HANDLING SERVERS

Server components commonly found in server applications are: routers, nodes, servers, power supplies, fan units, and things called computers.

Items to Verify are:

1. The Server Components- Weights tend to max-out at around 350 pounds. Most weigh in the 100 to 150 pound range.

2. The Server Cabinet, enclosure, or rack  - Standard is a 19-inch rack mount, sometimes 23-inch rack. Shelf heights range from about 4-5-inches low, up to 84 - 85 inches, high

3. The server cabinets about each other, with no clearance between.

4. The server components mount into the server cabinet one of three ways:

a. Flange mount (cantilevered). This presents the most difficult handling scenario, especially if the server component has no handles.

b. On a shelf. Shelf thickness measured in "units". Clearance between shelf and server components above/below may be nil, or 1.5-inches.

c. On drawer guides. Here the component can extend out from the server cabinet. (This is the best possible scenario)

5. Opposing server cabinets face each other, set apart by aisle widths ranging from 24-inches (very narrow) to 44-inches (generous). Obviously, large "server farms" squeeze in as much as they can. The aisle width has profound impact on the direction in which the server lift approaches a server cabinet-either head-on, or "parallel-parked"

6. Some aisles dead-end into a wall or corner, where access to a server cabinet is from one direction only. This creates a problem of the operator and server lift competing for the same space.

7. Often the server environment is in an air-conditioned room, on a raised tile floor. The server lift may have to travel up/down a ramp. Sometimes there are openings and ducts for server cabling through the floor. ( A multiple-caster configuration is used to address this.) Sometimes ESD carpet is used. This results in a drastic increase in server lift push-pull forces.

8. The server lift may have to pass through a doorway. Standard doorways are 78-84-inches. This limits the server lift's overall height and thence stroke. Often the maximum shelf height to be reached exceeds the doorway height.

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