Today's photo caption: The Art Of Insanity 

Welcome back to Tech Service Today's IT Disaster of the Week series where we showcase the ugliest IT environment our technicians ran into this week. 

I can't take credit for the photo caption used on this week's disaster because it came straight out of this picture. It's proof that a picture really is worth a thousand words. But in this case, none of the words that come to mind are kind ones.

Let's start with the most obvious observation. This is a very small retail store network. So it would be overkill to suggest using a massive 42U free-standing server cabinet, or even a 20U wall-mount cabinet or rack, to store their IT equipment. Fortunately, you can find small (2U, 3U, 4U) wall-mount racks & frames that allow for the proper mounting of the equipment in small networks like this.

In addition to the cable management options that immediately become available when you use a rack with industry-standard 19-inch mounting rails, such a rack will also provide space for a rack-mount power strip - a far better and safer solution than the consumer-grade, surge-strip seen dangling in front of the patch panel in our photo.

Someone recently challenged me on my recommendations in these environments, saying the traditional wall-mount relay racks are pretty deep and take up too much space in the back-rooms of small retail stores like this. I completely understand not wanting a wall-mount rack or cabinet sticking way out from the wall...but so do many rack manufacturers. That's why they've designed very cool, low-profile solutions to accommodate these smaller spaces.

To address such environments, some rack manufacturers introduced lines of reduced-depth wall-mount racks & cabinets. While they won't accommodate some of the deeper equipment found in retail environments (i.e. security DVRs and uninterruptible power supplies), they are ideal for mounting shallow IT equipment like patch panels, small switches, and routers.

Another great solution to consider is a vertical-mounting wall-mount frame. By allowing your equipment to be mounted top-to-bottom instead of front-to-back, the amount of space taken up in any room is reduced significantly. Where a traditional, horizontal-mounting rack would protrude 18+ inches from the wall, these vertical-mount rack frames only stick out 2"-8" from the wall depending on the size you choose. And because the equipment is hanging downward, you aren't confined by the equipment depth restrictions associated with traditional racks. 

So the next time you are considering not using a rack because you don't think there's enough room for one, explore the creative, cool solutions that have been introduced in recent years to help IT professionals minimize the mayhem, and build clean, organized IT environments that do their jobs without getting in the way.

Remember, It's never too late to do the right thing, or to do things the right way.