Home Lab Setup

I recently purchased a network rack to hold my Cisco equipment in my home lab.

The rack is an Onstage RS7030 Rack Stand purchased through Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CD1R84/ref=pe_175190_21431760_M3T1_ST1_dp_1

So the Cisco gear from top to bottom is as follows:

3)  Cisco 1721 routers
2)  Cisco 2621 routers
3)  Cisco 2950 switches (Layer 2 only)
2)  Cisco 3550 switches (Layer 3 capable)

The wicker basket holds all of the cables I'm not using at the time.

The rack seems very solid.  One complaint is that it is that the vertical bars are intended to be angled back which makes it difficult to use the tray I purchased to hold my Cisco 1721 routers (which are not rack-mountable).  So, I undid two of the bolts, rotated the vertical bars so they are more vertical and replaced the bolts.  So instead of the bolts holding the support, the support is resting on top of the bolts.  Kind of clunky to have it that way, but I like it better this way.

Also, the mounting bolts are not great.  They work just fine, but I purchased some Raxxess mounting screws.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001FTVD6/ref=pe_175190_21431760_3p_M3T1_ST1_dp_1

Lastly, I purchased a 100 pack of cable marker ties to identify each cable.  It has been really nice when moving cables around knowing exactly which ends I'm dealing with.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003L13A7K/ref=pe_175190_21431760_3p_M3T1_ST1_dp_1

If you are putting together a home lab, the Onstage RS7030 rack is a great way to rack up your routers and switches.