For our first ENGI 210 assignment, we deconstructed a Dell server.
The server was easy to open, and was assembled out of a combination of component pieces that were designed to be easily swappable, and other structural pieces that were not designed to be replaced.
For example, the server’s optical disc drive, for reading CDs, can be seen in the images above. The blue tab was a quick release switch which, when depressed, completely releases the drive for easy removal. Beneath the optical drive lies the hard drive. This time, the blue button can be pulled up, releasing the hard drive and hard drive enclosure for easy access. These components were designed to be easily replaced, as evidenced by the special coloring (blue) and the ease of use. In an IT environment where technology rapidly advances and servers are treated as cattle, individual components that are prone to failure or obsolescence need to be able to be quickly replaced. In my opinion, this piece is actually poorly designed. The hard drive is much more prone to needing to be replaced, while the optical disc drive will likely have a much longer life span. It would have made more sense from a technician’s perspective to make the hard drive more accessible, though this may have affected other parts of the design.
Some other components of the server were designed to be more permanent. Shown above are the fan, power supply unit (PSU), and PCBs (including motherboard) of the server. While the motherboard has components that were designed to be replaced (the RAM and CPU), the motherboard itself is more permanent. These, combined with the hard drive and disc drive make up effectively all of the components of the server. If an item fails, it would be replaced at this level, and the server design facilitates access at this level. The RAM and CPU can be removed without tools, but the PSU, fans, and motherboard all require a screwdriver. These components share common interfaces, so that they can be removed, upgraded, or downgraded without requiring a completely new server.
You can see that past this point, breaking down components yields highly technical pieces that cannot be serviced by your average technician. The optical drive yields a tiny laser and stepper motor. The PSU yields heavy duty electrical components crammed together and pasted together with a yellow gunk (maybe for thermal transfer, or fire protection?). The hard drive is especially difficult to get into, because it yields access to the raw storage of the data, which can be easily corrupted by touch or particles. At this scale, the components are not really designed to be put back together, though with some scavenging parts could be recycled, though probably not on an industrial level.
Finally, the server body. It is made out of 2 main sheets of metal: 1 flat, and 1 bent on 4 sides. The bent piece is machined or punched to make connection points, and a few strips of metal are riveted to provide more connection points. The corners of the bent metal are also riveted together. This piece is probably custom made, but likely serves multiple server lines, with only different component pieces. The structure of the server was designed to stay together forever, and we could not get it apart.
