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In this video can I see that they use a dedicated "server lift", which looks quite expensive.

Does anyone know of cheap server lifts or other tools that can be used for this?

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11  
I know want one of those lifts... What I usually use is called "unsuspecting coworker"... – SvW Jan 4 '11 at 14:42
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Interns, maybe? – Bart Silverstrim Jan 4 '11 at 14:43
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Wingardium Leviosa! – Bart Silverstrim Jan 4 '11 at 14:51
is this the lift you were talking about? kvm.comrac.co.uk/main.asp?pid=411 - I wonder how well it would work in narrow server rooms... – RobM Jan 4 '11 at 15:10
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I'm not sure which I'm more disappointed by: the fact that it isn't fully automated, or the "no riders" sticker. – mattdm Jan 4 '11 at 21:44
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7 Answers

up vote 8 down vote accepted

It sounds like a silly question at first, but its actually an important health and safety point - ideally the person / people doing the lifting should be wearing safety boots even if a special hoist is used, and should be trained in whatever technique/tools they're using.

We use a wheeled trolley (like this one - make sure you get one with brakes) to move servers and we lift directly from that if its going into the top half of a rack, but other than that we just use the appropriate amount of people to do the lifting rather than anything fancy.

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up vote 3 down vote

The Mk 1 human head. Always worked well for me.

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+1. Muscles + Brain ---> not common today – tmow Jan 4 '11 at 15:44
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no, i mean litrally. :) Get some poor sod to stand under it and balence the thing while 2 others shout about how bad the rack mounts are. – Sirex Jan 4 '11 at 20:10
any HP rails prior to g4/5 standard = Hell on earth – Chris Thorpe Jan 20 '11 at 22:15
Only messed with dell and ibm, sounds like ive been lucky! – Sirex Jan 21 '11 at 8:11
did some hp ones today, and you're right they're a total pain. – Sirex Mar 24 '11 at 17:49
up vote 3 down vote

Your own two hands (or four if you have a helper, random victimization works well). Hold it like a pizza (one hand in the middle underneath, and the other on the front) and slide it into place. Be careful about how you're lifting the box, we have servers that weigh up to 70lbs.

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I've always done it with two guys for the heavy machines, when I was in small companies. In closets too small for a scissor lift, and no justification for buying one. At big companies, I was never on the team that would do the racking. – mfinni Jan 4 '11 at 15:12
up vote 1 down vote

Use a server lift if this is a common thing:

http://www.serverlifter.com/

Otherwise, you can use 2-3 people to assist.

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up vote 0 down vote

we have a server lift cart I am not going to name the company, there are many that build them. save your back and use the right tool for the job.

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up vote 0 down vote

We actually own a SL500 ServerLift at my data center. Really great investment. if you are worried about what lifting servers can do to your employees, and the actual servers, i suggest you get one.

http://serverlift.com/solutions/single-data-center/sl500

thats the one we have at our company, check it out, see if it's for you.

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Do you work for the company that provides the equpiment, or are someone that just uses it? – tombull89 Nov 23 '11 at 21:05

protected by Iain♦ Nov 24 '11 at 9:10

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