Rack Management

What the rack editor is for

The rack editor is a visual, drag-and-drop elevation of a single cabinet. It shows every U of the rack as a vertical grid, lets you install and move equipment by dragging, tracks the rack's power budget and per-PDU load, and links physical hardware to the services it powers. Use it to model exactly how a cabinet is 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 datacenter to land on Datacenter Details. Each rack there is shown as a card; click a rack card to open the rack editor. The breadcrumb at the top (Locations / Location / Datacenter / Rack) lets you step back at any level.

Note: The rack editor is part of the Locations module. If Locations is switched off for your company, the whole Locations → datacenter → rack chain is unavailable.

Reading the layout

The header shows the rack name with its size, row and aisle beneath it — for example 42U Rack • Row A • Cold Aisle 1. Below, the screen splits 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 in the form 12U used of 42U (30U free). This counts only equipment mounted in the front U slots; rail-mounted PDUs consume no front U and are excluded.
• Colour legend — a key for each device type so you can identify blocks 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.
• Side rails — the narrow lanes inside the left and right edges of the frame hold vertical (0U) PDUs. Each rail strip shows the PDU's name and a coloured health dot for its load.
• Power usage bar — appears only when the rack has a power budget set. It reads Power: 4.2 kW / 10.0 kW with a percentage, and turns yellow above 70% and red above 90%.
• PDU load — when PDUs are present, a per-PDU bar shows the reported draw against rated capacity, in kW or amps. A PDU that has never reported reads No data.

The sidebar

• Unassigned Devices — every device that exists but is not installed in any rack, grouped under headings with counts: Servers, Chassis, Patch Panels, Switches, Routers, Firewalls, Colocation Spaces and Cable Holders. Drag any card into a U slot to install it.
• Colocation Services — when the colocation module is in use, colocation services that have no rack block yet appear at the top of the same panel as indigo cards showing the U size and the client. Drag one into the grid and the platform creates the rack block and links it to that service in a single step.
• Loose Items — a collapsible panel of spare parts and accessories stored in this rack. The header shows a count badge.
• Rack Notes — a collapsible free-text field scoped to this rack. A Save Notes button appears only once you have edited the text.

Installing, moving and removing equipment

1. Install a device. Drag a card from Unassigned Devices onto the U grid. As you drag, the slots the device would occupy highlight blue when the space is free and red (Overlap!) when it would collide. The slot you drop on is the top of the device, and the block grows downwards to match its size in U.
2. Move a device. Drag an installed block to a new U position. The same blue/red highlighting shows valid versus conflicting destinations.
3. Uninstall a device. Drag an installed block back onto the Unassigned Devices panel. This takes it out of the rack but keeps the device record, so you can reinstall it later.
4. Mount a PDU on a rail. Drag a PDU onto the left or right rail lane to mount it vertically at 0U, keeping its existing U range. Dropping it on a front U slot instead places it horizontally at that U.

Note: Dragging a multi-U device needs room below the drop point. If the device would run past 1U, the drop is refused with Not enough space — device needs NU starting from RU 1.

Warning: A colocation block behaves differently. Dragging one back to the Unassigned panel does not just uninstall it — the block is removed entirely and its service returns to the Colocation Services list, ready to be dropped into a rack again.

Tip: The rack editor positions equipment; most of it is created elsewhere. Servers, chassis, network gear and PDUs are added on the Inventory page. Only the rack-furniture items below can be created here.

Adding rack 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 included 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-management item.
• Rack Settings (gear icon) — opens the rack form (covered below).

Items created from these buttons start out unassigned — the confirmation says Device created — drag it into a rack slot. Drag them from the Unassigned Devices panel into the U position you want.

Note: Colocation is an optional capability. When it is switched off, the Colocation Space option no longer appears in 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 open the same full device view used on the Inventory page, with specifications, asset tracking, network details, power actions and the OS install action.
• A blade chassis opens the chassis detail view, where you work through its blade bays.
• Switches, routers and firewalls open the network device view.
• PDUs open the PDU view, with its Overview, Power, SNMP and Location tabs.
• 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 described below.

