[geeks] Source for a good 19" server rack...

[Lionel Peterson]

Hello all,

I'm about to reboot my digital life[0], and in the process I plan to rebuild 
my hardware collection, from whatever was cheapest at the time to what is 
right for me going forward... I find myself in need of a server rack.

Ideally, I'd like to find a half-price (or cheaper) 42U rack with doors and 
sides for my home. I've occasionally run into "deals" but they have never 
appeared when I had a small pile of money to spend^h^h^h^hinvest on something 
like this. (I passed on a $300 24U rack last year at TCF, though it was new in 
the box, an APC rack - I'd jump on it now if it were still available)

The best deal I've found is from Dell, they'll sell me a $714 42U rack with 
doors and sides (after I downgrade the warranty from 3 years to one!), and 
ship it for another $200 - then add $60 tax. Nearly $1K - there must be better 
deals, but I'm having a problem with delivery costs exceeding the cost of the 
rack (i.e. $650 rack with $840 ground shipping!) - anyone have any ideas for 
getting a new (or nearly new) rack for under $500?

The rack I have now isn't deep enough for my rack mount servers, so they are 
stacked in the rack - very sub-optimal...

I'm in the Central N.J. area, and I'm happy to invest a day driving (4 hour 
radius from Philly, for example) to make this happen.

Thanks for any pointers - the fellow at TCF gave me his card, he said he gets 
racks all the time, but I can't find his card.

Lionel

[0] I'm going to start re-thinking my entire online "life", starting with 
infrastructure in the home, then moving into the software/data retention 
aspect last...