This Home-Friendly Full-Depth Server Rack Will Make You Rethink Your Puny Desktop

For the vast majority of people, a low-power laptop—or even just a smart phone—is all that’s necessary for home computer. After all, it really doesn’t take much power to check emails and browse Facebook. For gamers, videographers, makers, and others who require substantial processing power, a decent desktop is enough to get the job done.

But, some people, like Imgurian Whiskeykilo37, like to have something a bit more robust at home. Whiskeykilo37 often has the opportunity to bring full-depth server equipment home from work, and needed something to house it. While he could have purchased a simple off-the-shelf server rack, this was intended to run in his home, so he had some special requirements.

Traditional open-frame server racks are simple affairs: they’re just large metal frames that you can bolt servers and other rack equipment onto. That’s fine in a professional environment, where server rooms are clean and climate controlled, and where noise isn’t much of a concern. Whiskeykilo37 didn’t have that luxury, so he built his in an enclosure for cooling and noise-deadening.

Control panels on the front of the enclosure are used to monitor and control the intake and exhaust fans. An additional display is connected to a Raspberry Pi 3 for monitoring other equipment like the UPS. The inside of the entire box is lined with foam to keep the noise to a minimum. The result is a clean and functional home lab for working with full size server equipment.