HPE Storage Users Group

We are buying our first 7400 (we currently have 2 x t800, 2 x V800 and 1 x f400).
We would like to mount it in our existing standard APC 1200 deep racks but it looks like we will run into access issues for replacing power supplies if we use the standard APC PDUs.

Has anyone used APC racks for their 7000 series array and if so, what PDUs did they use?

I have a 7200 racked in standard 42U Dell rack, but the PDUs are mounted such that they do not impede any front/rear server access.

The book says 30 inches of clearance behind the unit, which seems excessive, and probably is accounting for the area the human stands to remove the node/PS.

Specs show the 7400 chassis is 676 mm deep... I haven't found the length of just the power supply, but it is less than 676mm minus the length of a drive magazine. If I had to guess, I would say the power supply is less than 446mm and you should have like 524mm of clearance behind the unit in the rack... however I do not certify any of that to be fact and you should do have your SE get the exact length of the PS and the controller node for your measurements.

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Richard Siemers
The views and opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

I've always used white-label racks, they are the one place I just don't accept going for a big vendor gives you any better quality. It's not like you're going to have issues with poor support because you bought a cheap rack.

The datacenters we host in use APC racks.

I have 7200's in both types of racks, connected to standard APC switched PDU, mounted vertically.

Have you had to remove a PSU yet? In our Netshelter SX we have to remove the zero U PDUs in order to service the PSU (it's been like this for every array we've had except the EVA). So we use smaller PDUs that are easier to swing out of the way instead of the 42U units.

I know the PDU was there before I put the entire SAN in and never ran into a problem. You can never have too much clearance when you scope the sizing of these things.

We have a couple of 7400s in 3rd party racks with the vertical APC PDUs with no access issues, can you post a picture of your rack/PDU configuration? We can probably tell by looking if there would be an issue.

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Bryan W
Senior Architect/Manager of System Infrastructure, Dallas TX
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanlwhite

In case this helps- it is worth noting we do use the 40" deep cabinets that allow plenty of space for working the PS's around the power cabling:



This is in a re-purposed HP EVA cabinet:

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Bryan W
Senior Architect/Manager of System Infrastructure, Dallas TX
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanlwhite

Thanks BryanW.
We have only placed the order this week so we do not have ours delivered yet. We are going by the measurments supplied to us by our local HP techs (South Australia) which would have the power supplies interfering with the power cables plugged into the PDUs.

We are using a 1200mm deep by 600mm wide rack.

We have come up with a solution by mounting the PDUs 90deg so the plugs are facing the back of the rack. I will post some shots once we have taken delivery and built the array.

With that deep of a cabinet I don't think moving the PDUs was actually required unless the enclosures are mounted towards the very rear of the cabinet for some reason. That said it should make accessing components a breeze.

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Bryan W
Senior Architect/Manager of System Infrastructure, Dallas TX
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanlwhite

We're using APC NetShelter AR3355 racks. We have cooling and power issues, so the larger cabinets give us the ability to work around these issues.

With that said, the clearance is quite good. We've replaced one PSU, as well as an SP with ease using these.

These pictures are from when we first put them in for testing.

The Front and The Back

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vSphere | Windows | Linux
2x 3Par 7400 | Brocade SAN