I need some help here. Looks like I didn't put enough thought into equipment purchasing, and that combined with a smaller space than expected requires that I find some way to mount something to a wall that isn't intended to mount to a wall.

I'm working with a telephone closet that's not deep at all (maybe a foot at most), but I have plenty of surface area to work with. I'm trying to find some way to attach to this surface a Cisco 2921 Integrated Services Router.

Cisco is no help to me (I was on the phone for an hour this morning getting bounced around to at least 8 different people). I totally understand that this device was not meant to be attached to a wall, and that's my fault. I'm just trying to figure out if there's any way to do it. Hell, I'm fine with setting it on its side on a ledge of some sort if that's what has to be done. I just need to get it figured out and soon.

I won't be doing the physical installation, so it doesn't have to be something that I'm capable of doing

Any ideas?

Seems simple enough.

It looks like the router has threaded holes on its sides - is this correct? Just use some L (angle) tabs. The tabs screw to the router and the wall. You can have them facing inward (mount to wall first) our outward (doesn't matter if you mount to wall or router first). The router can then sit flat against the wall.

Unfortunately I don't have the router near me, and it's oddly difficult to find good photos of the router online...

You shouldn't just leave it on its side as there are vent holes which will get blocked.

That router should come with a rackmount kit. Get some L brackets, put those onto the wall, hang the router by the rackmount ears off the brackets and screw or bolt it in. That'd be the cheapest option and not risk damaging the router.

Sort of like this. The LLLLL bit is the L bracket. Make sure its rated to handle something as heavy as a 2921 hanging off it though!

That's how the guy installed all the switches, so I would have thought he'd try that on the router too. I think he stopped because there wasn't any mounting stuff included in the box...


Yeah, I saw that one, but it doesn't show much...

It should be included according to Cisco. I've not used a 2921 but the 2951s and 2911s I've used have always come with the kit in the box.

The side of rackmount gear is uninteresting so nobody photographs it

Rackmount installation guide for a 2921

You could also resort to an Ikea solution: LackRack.

Interesting! I didn't see that in the box.

But the problem with those and with the mounting holes in general is that they're in a rectangular pattern, not square. The switches were in a square, so rotating the mounting brackets was possible, even though the switches weren't intended for wall mounting either. It doesn't look like I'd be able to rotate the mounting brackets even if they were included...


Heh, I like it, but I'd then have to saw the legs off and find a way to mount the table to the wall. I'd rather just mount the router directly

Use only two holes on each bracket Matt. It'll be plenty strong enough with 2 -4 brackets used. Then in the wall, use toggle anchors, or hit a stud if you can. Nothing is going to bring that thing down off the wall.

I was thinking of putting L brackets on the wall and then hanging the router off those by the rackmount ears which you attach normally. That way it doesn't matter what arrangement the actual attachment holes are on the router because you only care that the rackmount ears will fit which they should do as its a Cisco part.

Ohhh, I see what you're saying now. That sounds like a pretty good idea... Now I just need to see if the brackets are included...

Well, if you already have rackmount equipment, and you can find the ears, then you're good to go, but I thought I would point out that most Cisco equipment I've worked with has had the ability to mount the ears on the device rotated 90° specifically so that you can mount it directly on a wall.

Yeah, and that's what I got with the switches, but as you can see in the guide Trevor linked to, the brackets are rectangular.


I'd be fine with two holes, but the brackets are rectangular, so wouldn't that mean only one hole would be usable?

The 2921 and 2951 have a rectangular arrangement for the rackmount attachment holes and doesn't support turning the brackets 90 degrees. The smaller 1U 2900s do let you do that however.

That's what a drill is for Matt. But even a single hole on 4 brackets would be plenty.

When I made my initial suggestion, I assumed you didn't have the rack-mont parts, so I specifically didn't mention using/repurposing them. Lots of other angles available at the hardware store though.

Assuming you have the ears, I'd look at using this:

http://www.racksolutions.co.uk/server-racks/wall-mount-racks/wall-racks.html

Ooo, those look perfect. Damn, now I need to drive into the city tomorrow to see if the mounting brackets are included...

Keep in mind that 2 steel L brackets from the hardware store will probably cost you $3 and work perfectly well for a single router as Trevor suggested.

Obviously.

If I were doing the job for myself I'd go to the local hardware store. However if I tried that at work, our group IT manager would probably pop a nut given the value of the Cisco CPE that it would be supporting.

I'm curious as to why you've got a 2921 though. What WAN connection do you have? Any features enabled?

Oh, if billing someone else for it, just go the dedicated vertical rack like Andy suggested. I thought this was for Matt's own personal install.

Honestly in the end I didn't pick the model. For the WAN we'll be using two 50/10Mbps Comcast cable connections.


If I had that much money I'd buy a Xoom.

Ah. There are better options out there if you're just doing that and the WAN side presented as just regular ethernet but as it wasn't your decision there isn't much you can do about it. What feature set do you have enabled for the 2921? You going to have to configure it or do you have a Cisco person?

Nah. You'd buy an Xoom, Antrix and the two docks separately

The Xoom is just stupid. $800 so its even more than an iPad and to enable WiFi, you have to subscribe for at least 1 month to a data plan! Okay, the feature set isn't the same when compared to an iPad but most consumers aren't going to look that closely at the specs.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to configure it myself and I'm a little nervous because I haven't dealt with this level of networking before

Fortunately I don't want to do anything extremely fancy. I want to do whatever I can to make the network solid and if you have tips on how to secure it against a dumb kid plugging in a router incorrectly that would be great. I'll be doing some QoS to limit the P2P stuff too.

One thing I'm not certain about is the wireless access points. The customer and the architect didn't listen to me very well and decided that, in the four floors of living space, they wanted a total of seven APs. How on earth do I configure that? Should the all have the same SSID? Should they all be on the same channel or different ones? Should I just disconnect half of them and not tell anyone?

Same SSID, same security, different channels. Assuming they all connect to the same LAN, this allows clients to roam between access points.

That's so good to know! I've had Lack tables around forever, and never noticed it is standard rack-size wide!