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Accepted
MikeJ
Asked: 2009-08-11 11:06:38 +0800 CST

Tool to assist loading servers into a rack?

  • 772

This three questions have been merged into this one. The following answers might have come from any of them, or might be a generic answer to all of them.

  • Is there any kind of tool to assist in loading an unloading servers? I realized that I lack both height and upper body strength to remove servers from the upper tiers of a rack? I could not find the name or type of equipment that folks are using to do this kind of work safely?

  • In this video can I see that they use a dedicated "server lift" http://www.racklift.com/RackLift-Demo-Video.html which looks quite expensive until you consider the cost of what your lifting.

    Does anyone know of cheap server lifts or other tools that can be used for this?

  • In this video: http://vodpod.com/watch/2515104-rack-and-install-the-cisco-ucs-5108-server-chassis 3:18 into the video. I'm curious about Server Jacks and possibly ballpark costs for them.

rack rackmount loading safety

15 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Why is everyone giving the wrong answer?

    It's called a scissor lift:


    (source: vestilmfg.com)

    They make servers that are hundreds of pounds. Lots of storage arrays are far more than that. There comes a time when you don't want to rely on hands that were, most likely, just reaching for greasy potato chips.

    Use the actual tool if server lifting is an issue.

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  2. It sounds like a silly question at first, but its actually an important health and safety point - ideally the person / people doing the lifting should be wearing safety boots even if a special hoist is used, and should be trained in whatever technique/tools they're using.

    We use a wheeled trolley (like this one - make sure you get one with brakes) to move servers and we lift directly from that if its going into the top half of a rack, but other than that we just use the appropriate amount of people to do the lifting rather than anything fancy.

    There are tools out there that are designed exactly for safely lifting, installing and removing heavy equipment from racks, and these are the ideal solution. Certainly something I personally think should be present in a busy datacentre where lots of hardware changes need to take place.

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  3. The Mk 1 human head. Always worked well for me.

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  4. Your own two hands (or four if you have a helper, random victimization works well). Hold it like a pizza (one hand in the middle underneath, and the other on the front) and slide it into place. Be careful about how you're lifting the box, we have servers that weigh up to 70lbs.

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  5. Google search for "server lifts" gives lots of results: link text. That type of lift will go to the top of a rack. We have a few in our DC, and they are invaluable.

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  7. Assuming you can't find any interns or colleagues to help, the name of what you are looking for is a server lift. Googling for rack mount server lift should point you in the right direction.

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  8. I don't know about the one in the video, but a search for server lift yields some likely results (including pricing information). My recollection is that there was a question here on ServerFault a while ago that had lots of recommendations for this sort of thing, but my brief search just now didn't yield anything.

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  9. Use a server lift if this is a common thing:

    http://www.serverlifter.com/

    Otherwise, you can use 2-3 people to assist.

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  10. HERE is either the same lift or one very similar indeed.

    Here's a picture

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