what's the recommendation for Supermicro 846 cable management in rack?

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BLinux

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I'm putting together my first Supermicro 846 build, and just realized I don't know what to do about the cable management for inside the rack. With the major brand servers, they usually have a folding arm to route cables so that when you pull the server out the front of the rack there's enough length that you don't end up disconnecting anything. Is there something like that for the Supermicro servers?
 

BLinux

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first hit in google "supermicro cable management arm";)
Amazon.com: Supermicro Accessory MCP-290-00073-0N Cable Management ARM for SC743/SC745 Retail: MP3 Players & Accessories

I assume this might work or a similar one will be available - or have you looked and couldn't find one?
Else, SM support is quite helpful :)
I've looked, and haven't found one. That Amazon listing appears for different chassis. I haven't tried SM support yet, but I suppose that would work.

just wondering what others have done, or any 3rd party solutions that work well with 846 chassis...
 

BLinux

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so, bringing this thread back up... the link posted by Rand_, I've been told by Supermicro does not work with 846 chassis.

Does anyone have other options? Doesn't have to be from Supermicro, but as long as it can be made to work...
 

Rand__

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If that one doesnt work, which one did they recommend?

Or is there no such thing from SM?
 

BLinux

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If that one doesnt work, which one did they recommend?

Or is there no such thing from SM?
no such thing AFAIWT. hence, wondering about 3rd party options.... so many folks here with 846, i was assuming someone would have figured this out?
 

Rand__

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I assume you didnt ask explicitly:)

Well I guess I'd buy it with return option and test, but ymmv. I have not seen real generic management arms ( but never looked into it tbh), so you might need to McGuyver one if you really need it...
 

herby

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Maybe low tech with a lacing bar on the back of the rack and Velcro straps to bundle your cables with some slack.
 

BLinux

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Maybe low tech with a lacing bar on the back of the rack and Velcro straps to bundle your cables with some slack.
I don't think we need to go that low-tech. plus, the point of the cable management arm is to allow one to pull the chassis out of the rack without having to unplug or be careful of accidentally unplugging something. that's my main goal... if i need to replace a ram module, upgrade a cpu, or whatever it is, i don't want to have to unplug stuff in the back.

Dell, HP, etc. all have solutions for something like this. Frankly, I'm surprised SM excluded the 846 in having such a solution. Worse case, I can buy any old one of the cable mgmt arms and find a way to attach it ; most have a simple way to attach to the rack on one end, it's attaching to the chassis that is particular.
 

BLinux

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So, i've been digging into this further on my own. Wasn't getting very useful information from Supermicro USA. My searches online revealed a powerpoint presentation that showed more information on the Supermicro cable management arm mentioned in this thread. P/N MCP-290-00073-0N. I'm attaching the PPT in this thread for the benefit of others who many go down this road later on. Ooops... maybe not. I can't seem to upload the 3MB file as the forum claims it is too large? Well, if anyone wants it, PM me and I can send it to you.

With that said, the cable management arm kit comes with a variety of brackets that are identified as:

1) SC829/SC219
2) SC828
3) SC835/SC836/SC936
4) SC743/SC745

Unfortunately, I'm interested in using it for my 846 and 825 chassis. But, looking at the pictures in the PPT slides, I thought perhaps I could adapt them and so I ordered 1 kit just to try it out. I just received it about 10 minutes ago.

The good news is, the brackets for the SC835/836/936 seems to line up with the holes in the 846. Part of the challenge is for the bracket to fit "around" the rack rails, and the 836 brackets do just that, fitting right beneath where the rails attach. You simply remove 2 screws, use the longer screws provided that will thread into the bracket. The one drawback, and I don't know if the 836/936 chassis is much shorter than the 846 or not, but in the fully retracted position, the arm is about 1 inch away from the rear window of the 846 chassis, not leaving much room at all for cables sticking out of the face of the rear window. I haven't run cables yet to see how it will all work. With other brand server rack accessories, the cable management arm usually extends outwards towards the back of the rack, providing ample space for cabling; this cable management arm attaches directly to the rear rack mount vertical rails of the rack. I'll see how the cabling goes once I do that (not ready to do that just yet)

The bad news is, I don't think any of the brackets will work out of the box with the 825 chassis at all. I suspect I will need to do some drilling to make any of the available brackets work, but even then, the closest 829/219 bracket extends rearward beyond the vertical rack rails of the rack, so the other end of the cable management arm won't be able to attach to it. One possible solution is to use some sort of extension bracket to push the the attachment point rearward by about 3-4".

