Is it bad to mount a rack mountable server vertically?

Solution 1:

Certain specific case designs may have issues with mounting in other-than-horizontal attitudes, but there isn't anything inherent to server cases that would suggest this is bad. Bad case-designs would have parts vibrating loose after long periods without gravity to retain them, but this shouldn't be a problem with a major server vendor case. Most blade-servers are vertical in my experience!

Solution 2:

Check the venting path. Hot air should not get trapped in a 'dead end' at the 'top' of a horizontal case mounted vertically. If there is room for air to be sucked in and then blown out having passed over most of the PCBs you will be ok.

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Solution 3:

I have had a Dell R230 1U server mounted vertically on the wall in a customers basement for 3 years now. The fans more than make up for any heat rise. The back is at the bottom and the front is at the top.

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Solution 4:

There can be, but not usually - The thing is heat rises, so it is sometimes more difficult to suck the air in through the top then out through the bottom and you end up sucking in more hot air once it rises. Normally it won't be an issue - unless you have a really hot server. Then you have to make sure you have good air flow and cooling.

You can find some good wall mounted rack here: http://www.racksolutions.com/server-racks/wall-mount-racks

Or you can go with an open rack, if you have the space since putting it in a closet makes the cabinet unnecessary - Here: http://www.racksolutions.com/server-racks/open-frame-racks

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Solution 5:

It will try to suck cool air in from the front, and blow hot air out at the back. Since hot air rises I recommend mounting it with it's front facing the floor.

I've seen people mount servers this way (e.g. the folks at http://www.grcooling.com/ ) and they tell me there are no drawbacks to this, other then possible inconvenience when having to replace a component.