Device form fields

When you create or edit a device through the rack editor's own form, these fields are available. Some appear only for certain types, and patch panels and cable holders show only Name, Size, Port Count and Notes.

Fields in the Add New Device / Edit Device form.

Field	What it does
Device Type	Dedicated Server, Blade Chassis, Switch, Router, Firewall, Patch Panel, Cable Holder, PDU or Colocation Space. Shown only when adding a brand-new device without a pre-set type.
Name (required)	The label for the device, shown on its rack block and cards.
Manufacturer / Model	Hardware make and model. Hidden for colocation spaces, patch panels and cable holders.
Size (RU) (required)	How many rack units the device occupies (1–48). Controls the block height in the diagram.
Blade Slots (required)	Number of blade bays, 1–32. Shown only for a Blade Chassis; defaults to 8.
Port Count (required)	Number of ports, 1–96. Shown only for a Patch Panel; defaults to 24.
Mount	For a PDU: Horizontal (U), Left rail or Right rail. The rail options mount it at 0U on the side of the frame.
Status	Available, Reserved, Maintenance, Decommissioned or Faulty. Locked while the device is allocated to a service, with the hint Deallocate from service to change status.
Asset Tracking	Serial Number, Asset Tag, Purchase Date and Warranty Expiry.
Network	Management IP, Primary MAC and Power Consumption (Watts).
Colocation Configuration	For a Colocation Space: Customer Label, Power Allocation (kW), Cross-Connects Included and Bandwidth.
Notes	Free-text notes about the device.

The form footer offers Uninstall from rack (when the device is in a rack), Delete (only when the device is not allocated), an Allocate to Service / Manage Allocation button, Cancel, and the save 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.

1. Open the device (or blade) and click Allocate to Service.
2. In the Allocate to Service window, search active services by name, hostname or customer email.
3. Select a service and confirm. The device status becomes Allocated and the linked service is shown on the device.
4. To release it, reopen the device, click Manage Allocation, and use Deallocate.

Note: Only a device whose status is Available or Reserved can be allocated. An allocated device cannot be deleted and its status cannot be changed until you deallocate it first — a guard that stops you removing hardware a live service depends on.

Blade bays

Opening a chassis shows a bay map with an N/M occupied count and a legend for Available, Allocated and Empty. Click an empty bay, or the Add Blade button, to assign an existing unallocated blade to that bay — blades are created in Inventory without a chassis, then picked here from the Select Blade list. Click an installed blade to edit it, allocate it to a service, or delete it (only while it is not allocated). A chassis that still holds blades cannot be deleted; the button says Remove all blades first.

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. Hover a listed item for its Move, Edit and Delete actions; Move relocates it to another rack or to a client box.

Rack settings

Click the gear icon to open the rack form. The available fields are:

Fields in the rack settings form.

Field	What it does
Name	Display name of the rack, e.g. Rack A1.
Code	Short identifier, suggested from the name. Locked once the rack exists.
Height (RU)	24U, 42U (Standard), 45U or 48U. Sets how many U slots the diagram shows.
Row / Aisle	Physical placement labels, shown under the rack name.
Power Budget (kW)	Total power the rack can supply. Setting it turns on 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 the others in the datacenter.
Active	Whether the rack is active. Inactive racks still appear, carrying a grey pill.

Click Update Rack to save.

Tips and gotchas

• Uninstalling and deleting are different: dragging a device to the Unassigned panel only takes it out of the rack, while Delete in the device form removes the device record entirely.
• PDUs are power sources, not consumers — their own draw is never counted against the rack's power budget, but the wattage recorded on your devices and the kW allocated to colocation spaces is.
• Set a power budget in rack settings to unlock the power gauge; without it the diagram shows no power bar.
• Rack notes only save when you click the Save Notes button that appears after you edit the text.
• A rail-mounted PDU takes no front U, so it never shows in the used-of-total count in the diagram header.

Related articles

Datacenter Details · Location Details · Inventory · Services · IPAM