Rack Management
Use the visual rack editor to drag devices into U slots, mount PDUs on rails, track power budget, manage loose items, and allocate hardware to services.
What the rack editor is for
The rack editor is a visual, drag-and-drop floor plan of a single cabinet. It shows every U of the rack as a vertical grid, lets you install and move equipment by dragging, tracks power budget and PDU load, and links physical hardware to the services it powers. Use it to model exactly how a cabinet is wired and populated, and to keep an accurate record of what lives where.
How to reach it
From the left sidebar open Locations, choose a location, then open a data center to land on Datacenter Details. Each rack in that data center is shown as a card; click a rack card to open the rack editor. The breadcrumb at the top (Locations / Location / Data center / Rack) lets you step back at any level.
Reading the layout
The screen is split into two columns. The left column is the rack diagram; the right column is the sidebar holding unassigned equipment, loose items, and notes.
The rack diagram
- Header line — the rack name and a live count: "X used of YU (ZU free)". This counts only equipment mounted in the front U slots; rail-mounted PDUs do not consume front U.
- Colour legend — a key for each device type so you can identify slots at a glance: Server, Chassis, Switch, Router, Firewall, Colocation, Patch Panel, Cable Holder, and PDU.
- U grid — slots run from the highest U at the top down to 1U at the bottom, with the U number printed on both the left and right edges. Each installed device renders as a coloured block at its correct height, showing its name and model.
- Side rails — the narrow lanes inside the left and right edges of the frame hold vertical (0U) PDUs. Drag a PDU onto a rail to mount it there without using any front U.
- Power usage bar — appears only when the rack has a power budget set. It shows allocated kW against the budget and turns yellow above 70% and red above 90%.
- PDU load bars — when PDUs are present, a per-PDU bar shows live draw against rated capacity.
The sidebar
- Unassigned Devices — every inventory device that exists but is not yet installed in a rack slot, grouped by type (servers, chassis, patch panels, switches, routers, firewalls, colocation spaces, cable holders). Drag any card into a U slot to install it.
- Loose Items — a collapsible panel of spare parts and accessories stored in this rack (drives, transceivers, cables, rail kits, and so on). The header shows a count badge.
- Rack Notes — a collapsible free-text field scoped to this rack. A Save button appears only when you have unsaved changes.
Installing, moving, and removing equipment
- Install a device. Drag a card from Unassigned Devices onto the U grid. As you drag, the slots that the device would occupy highlight blue when the space is free and red when it would overlap something. Release to drop it in place. The block height matches the device's U size.
- Move a device. Drag an installed block to a new U position. The same blue/red highlighting shows valid versus conflicting destinations.
- Uninstall a device. Drag an installed block back onto the Unassigned Devices panel. This removes it from the rack but keeps the inventory record intact, so you can reinstall it later.
- Mount a PDU on a rail. Drag a PDU onto the left or right rail lane to mount it vertically at 0U. Dropping it on a front U slot instead places it horizontally at that U.
The rack editor positions equipment; it does not create it. Most devices come from Inventory. If the cabinet is empty, add hardware in Inventory first, or use the header buttons below to create infrastructure-only items in place.
Adding infrastructure items in place
The header on the right holds buttons for the passive and space items that belong to a rack rather than to general inventory:
- Add Colocation — opens the device form pre-set to a colocation space, where you record the customer label, power allocation (kW), cross-connects, and bandwidth.
- Add Patch Panel — opens the device form pre-set to a patch panel, where you set the name and port count.
- Add Cable Holder — opens the device form pre-set to a cable holder (a cable-management item).
- Settings (gear icon) — opens the rack settings form (covered below).
Items created from these buttons start out unassigned. After saving, drag them from the Unassigned Devices panel into the U position you want.
Colocation is an optional capability. If the colocation feature is switched off, the Colocation Space option is removed from the device type picker.
Working with a device
Click any installed block, or any card in the sidebar, to open its detail view. What opens depends on the device type:
- Servers, network gear (switches, routers, firewalls), and PDUs open the same detailed editor used on the Inventory page, where you can edit full specifications, asset tracking, network details, and allocation.
