It is most frequently used as a measurement of the overall height of 19 inch and 23 inch rack frames as well as the height of equipment that mounts in these frames whereby the height of the frame or equipment is expressed as multiples of rack units for example a typical full size rack cage is 42u.
Standard server rack sizes.
For example a 9u rack has a width of 19 inches for a standard rack and a height of 15 75 inches 1 75 multiplied by 9.
A rack unit abbreviated u or ru is a unit of measure defined as 1 3 4 inches 44 45 mm.
A standard 19 inch server rack cabinet is typically 42u in height 600 millimetres 24 in wide and 36 inches 914 40 mm deep.
Server rack depth illustration of rack depth.
The industry standard for data centers the 42u universal server rack is compatible with a wide variety of servers and rack mountable networking equipment including dell hp austin hughes ibm kendall howard great lakes martin enclosures chatsworth and apc products.
1u 2u 3u and so on.
Unlike height server rack depth is commonly measured in inches and has is much less variation in sizes.
19 inch server racks can vary in qualities.
So for example if you have 20 x 2u high servers you need to mount you will need a server rack that.
Server racks can range from 0 to 50 inches in depth but are commonly seen at 24 and 48 inch depths.
Server rack cabinet enclosures on the other hand can be a non standard 18u or 37u.
That said it is possible to understand the notation used for server rack sizing.
1u one rack unit is approximately 1 75 in height 2u is 3 5 in height and so on.