Dell R710 and Readyrails

[gisshan]

Hi,
I got a Dell R710 a few weeks ago and grabbed a rack yesterday. When I got the R710, the guy selling it handed me a box and said "here... it comes with the rails." I didn't even open the box with the rails until today, and I think there's something missing.
The rails look like this.

The side of the server looks like this.

Shouldn't there be something that goes in that channel on the rails that the nuts on the side of the case drop into?
If that's true... is there anywhere that I can get what's missing without buying a whole set of rails?

Sorry if this is silly... I'm new to the server rack stuff. Thanks for any information!

 

[Terry Kennedy]

Shouldn't there be something that goes in that channel on the rails that the nuts on the side of the case drop into?
If that's true... is there anywhere that I can get what's missing without buying a whole set of rails?

Those are what Dell calls "fixed" or "static" rails in the x10 generation. The top half of the server is a little wider than the bottom half where the nuts are. That lip sits on the tops of the rails you have and then the server slides back and the nuts on the sides go into the grooves on the rails. The rack ears on the server have little flippy doors with a captive Philips screw inside that screws into the rail to keep the server from sliding out.

Note that Dell seems to be determined to make everyone's life equally miserable regarding rails, with semi-universal kits. The ends of the rails you have can be unscrewed and flipped around to convert from square-hole to round-hole, unless you have threaded round holes. In that case, Dell sells adapter kits (for additional cost).

 

[gisshan]

Thanks so much for the info! The directions on the inside of the box were totally different than the ones on the sticker on the rails, so I was totally confused. I'm guessing that these are not the rails that were originally in the box.
Thanks again! I'll be putting the R710 in the rack tomorrow!

 

[aero]

It sounds like you were expecting the "sliding" ReadyRails. The sliding rails slide out, and you drop the server in from the top, carefully making sure the nuts go into their respective slots.

Edit: pro-tip on racking 1u servers in Dell sliding rails...I find it easiest to hold the server completely vertical faceplate towards the ceiling, slide in that first back set of nuts, then it's super easy to simply swing the server down, perfect alignment, can hold it one handed even at that point.

Can't do that with 2u+ because the top of the chassis is wider than the bottom

 

[gisshan]

Yeah, that's what it was. The box was from a different set of rails and the picture instructions showed dropping it in.