- A blade chassis opens the chassis detail view, where you manage its blade bays — view installed blades, click an empty bay to add a blade, and open any blade to allocate or remove it.
- Patch panels open a dedicated port-mapping view for documenting which port connects where.
- Colocation blocks jump straight to the linked customer service when one is attached.
- Cable holders and similar passive items open the simple rack-editor form.
Device form fields
When creating or editing a device through the rack editor's form, these fields are available (some appear only for certain types):
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Type | Dedicated Server, Blade Chassis, Switch, Router, Firewall, Patch Panel, Cable Holder, PDU, or Colocation Space. Only selectable when adding a brand-new device without a pre-set type. |
| Name | Required label for the device, shown on its rack block and cards. |
| Manufacturer / Model | Hardware make and model (hidden for patch panels and cable holders). |
| Size (U) | How many rack units the device occupies (1–48). Controls the block height in the diagram. |
| Blade slots | Number of blade bays, shown only for a Blade Chassis. |
| Port count | Number of ports, shown only for a Patch Panel. |
| Mount | For a PDU: Horizontal (U), Left rail (0U), or Right rail (0U). |
| Status | Available, Reserved, Maintenance, Decommissioned, or Faulty. Locked while a device is allocated to a service. |
| Asset tracking | Serial number, asset tag, purchase date, and warranty expiry. |
| Network | Management IP, primary MAC, and power consumption (watts). |
| Colocation config | For a Colocation Space: customer label, power allocation (kW), cross-connects, and bandwidth. |
| Notes | Free-text notes about the device. |
The device form footer offers Uninstall (when the device is in a rack), Delete (when it is not allocated), and an Allocate / Manage allocation button.
Allocating hardware to a service
Allocation links a physical device or blade to a customer service so you always know which hardware backs which order.
- Open the device (or blade) and click Allocate.
- In the allocation window, search active services by name, hostname, or customer email.
- Select a service and click Allocate. The device status becomes Allocated and the device shows the linked service.
- To release it, reopen the device, click Manage allocation, and use Deallocate.
An allocated device cannot be deleted or have its status changed until you deallocate it first. This guard prevents you from accidentally removing hardware that a live service depends on.
Loose items
Loose items are spares and accessories stored in the rack but not mounted in a U slot. Expand the Loose Items panel and use Add Item to record one. Each item has a type (SSD, HDD, NIC, transceiver, cable, power supply, memory, fan module, riser card, rail kit, drive caddy, or other), a condition (New, Used, Refurbished, or Faulty), a quantity, and optional serial number, manufacturer, model, purchase date, warranty expiry, and notes. Each listed item has hover actions to Move it to another rack, Edit it, or Delete it.
Rack settings
Click the gear icon to open the rack settings form. The available fields are:
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name | Display name of the rack (e.g. "Rack A1"). |
| Code | Short identifier, auto-suggested from the name. Locked once the rack exists. |
| Height | Rack height: 24U, 42U (standard), 45U, or 48U. Sets how many U slots the diagram shows. |
| Row / Aisle | Physical placement labels (e.g. "Row A", "Cold Aisle 1"), shown under the rack name. |
| Power budget (kW) | Total power the rack can supply. Enables the power usage bar in the diagram. |
| Circuit amps / Voltage | Feed circuit rating and voltage (110V, 208V, 230V, or 400V). |
| Redundancy | Power redundancy model: N, N+1, 2N, or 2N+1. |
| Display order | Controls where this rack appears among others in the data center list. |
| Active | Whether the rack is active. |
Tips and gotchas
- Dragging a multi-U device requires room below the drop point. If there isn't enough space down to 1U, the drop is rejected with a message.
- Uninstalling and deleting are different: dragging a device to the Unassigned panel only removes it from the rack, while Delete in the device form removes the inventory record entirely.
- PDUs are power sources, not consumers — their own draw is never counted against the rack's power budget, but the power your devices and colocation spaces draw is.
- Set a power budget in rack settings to unlock the capacity bar; without it the diagram shows no power gauge.
- Rack notes only save when you click the Save button that appears after you edit the text.