StarTech RK219WALLV-N 2U Vertical Wall Mount Bracket Review

The RK219WALLV-N is a 2U, 19-inch open-frame steel bracket that fixes to a wall, or under a desk or workbench, and holds rack-mountable equipment vertically. There is no cabinet around it: two rails, a back plate and the mounting holes, nothing else.

Keyhole mounting

Four keyholes let you drive the wall screws first, hang the bracket on them and slide it down to seat it. You can lift the bracket off later without touching the screws. The screw heads have to stand slightly proud of the wall for the keyholes to catch, so do not drive them flush.

Assembly out of the box

The bracket ships flat-packed. The rails fold out and are fixed with the included assembly screws, which takes a few minutes with a Phillips screwdriver.

Cage nuts and cable routing

The square holes take M5 cage nuts, and the box includes 8 cage nuts and 8 M5 screws, enough for two 2U devices with no spares. A cable pass-through cut-out lets cables drop behind the bracket, and you may need a cable access point in the wall to route them cleanly.

The steel is the reason this bracket holds up. It is 14-gauge cold-rolled steel, about 2 mm thick, powder-coated, and rated to 121.2 lb (55 kg). A 24-port switch typically weighs well under 10 lb, so the headroom is generous for network gear.

The hole pattern follows EIA-310 at 19 inches wide, so standard rack equipment and patch panels bolt straight in without adapters. Getting gear off the floor and out of a cabinet is the whole point, and this bracket does it in a closet, a small office or under a bench.

Everything you need for a wood-stud install is in the box: cage nuts, M5 screws, wall screws and assembly screws. The powder coat resists scuffs, and the bracket carries a lifetime warranty.

Buyers on Amazon most often praise the build quality and how easy the bracket is to set up, and several appreciate the mounting hardware, including one customer who notes the cage nuts and screws keep the sides firm. The large majority of ratings are four or five stars.

Depth is the limit that matters most. At 5.9 in. deep this is a flush bracket, not an enclosure. A deep 1U server or a UPS cantilevers out from the wall, and that is not what the bracket is built for.

It offers two rack units of rail, so realistically two devices. A switch plus patch panel plus PDU plus NVR is beyond it.

Being an open frame, it has no doors, no lock, no side panels, no cable management and no PDU mount. Cables are yours to route and tie.

The included wall screws are for wood. Concrete or masonry needs anchors you supply, and the wall or structure should be rated well above the mounted load: the manufacturer's guidance is a multiple of the equipment weight, so plan for solid studs rather than drywall alone. The wall holes are set for 16-inch stud centers, and framing that does not match needs a mounting board.

Mounted vertically, the equipment's ports face sideways, which is fine but worth planning cable bend and strain relief around.

Upright on a wall suits a switch and a patch panel in a closet or beside a desk. Horizontal under a workbench suits a compact lab where the bench top is the only free surface.

Vertically, the 2U of rail runs up and down, so the front panel faces sideways and heavier gear puts a lever load on the top fasteners. That is why the wall rating and the safety margin matter more than the bracket's own strength.

Under a desk, anything long needs support at both ends rather than hanging from a single bracket.

The other version in this family is the RK419WALLV-N, a 4U vertical wall-mount bracket that is 19 in wide and rated to 121.3 lb (55 kg). It is the same width and roughly the same depth as the 2U bracket, but it stands 8.2 in high instead of 5.1 in, so it offers twice the rack units for devices. Choose the 4U RK419WALLV-N when you need more than two units of rail for your gear, and the 2U RK219WALLV-N when two units is all your setup needs.