NetApp racks and Compaq racks are both made by Rittal. The mounting flanges on the Compaq version, however, are set nearly flush to the door jam of the cabinet whereas the NetApp version of the rack has the mounting flanges set a bit farther back (closer to the vertical support beams). Though I'm pretty familiar with both rack styles I've never tried this. In my, somewhat educated opinion, there are a few possible issues:

1) The filer will need to be supported in the front as well as the rear. While mounting the disk shelves directly to the flange should be okay, mounting the filer using the front support only probably isn't a good idea given the thickness (rather, thinness) of the flange. The horizontal support rails that ship with a filer *might* work in the Compaq version. Similarly, the horizontal support rails that ship with the Compaq also *might* work (you likely have a number of these laying around since Proliants typically ship with their own slide rails or horizontal support rails).

2) Now if the above turns out to be a non-issue, you may have a problem closing the cabinet door since the filer's bezel sticks out farther than your typical Compaq Proliant does.

3) Even if the door does close, the bezel might be set too close to the Plexiglas door panel which might cause ventilation problems (you wouldn't want to suffocate your poor filer, now would you?). I've seen some shops, however, where they opt not to install the front door on their Compaq racks.

4) I don't recall if the cabinets are available in the same height. If so, you might be able to get away with mounting a NetApp version next to a Compaq version using a coupling kit. Since the internal vertical bracing seems to be different, you may not be able to install the angle brackets for extra support.

It probably seems like I'm pitching the NetApp solution as a stand-alone rack (okay, so I am) but Rittal (http://www.rittal.com/) may have a better answer for you. Meanwhile, I'll poke around over here to see if I can come up with some better news.

Regards,

Paul Benn Network Appliance

-----Original Message----- From: Andrew Webster [mailto:Andrew-M.Webster@db.com] Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2000 10:47 PM To: toasters@mathworks.com Subject: Toasters in Compaq Racks and Unicode Files

Hi There,

Has anyone out there installed F 760es in Compaq racks? Any special tips, problems etc....