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Re: Help with P-Class enclosure positioning in Rack and cabling

 
Mark Matthews
Respected Contributor

Help with P-Class enclosure positioning in Rack and cabling

Hello all,

I have a customer with 1 x P-Class Blade enclosure (with enhanced backplane) and
2 x P-Class 3U power enclosures (2 are needed when using enhanced backplane)
1 x Mini bus bar
1 x Dual power input kit

They installed all the kit into the rack themselves and I went to help with the power cabling etc.
The enclosures are all towards the top of the rack but had to go wherever there was room due to other live servers already in the rack.
We got it all in but it looks a bit messy and we cant close the bus bars, cant get the dual power input kit to mount on the bus bars etc etc, and they now want it tidying up.

It looks like the problem is due to the enclosures / bus bars are not in the 'correct' positions in the rack so the cables are stretched etc making it messy.

All pictures Ive seen seem to suggest
starting at the bottom of the rack and working upwards, but I cant find any suggestions on installation of 1 blade enc with 2 power encs and mini bus bar...

The documentation and templates are long thrown out, but they reckon that the templates only took into account using one power enclosure...

Looks like I'm going to have to clear the whole rack and start from scratch which they are not too happy about because of the live servers already installed.

Has anyone setup this exact amount of kit before?
If I put both power enclosures at the bottom of the rack, where does the bottom of the mini bus bar need to go? Very bottom, 3U up, 6U up???

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Mark...

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8 REPLIES 8
Rob Leadbeater
Honored Contributor

Re: Help with P-Class enclosure positioning in Rack and cabling

Hi Mark,

You'll find some information in the enclosure installation guide here:

http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00172260/c00172260.pdf

although the rack templates aren't in there unfortunately...

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Rob
Mark Matthews
Respected Contributor

Re: Help with P-Class enclosure positioning in Rack and cabling

Thanks for that Rob,

I had already seen that but hadnt noticed the following line...

IMPORTANT: In AC power configurations, the bottom hinges for each bus bar are installed on the ends of the power enclosure rack rails. The rails have extrusions to align the hinges and holes to accept the screws. In facility DC power configurations, you must install cage nuts to support the bottom hinges. Refer to the template for hinge locations.

Is that right? I didnt notice the ends of the power enc rails at all...

The bus bars are NOT on the ends of either of the power enclosure rails, but it still doest tell me which one I'd need to attach to in a 2 power enc scenario!?

Thanks
Mark...

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Rob Leadbeater
Honored Contributor

Re: Help with P-Class enclosure positioning in Rack and cabling

Hi Mark,

Have you seen this doc ?

http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00580027/c00580027.pdf

It would suggest that the two power enclosures go one above the other, with the minibus bar 3U up from where it normally is... (not that it's obvious where that's supposed to be !)

Cheers,

Rob
Rob Leadbeater
Honored Contributor

Re: Help with P-Class enclosure positioning in Rack and cabling

...or you can mount the second power enclosure above the blade enclosure, if you have an extension kit:

http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00375803/c00375803.pdf

Cheers,
Rob
Mark Matthews
Respected Contributor

Re: Help with P-Class enclosure positioning in Rack and cabling

Hi Rob,

Yeah Ive seen both of those too Im afraid!

The first doc with the pic titled
"Installing the access cover on the
dual power box", looks like the bottom hinge is about 5U up to me...

Looks like its going to need everything pulling out of the rack so that I can install the blade gear at the bottom.
Unless I can work out 5U up from the bottom of the lower power enc where it is positioned now....hmmmmmm......

Thanks for forcing me to have another look at those docs, but it would be nice if it actually said it somewhere rather than having to figure it out from pictures detailing other things...!

Any word from an HP official I wonder?


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Mark Matthews
Respected Contributor

Re: Help with P-Class enclosure positioning in Rack and cabling

Hehe funny how things come to you after thinking about them!

Just sat and worked it out with the info I have already...

If you had 1 power enclosure at the bottom of the rack and they say the bottom hinge of the mini bus bar connects (somehow) to the rail (of the power enc), then lets say the rails are in the middle of the 3U of the enclosure (at 2U, cant remember?)

Then if you have another power enc on top of it, they say to move the bus bar up 3U, which would work out at exactly the right height for the middle of the second power enc (ie my 5U figure from the previous post)

Think I might be onto something here!
Just gonna try and find the fitting instructions on the web for the 3U power enclosures...

Thanks
Mark...

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Rob Leadbeater
Honored Contributor

Re: Help with P-Class enclosure positioning in Rack and cabling

Hi Mark,

If you look again at the enclosure installation guide you should be able to figure it out...

The picture on page 39 (attached), shows the bottom of the bus bar being installed at the bottom of 2U. Logically therefore with a second 3U power enclosure the bottom of the bus bar should be installed at the bottom of 5U, as you also figured out...

It's a shame that you can't seem to locate the rack templates anywhere...

Cheers,

Rob
Mark Matthews
Respected Contributor

Re: Help with P-Class enclosure positioning in Rack and cabling

Yep looks good to me...

Thanks for the second opinion!

I suppose it also doesnt matter if the kit is at the bottom of the rack or not.
As long as the 2 power encs are together and the blade enc is directly on top of it, then I can still use the 2U / 5U rule to make sure the bus bars are in the correct place. (and if they do fit onto the rails of the power encs then I hopefully wont need any templates)

This ALSO means that I dont have to move any of their live servers either!

I think I'll give them that option first!

Cheers once again.

Mark...

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