A Guide to Rack Enclosure

Rack enclosure has been a popular option among IT professionals for a neat rack wire environment. The rack-mount enclosure is typically used in data centers to house, organize, manage, and protect fiber optic cables as a kind of cable organizer. Given its immense significance, it is essential for us to investigate this device thoroughly.

Let's start by discussing the physical components of the rack mount enclosure, such as the rack units, accessible types, and loaded items.

Rack Unit of Rack Enclosure

The rack enclosure is specifically made to fit a 19-inch rackmount. The rack units for this fiber optic enclosure come in sizes of 1U, 2U, 3U, and 4U depending on the application.In most cases, users would rather select two or more 1U rackmount enclosures than purchase a single 2U, 3U, or 4U kind. Whereas 3U and 4U rackmount enclosures have a fixed bulkhead design, 1U and 2U rackmount enclosures feature front and rear access via a drawer that slides forward or backward.

Accessible Types of Rack Enclosure

Since 1U rack-mount enclosure is widely used to organize server racks, we chose this version as a case study for its features . There are three different types of rack enclosures: cover removable, slide-out, and swing-out fiber enclosures.

The slide-out and swing-out fiber enclosures are more popular than a cover removable kind. Although the cover removable is the cheapest of the three, the slide-out and swing-out varieties are more practical due to their pull-out sliding trays. In that manner, users can reach the inside without having to take the entire fiber enclosure out of the rack.

Loaded Items：FAP or MPO/MTP Cassettes

Rack mount enclosures come with a variety of accessories, including fiber adapter panels (FAPs) and MPO/MTP cassettes, to accommodate various wiring needs.

Both environments for pre-terminated and field-terminated cabling can use a rack enclosure with FAPs. Typically, LC, SC, and MPO/MTP fiber cables can be connected using adaptor patch panels. Rack mount enclosures can support as many as 96 fibers in accordance with the adapter numbers on FAPs. A 1U rackmount enclosure typically supports 4 FAPs maximum, while a 4U rackmount enclosure typically supports 12 FAPs maximum.

In addition to FAPs, MPO/MTP cassettes can be put into rack enclosures to provide secure connections between MPO/MTP and LC or SC connectors. This rack enclosure is a pre-terminated rack mount patch panel that aims to link LC/SC patching to an MTP/MPO backbone. Rack mount enclosures having MPO/MTP cassettes inside of them, such the ultra-high density FS FHX 1U rackmount enclosure, can support up to 144 fibers in a 1U rack area.