How do I structure data centers and racks?

Requires Pro

Quick answer

Notory maps the physical structure across three levels: Location → Data center → Rack. In the Infrastructure module, first add a data center and assign it to a location; then add racks and assign them to the data center. Racks can optionally be bundled into rack groups and given height units (U). There is no dedicated “room” object type — the server room is the data center.

Prerequisites

The Infrastructure module is available from the Pro plan onward (feature Multi-Tenant). A location should already exist.

Add a data center. In the Infrastructure module, switch to the Data Centers tab and click Add. Assign a name (e.g. “DC-1 / Server room ground floor”) and choose the associated location.

Screenshot pending infrastruktur-racks-01 The 'Data Centers' tab in the Infrastructure module with the form for a new data center

'Data Centers' tab: assigning the data center to a location.
Add a rack. Switch to the Racks tab and click Add.
- Name — e.g. “Rack A01”
- Data center — choose the data center you created earlier
- Rack group (optional) — to bundle multiple racks
- Role (optional) — e.g. “Network” or “Storage”
- Height units (U) (optional) — height, 1–60
- Description (optional)
Screenshot pending infrastruktur-racks-02 The 'Rack' form with the fields Name, Data Center, Rack Group, Role, Height Units

The rack form — assignment to a data center and an optional rack group.
Save. Racks appear in the list. You can then place assets.

First, the data center (POST /api/v1/infrastructure/datacenters), referencing the location:

curl -X POST https://demo.notory.io/api/v1/infrastructure/datacenters \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer inv_dein_token" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "RZ-1 / Serverraum EG",
    "location_id": "0190f3b0-1a10-7c20-9d30-4e50f60a7b80"
  }'

Then the rack (POST /api/v1/infrastructure/racks), referencing the data center:

curl -X POST https://demo.notory.io/api/v1/infrastructure/racks \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer inv_dein_token" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Rack A01",
    "datacenter_id": "0190f3b0-2b20-7d30-ae40-5f60a70b8c90",
    "role": "Netzwerk",
    "height_units": 42
  }'

{
  "id": "0190f3b0-3c30-7e40-bf50-6a70b80c9d01",
  "tenant_id": "3d9b0c12-4e5a-4f88-b1c7-2a9e6d4f0011",
  "name": "Rack A01",
  "datacenter_id": "0190f3b0-2b20-7d30-ae40-5f60a70b8c90",
  "group_id": null,
  "role": "Netzwerk",
  "height_units": 42,
  "description": null,
  "created_at": "2026-07-08T10:10:00Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-07-08T10:10:00Z"
}

Possible errors: 401, 403 (permissions/role, or module not included in the plan), 422 (validation — e.g. height_units outside 1–60 or empty name).

What happens behind the scenes?

Loose chaining: The levels are connected via optional references (Datacenter.location_id, Rack.datacenter_id). When a parent level is deleted, Notory sets the reference to null (SET NULL) — child objects are retained but lose their assignment.
Height units: height_units is capped at 1–60 and documents the physical height; Notory doesn’t calculate any automatic occupancy from it.
Groups are optional: Rack groups bundle racks organizationally (e.g. by row) and are independent of the data center assignment.
Tenant isolation & gating: All objects belong to your tenant; without the Multi-Tenant feature (Pro plan), the API responds with 403.