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Most rackmount switches are not really designed to be used in datacenter rack as they do not have front-to-back airflow (and even if they would have, networking
by dfox 7y ago
Most rackmount switches are not really designed to be used in datacenter rack as they do not have front-to-back airflow (and even if they would have, networking hardware tends to have all connectors on wrong side of the box). But almost everyone routinely does that which then necessitates knowing that installing all air baffles would lead to exactly this issue.
- dnautics 7y ago> Most rackmount switches are not really designed to be used in datacenter rack as they do not have front-to-back airflow It's my understanding that switchable fans are standard on cisco, arista, and mellanox switches (have no idea about juniper) and besides, front-to-back or back-to-front depends on whether you mount in the back or in the front (both are valid) AND even if you go the "wrong way" patch panels are pretty easy to find and are cheap (at the expense of 1U)
- dfox 7y agoOn high-end-ish switches that are truly designed for this application. And having switchable fans will not help you with device that has left-to-right (or even more weird) airflow.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- hinkley 7y agoIt's been too long since I've been into a server room. It was not uncommon to see half-depth switches in the era prior to 'hot aisles' and I definitely recall them pulling air in directions that you might not like. They were never deep enough to siphon air from the front of the rack. If you have a switch fully populated rail-to-rail with ethernet jacks, it's not entirely clear to me where you should route air in a hot/cold aisle setup.