Rack layout tools

I'm wondering if there's any tools (preferably offline) that would allow me to layout all of the new equipment that will be going into several standard racks. Currently I'm using Excel to map out all of the slots columns for the data but I suspect that there is some better method of doing this. Suggestions?

Edit: Dell has an online tool, but doesn't seem very good at actually saving the data that you're working on (and obviously it's geared towards Dell hardware).

From serverfault Luke

• I were in the exact same situation as you, and I spent quite alot of time searching for software to make this easier. No matter what I found, 42 rows in excel was the best option (with comment fields).

  womble : We use wiki tables, but the concept is much the same.

  Doug Luxem : +1, this is how we document our colo equipment. One sheet for an equipment inventory and a second with the rack layouts. Quite simple to highlight 1 or 2 units and add a server name.

  Mitch Miller : The other advantage I found with Excel was ability to "merge" cells for items larger than 1U - it looks quite tidy, and when cut-and-pasted into design/as-is documents it takes up very little storage compared to an accurate-looking Visio... I started on the Visio route and file sizes were getting ridiculous, but by embedding the Excel table, it was easy to edit and smaller.
  From pauska

• Excel seems a fine solution for me. Color coded, one line per Unit should be enough to keep track of what's going where.

  If you want to do it graphically, MS Visio has some support for this and can be connected to all kind of external data sources to visualize data about the rack. If you look around, you'll find all kind of equipment shapes for many vendors.

  From SvenW

• In order to provide some contrast, here is a non-Excel solution we have been using for one of our datacenter groups:

  RackTables: http://racktables.org/about.php

  It provides some asset management and other functions, so there might be some overlap in your organization, but primarily it's a rack visualizer / organizer. Perhaps the most useful feature is the ability to actually configure the physical ports on each object and how they're connected to each other, as well as the tagging system.

  Try it, you might like it -- if not there is always the custom spreadsheet option as others have suggested.

  Luke : Thanks, that's literally exactly what I was looking for.
  From serverninja

• I've historically used Visio for this.

  Visio has little symbols for all different kinds of devices, 1U servers, 2U servers, 6U servers, etc.

  From briealeida

• I have used Excel with Visio Stencils (icons) it is quite nice.

  Dell Stencils

  Cisco Stencils

  A good resource for Visio Stencils: VisoCafe

  From JPG

• You could use the online Visio alternative Gliffy. I think only the Premium version has the ability to create rack diagrams. Check out this link; scroll a little ways down to see an example: http://www.gliffy.com/blog/category/gliffy-premium/

  From Wesley 'Nonapeptide'

• I use a spreadsheet in openoffice. One thing I've found useful is create a sheet for each rack and have a bunch of fields for each row like serial numbers, what jack it's plugged into on switch, kvm, and power. Then create a summary sheet that pulls the first column from each sheet into a more condensed view if you just need to have a server restarted and want to tell the technician what row and name of server is.

  From vrillusions