. Is it a little crazy to have three hops for DNS? Maybe. Could something like pfSense do all those things in one hop? Probably, but that wouldn't be anywhere near as fun! Besides, cold requests aren't so slow that I notice.
  
  At work I have the great benefit of access to a dedicated, separate test network that has its own ISP connection in addition to the corporate-managed network. The ERL is basically setup for dual-WAN (although really it's just static routing) so that traffic destined for my home's external address is routed out the test network (reducing the use of corporate resources) while all else gets passed to corporate (so I can still access what I need internally). A Pritunl VPN interface then gives me routes to my home's VLAN-MGMT, -TRUST, and -DEV so I can manage things while away. The ERL is connected to a small switch at my desk creating it's own little LAN into which I plug my work PC, other lab routers, etc.

For anyone looking, Startech has 1u - 6u vertical mounts. I can't think of anything that would keep you from mounting 2 of these vertically about 30" apart and putting rails between them. You could have your servers mounted in rails horizontally on the wall then.

https://www.amazon.com/Startech-19-Inch-Vertical-Mountable-Server/dp/B001YHYVEY/ref=s9_simh_gw_g147_i1_r?_encoding=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=04YWHYY7Y2JJN649VF07&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=a6aaf593-1ba4-4f4e-bdcc-0febe090b8ed&pf_rd_i=desktop

this one looks exactly like the one I have. Way cheaper than the one you're looking at too.

You can get vertical racks, but this may not work for you either depending on the layout.

Maybe use one of these, so you don't need a full cabinet, just enough to hang 4U worth of equipment: https://www.amazon.com/Startech-19-Inch-Vertical-Mountable-Server/dp/B001YHYVEY

It's one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001YHYVEY/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'd recommend a vertically mounted 19" rail, about 4U to give tyou a bit of expansion capacity if you need to add stuff in the future, Amazon has one at 4U for reasonably low price... Bonus, vertical mount doesn't stick so far from wall so there's less stress on the mounting, as well as less footprint occupied.

Something like this might work depending on your environment:

https://www.amazon.com/Startech-19-Inch-Vertical-Mountable-Server/dp/B001YHYVEY

It's not too bad. I usually have music playing when I'm home anyway so it gets drowned out easily. The server mount is this.

This would get it into the closet.

I could see that working if you drilled holes through the base and mounted that to the wall. Then again, you could just buy one of these.

I have both my servers. An r810 and a r320 vertically mounted on their own vertical wall mount racks. Just make sure you hit the studs and you'll have no problems. If it's in the budget and you have space in your patch panel, think about installing at least five Ethernet drops just below or just beside the server. Makes for nice cable management. Shouldn't cost too much. I get most of my gear off Amazon in that regard.
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Mount-Patch-Panel-Bracket/dp/B001YHYVEY/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=wall+mount+vertical+server+rack&qid=1570787721&sprefix=wall+mounted+vertical+ser&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Listed-10-Pack-Keystone/dp/B00IO3HEN6/ref=mp_s_a_1_13?keywords=keystone+jack&qid=1570787805&sprefix=keyst&sr=8-13

https://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Betts-SC100RR-Carlon-Voltage/dp/B000W09PQI/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=low+voltage+box&qid=1570787902&sprefix=low+voltage&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/Mediabridge-Keystone-Plate-6-Port-White/dp/B072BC45GZ/ref=mp_s_a_1_12?keywords=keystone+wall+plate&qid=1570787950&sprefix=keystone&sr=8-12

https://www.amazon.com/Choseal-Ethernet-ethernet-Computer-Shielded/dp/B07QC4XM2P/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?keywords=cat7+ethernet+cable+500ft+shielded&qid=1570788039&sprefix=cat7+ethernet+cable+500ft&sr=8-5#

I found and bought my cat7 cable from another location. Came on a spool. And was riser cable, meaning it had a braided shield around the foil shield like you see in coax cable. Good luck

Here's an example from Amazon. The reviews have some pictures of how it looks with servers mounted.

StarTech.com 4U Wall Mount Patch Panel Bracket - 19 inch Steel Vertical Mounting Bracket for Network and Data Equipment (RK419WALLV) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001YHYVEY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_AQ5NDb56P4Q4B

I've used a lot of this type of bracket:

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https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-RK419WALLV-Startech-Vertical-Mountable/dp/B001YHYVEY/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=wall+mount+rack+vertical&qid=1558715792&s=gateway&sr=8-4

This would let you mount that case on a wall.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001YHYVEY

You’ll probably want to hang some heavy duty plywood on the wall studs, then attach the mount to the plywood.

so when you say 1/2 rack, do you mean you need ~21u of rack space to mount your gear? what I was getting at was something like this, but it's only 4u.

Had to use this in a re-purposed closet, worked okay, but wish i could have more. I then used a different mount for my patch panel.

https://www.amazon.com/Startech-19-Inch-Vertical-Mountable-Server/dp/B001YHYVEY

Best bet would be to build your own using one of these chassis from SuperMicro

Or go with a fullsize server and use a vertical wall mount like this

I mean, the coat hangers are an inventive solution but why not just use one of these?