Racking up Dell’s 12th generation servers

Here at Dell, we love to get customer feedback and roll it into our newest offerings. In order to maximize the number of hard drives and also increase functionality and flexibility across the product line on Dell’s 12th generation 1U and 2U servers, the chassis widths have been standardized on a common size. For some systems, including the R620 and R720, this represents a slight increase in chassis width over the previous generation.  The systems’ rails have also been re-designed to accommodate this change, incorporating numerous design and material enhancements including the use of high-strength steels, and they retain the strength and robustness of their predecessors even though they have a slim profile.

One advantage of standardizing on the chassis width is that the number of different rail kits has been reduced to only two per U-height, offering compatibility between 12th generation systems of the same height. Dell continues to offer static rails (for lower-cost deployment) in addition to sliding rails (for in-rack serviceability) for most platforms.

Dell has made several enhancements to the sliding rail kits for the new systems. First, the enhanced ReadyRails™ II mounting interface on the sliding rails makes it possible to install Dell systems directly into threaded-hole racks. You only have to reconfigure the mounting brackets and provide the appropriate screws for your threaded-hole rack. For square-hole and round-hole racks, the new rails offer the same quick and easy tool-less installation as the original ReadyRails design.

Secondly, we have standardized the sliding rails with a ‘drop-in’ design in which the server is installed from above the rails so that the additional step of attaching an inner member to the chassis before installation is no longer required. Once these rails are mounted in the rack, installing your system in them does require some extra diligence, since the clearances are somewhat tight. To see the recommended installation procedure for both 1U and 2U systems, check out the video below.

Lastly, the new rail design has a self-adjusting mechanism that accommodates different depths of systems, offering compatibility across multiple models. That means that you don’t need to get a new rail kit if you decide to trade up your R620 with 8 hard drives for the deeper version with 10 hard drives.

There you have it! Dell provides the options and features for the system and the rails to create an optimized solution to meet your needs.

About the Author: Joy Ruff