topic Re: PAN 200 Rack Mount in General Topics

PAN 200 Rack Mount

UKRB — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:18:38 GMT

Hi all,

I'm planning on purchasing a PAN 200 device very soon for a small site that I'm responsible for. I'd like to know what's in the box with regards to mounting it in a standard 19" rack. I know that there is a separate rack mount kit available for the device but from the cost of it I can only imagine it's something to make the unit go in a large server rack.

For example, you can get small HP Procurve switches of a similar size to the PAN 200 and HP do not advertise anywhere the fact that in the box there are two L shaped brackets that are essentially spacers that allow the device to be mounted in a 19" rack. They do though advertise a huge rack mount kit which is actually a rail kit and totally over the top.

Essentially, I don't want to order something I don't need and so if anyone who actually owns or has opened the box of a PAN 200 could confirm what's included, that would be of great benefit.

Many thanks in advance,

pan

UKRB

Re: PAN 200 Rack Mount

sdurga — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:21:58 GMT

Pan 200 comes with the firewall and the power adapter only. It does not have a rack mount kit in the package. You have to get it separately.

Re: PAN 200 Rack Mount

UKRB — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:24:25 GMT

Thanks for the speedy response! So the rack mount kit widens the unit to fit a 19" rack of it is a full rail kit of some sort? I want to put the device in a small rack that is not as deep as a full server rack.

Thanks

Re: PAN 200 Rack Mount

sdurga — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:31:53 GMT

The kit widens the PA-200 to fit a 19"rack . So if you want to fit pa-200 into something smaller server rack then I do not think you have a kit for that.

Thanks,
Sandeep T

Re: PAN 200 Rack Mount

UKRB — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 23:26:28 GMT

Well my PA-200 has arrived an I'm still slightly surprised that it hasn't come with something to make it fit a 19" rack. As I said before, it's the sort of thing other vendors chuck in for free. Poor show PA - especially the price! :smileyangry:

But, what is most annoying is that after ordering the rack mount kit over two weeks ago, I still don't have it because the distributor says it's rarely ordered!! C'mon PA.... What's going on! I love working with your kit and I tell others so, but when I wait over two weeks for a metal bracket it's quite annoying. While it seems like a small thing - how can you complete a job professionally if the kit you have configured is slumped in the bottom of a rack!

Re: PAN 200 Rack Mount

mikand — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 05:24:53 GMT

I do hope you did notify your sales engineer regarding this as a feature request?

I think the f**k up comes from that the PA-200 is a desktop device (fanless and all that) and not necessary a rackmounted device.

But I totally agree with you - the brackets (to make PA-200 fit in a 19") should be included free of charge (just as with the other models).

Re: PAN 200 Rack Mount

KP — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:20:27 GMT

I'm quite sure the PA-200 is not fanless, and the noise coming from it can be quite annoying at times.

Unfortunately the PA-200 seems to have missed it's silent mark since the fan is spinning at 3800 RPM about all the time.

The PA-200 architecture seems to be dual-core, with one core assigned for dataplane, and one core assigned for control-plane (using CPU Affinity). Problem with that is that one core is running the dataplane (pan_task) at 100% cpu contineously, which causes the CPU to be in 'active' state all the time, causing rather high temperatures and the noise involved.

Apart from that I prefer a PA-200 anytime to a PA-500 because of the better control plane performance (higher cpu clocks + flash based storage)

Re: PAN 200 Rack Mount

mikand — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 20:58:42 GMT

I dont know from where I got that PA-200 would be fanless...

Trying to dig through the specsheets but no words about it there, however PA-200 is speced operating temp at 0-40C while all the other models have 0-50C.

Re: PAN 200 Rack Mount

UKRB — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:22:27 GMT

Well, the rack mount kit for the PA 200 finally arrived after a number of weeks. For the benefit of people that are not sure what it looks like as I was originally, I have added a photo below. The plate in the middle of the brackets is to be attached on the side of the unit to support the power supply unit.