Moving servers and rack equipment

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨dogma11@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨selfhosted@lemmy.world⁩

Hi selfhosted community,

I’m in the process of moving across the country and need some advice on the best way to transport my server equipment safely. I have a 15U server rack, a 2U server, a 1U server, a 2U UPS, a 1U PDU, a 1U network switch, a 1U network router, and a 1U patch panel. I’m planning to pack everything into a 4×8 U-Haul trailer along with the rest of my bedroom, desk, and computer equipment.

I ran a few queries into a couple LLMs and they basically say to pack everything in the rack and secure it down. I just couldn’t see that working out at all. Figured I might get some human input.

Here are a few questions I have:

Packing: What’s the best way to pack these items to ensure they don’t get damaged during transport? Should I use bubble wrap, foam, or just some moving blankets?
Securing: I’ve got plenty of ratchet straps but is there any other - options I should be aware of?
Anything else I’m not thinking of atm?

Additional Tips: Any other advice for transporting sensitive electronic equipment would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your help! Looking forward to your suggestions.

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Comments

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thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’ve been in charge of relocating several data centres.

We tore everything down, servers out of racks etc.

All servers, fabric switches drive arrays etc were individually wrapped in bubble wrap then the heavy removalists cloth then into the large metal moving boxes (1500mmx1500mmx1500mm roughly) before being stacked so they couldn’t move around, followed by ratchet straps securing groups of kit together.

All this was done by professional removalists - no reason you can’t do it though.

Basically the principle is flexible padding (bubble wrap) to allow for movement close to the device without impacting it, heavy shock absorbing material (the felt), then put into a robust container (metal box) so limiting impact risk.

I’d strongly recommend NOT to leave them in the rack - a couple of screws vibrate loose and then that device drops onto the one below it, bounces up and down through the journey and wrecks them both.

If it’s a mile up the road, sure, you’ll probably be fine and get away with it, multiple hours on the road ? It’s not surviving it.

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- ramble81@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Funny thing is, I’ve relocated DCs too and we did the opposite. We had rolling racks and we wrapped the entire rack with everything still in it and did a padded wrap with anti-tip indicators.
  
  The biggest thing to watch out for was we used a temperature controlled truck to ensure there wasn’t a swing in humidity or temps to cause condensation and then let the racks sit in the new locations for 24 hours before power on
  
  Moving 85 racks with literally hundreds of disks and we only lost 4 disks over the next 6 months which was in line with our normal failure rate. No need to tear down and re-rack.
  
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  - thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Fair enough - racks in entirety/untouched dramatically reduces the risk of not being able to get stuff back up because of miscabling or missed cabling. I could see that approach being sensible if you’re moving across town.
    
    I personally wouldnt if moving between cities, YMMV of course.
    
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- dogma11@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Thanks for the information!
  
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motsu@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Take out any spinning rust and pack those in a foam HDD case. Number them as you pull them for easy reinstall.

Put a bit of plywood under the rack, ratchet strap it, and now you can put it on a dolly without the lip hitting the equipment as you try and lift it. For avoiding it falling off the dolly, use a 2nd ratchet strap and wrap it around the chassis / dolly.

Put a 2nd piece of plywood on top once its in the uhaul so you can load more boxes on top… Maybe even do that at first so the initial strap is securing it as well.

As for the bottom plywood, if you add some felt pads, then it will help you shimmy the chassis into / out of its position once its unloaded. I have my rack vhb taped to ply with felt under it and recommend it to people IRL a fair bit.

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- dogma11@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I like the plywood and felt pads idea, thank you.
  I’ll definitely be taking all the hard drives out and wrapping and packing them in boxes.
  
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monkeyman512@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
If you have mechanical HDD you may want to get a foam lined case and anti static bags. That should be the best approach to avoid drive damage.

As for leaving things in the rack, I am concerned that road vibration could walk screws out. That would be bad.

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- Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Maybe even in the driver cabin or something that’s more cushioned and less prone to get vibrated to death.
  
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Shimitar@downonthestreet.eu ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I would just not dismantle the rack. Ensure that everything inside its securely strapped down and nothing can move freely, not even cables. Ensure that all plugs are safely screwed in the socket or tape them for non screwable ones to prevent to come loose and bang around.

Then fill voids and gaps with bubble wrap or anything light and non scratchy. Wrap everything from the outside with bubble wrap layer to prevent damage from hit or scratch.

Then find or build a big enough cardboard box to fit the rack and call it a day.

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- tburkhol@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  With only 15U, assuming devices don’t stick out the back, I’d move it face-up, so devices are more hanging from their ears than cantilevered. A full, 42/48U rack is extremely top-heavy and tipping during move is a serious risk, but 15U is fine. It’s still very dense, and OP should try to ratchet-strap it to hard points in the trailer.
  
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InvertedParallax@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Trying to move my fully populated 42u rack to Europe.

So far been doing it piecemeal, but that will have to accelerate at some point.

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- dogma11@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  lol I feel small and inadequate.
  
  Have you had much in the way of bad luck with the move being done piecemeal?
  
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  - InvertedParallax@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Meh, it’s going.
    
    I might do the rest at once, it’s about setting up a link between the two first (wireguard etc), then bringing servers over and up.
    
    What terrifies me is trying to move my monitors, those are massive and beautiful with 0 room for error.
    
    Used metal carriers with foam inserts for storage, but the balance is still back home.
    
    Fiber in Europe is glorious, so that helps.
    
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dogma11@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Thanks for all the information and tips everyone!
In the end I’m gonna end up doing a combination of things.

Spinning disk drives and power supplies are removed from all systems, large unsecured cards removed from desktop so they can’t flop around on the PCIe connection, servers removed from rack, everything wrapped and strapped down as needed.
Drawers mounted in the rack will also be removed as well as UPS, everything else weighs next to nothing and can be safely left in the rack. Most likely store stuff in the cavity of the rack and then wrap the whole rack tight in a plastic packing wrap. I’ll get a moisture control box for closets, bathrooms, mud rooms and storage stuff to help control the humidity inside the trailer during the move.
My trip will end up being around 1,600 miles in 2 parts. From Texas to Iowa to Virginia, so who knows what all kind of weather I’ll be hitting.

Thanks again for all the help, I’m pretty confident I’ll be able to get everything moved safely.

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realbadat@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’m fine with keeping equipment in the rack if its secured, but I always remove the cabling. I personally don’t think people pay much attention to that part.

I’d also put packing between devices. Since its all going in the uhaul, I wouldn’t personally feel the need to separate anything out of the rack, I’d probably leave it in and just check all my mounts are secure. I’d also make sure the rack is secured well in the uhaul, strapped in with a blanket between it and the wall.

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Retro_unlimited@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I just moved across states.

I took everything apart, packed the equipment in boxes using tons of padding. Any extra space in the boxes was filled with extra cables and more padding. Rack mounts that I have come completely apart.

My main servers have hard drives, so I used a lot of foam all around the server and added trackers (air tags) to the servers and my camera stuff.

I’m now off grid so not really in a hurry to setup all this stuff, but happy it seems to have made it here in great condition. Eventually I will setup the rack mounts just to hold the equipment and maybe I will power on things here and there as I feel like playing with them again.

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