Anyway, I was just test fitting these since I finally got a kit. When I have more time to do this properly, I'll take some pictures and post them for the benefit of others. Although, I don't get the sense many folks here care that much about having a cable management arm. Nonetheless, it'll be my little contribution back to the community since this information seems hard to find.
 

Rand__

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Have you tried
Adaptor Bracket MCP-120-82503-0N - Cable arm adapter for SC825LP,213LP (MCP-290-00073-0N required),HF,RoHS/REACH,PBF
for your 825?
 
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BLinux

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Have you tried
Adaptor Bracket MCP-120-82503-0N - Cable arm adapter for SC825LP,213LP (MCP-290-00073-0N required),HF,RoHS/REACH,PBF
for your 825?
NO! I didn't even know such a part existed! Thanks... I'll have to look into that. I can't seem to find a picture of it on google image search though... wish I could see what it looks like.
 

BLinux

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you @Rand__ are awesome! :) appreciate you looking that up, i would not have found it... that part indeed looks like it would work!

now, the challenge is to find that part in the US. supermicro store here said they don't carry it. most resellers don't seem to have it either... i'm emailing them individually to see if they might be able to get it for me although they don't sell it.
 

Rand__

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Happy to help:)
Ask Supermicro RMA department as well whether they can provide it :) Good luck :)
 
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BLinux

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well, i'm here to report back that Supermicro's cable management arm is completely, and utterly useless. For the benefit of anyone in the future who might stumble on this thread searching for information about Supermicro's cable management arm: do not buy it - it's a product that probably has never been field tested.

as i suspected, the cable arm comes way too close to the rear of the chassis. when i attempted to actually run cables, almost nothing worked. the only cables I could get to work are power and network to the onboard NICs. what won't work at all are:

- VGA/KVM cables - not even remotely close and if you force it, you'll likely break the VGA connector off the motherboard.
- any network cables to the PCI slot area - the arm is extremely close here. if you can run towards the left (looking at the back), you might have enough room hence the onboard NICs are probably okay, but it is still a very tight fit.
- SFP+ and optical cables - definitely no. SFP+ modules would stick out too much, and any LC connectors would require a bend radius that is way too much.

On top of all this, the arm is too long and extends almost all the way across the width of the rack. So, this means, with the arm in place, you cannot pull out the PSUs. If you had to, you would need to disassemble the arm from the brackets, which would risk pulling out power cords if you are trying to hot swap a failed PSU while keeping the system live.

I had considered adding a fabricated bracket to push the arm towards the back of the rack to add more clearance for the cables, but when I realized the width of the arm obstructs the ability to remove the PSUs, it just isn't worth the effort. This just seems like a product that was designed in some CAD program and never actually tried in the field.

This product (MCP-290-00073-0N) is a total failure. Don't waste your money on it.

So, this basically has me concluding that having a useful cable management solution for the rear side of the server so that one can do maintenance on systems without having to unplug cables is non-existent for Supermicro systems. I'm a bit sad about this fact, knowing HP and Dell have this type of stuff pretty much figured out and I was starting to become a Supermicro fan. Anyway, I'm abandoning this effort and going to look at ways to support the cables with horizontal cable management rack accessories. I'll just have to deal with having to unplug everything first whenever I need to pull the server out of the rack.
 
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Rand__

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Sorry to hear that.
I kind of velcro'ed all cables together in 2 positions and leave that with enough slack to draw out. Not 100% but usable if there are not too many boxes