Lift apparatus for stable placement of components into a rack

1. A method comprising:

using scales onboard a lift apparatus to weigh an uninstalled component that is positioned on the lift apparatus for installation into a rack;

accessing data that identifies the weight and rack location of components currently installed in the rack;

determining one or more available rack locations where the uninstalled component may be installed without violating one or more predetermined rack stability rules; and

activating the lift apparatus to raise the uninstalled component into a selected one of the one or more available rack locations.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of accessing data that identifies the weight and rack location of the components currently installed in the rack comprises:

the lift apparatus communicating with a rack management module to access data managed by the rack management module.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the rack management module maintains a database identifying the components currently installed in the rack.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the lift apparatus communicates with the rack management module using a wireless protocol.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the lift apparatus communicates with the rack management module over a short range peer to peer network.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining one or more available rack locations where the uninstalled component may be installed without violating one or more predetermined rack stability rules comprises:

receiving input identifying a user-proposed rack location for the uninstalled component; and

determining whether the installation of the uninstalled component in the user-proposed location would violate the one or more predetermined rack stability rules.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

preventing the lift apparatus from lifting the uninstalled component to a position that would violate the one or more predetermined rack stability rules.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

outputting an alert to the user that installing the uninstalled component in the user-proposed location would violate the one or more predetermined rack stability rules.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining one or more available locations where the uninstalled component may be installed without violating one or more predetermined rack stability rules comprises:

identifying all of the available locations in the rack where the uninstalled component can be installed without violating one or more predetermined rack stability rules; and

outputting a list of all of the identified locations.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more predetermined rack stability rules require that the center of mass for the combination of the rack and its installed component should not exceed a predetermined height.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of accessing data that identifies the weight and rack location of the components currently installed in the rack comprises:

the lift apparatus accessing a database in an onboard computer readable storage medium.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

identifying the rack where the uninstalled component is to be installed by reading a barcode secured to the rack.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

storing the uninstalled component weight and rack location in the database in response to installing the uninstalled component.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the uninstalled component is a unit of information technology equipment.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the unit of information technology equipment is a server.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the unit of information technology equipment is a network switch.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the unit of information technology equipment is a power distribution unit.