channelcentral Blog

Small improvement to help answer a basic question: how tall is the server? Just look in the Table of Contents under Form Factor and iQuote now displays the U figure against Rack-Mountable Servers. This helps when calculating how many rack servers will fit into a rack (remember storage devices, switches & accessories may also be present).

What is a ‘U’?
A ‘U’ is a UNIT of measurement and is used for determining available Rack Space.  1U is 1.75″ in height.  Racks come in 42U and other heights, so, by specifying a server in Rack Units, then it’s possible to easily calculate how many rack components will fit into a 42U rack.  So, if you have 42 x 1U servers then in theory you could fit 42 servers into a rack although always check for best practice!

Trivia: U is actually short for RU (Rack Unit) – now that’s an abbreviation that wasn’t needed!