Server Room Design

Go with a centralized UPS system (we run an APC symmetra power array) for a mid size room (10-15 servers). You can add extended extra batteries.

I agree completely,having learned from experience!!

sorry did it again

Using logically thought out and well labeled patch panels is very important. Not only for your data lines but also for phones. If you have locations where there is no IT staff the patch panels can save a lot of money on travel. When Joe wants to change desks for the third time this year all he has to do is move the patch cables.

Wel, you will need to know the type of racks you using. Either cabinet type or CPI open racks.

Are you also housing your switches and routers in teh same room, any PBX and patch panels.

One should also have in mind that the server room may need expansion when head count increases. Try to get a feel of the head count projection.

Then work-in some expansion capabilities in your sizing of floor area.

Next, consider your raise floor requirements. What height is suitable.

Air-conditioning... well, you need to know the heat output of your equipment.

Next import item is fire-extinguishing equipment. What kind of extinguisher you need. (Not water sprinker I hope).

Power distribution should also be considered. Not only the power distribution panel but also the socket outlets. Are you using C-form connectors or normal plugs.

Cable management on your racks as well as cable trays. Cable labelling and color coding.

Lighting and emergency lighting in your server room andphone connections.

Please also plan your T1 or T3 incoming from your raiser. As well as any telephone lines for corporate use. Where are they located, preferably close to the PBX and WAN equipment.

Security consideration and other standard equipment selection have to be done. Also choose your vendor carefully to avoid problems. Those are some pointers, hope it helps.

I'm not sure I agree with the advice to have the air conditioner on the UPS unless you have one big hunkin' UPS and can tolerate some noise on the power lines.

The way I figure it, with the run-time generally designed into a UPS, the servers should be starting a controlled shutdown just about the time the temperature is starting to rise significantly. Once they shut down, the heat load will drop dramatically.

If you are blessed with a generator, it makes a great deal of sense to put the A/C on the generator but not on the UPS.

paul

What mentioned is very clear I think.

If were you I would get enough space for good care of the computer. I would put the main server to the corner of the room not to cover it by dust.

If you want it to be accessibe from anywhere by the help of cables it will be good for you to put it to corner.

Very large room is not good. Becuse dust is a very issue for servers. Use a clima for the ideal temperature of he room. Also mid large room will help temperature to kept contstant for everytime.

Do not allow everyone to get in that room.

Don't allow anyone to get into that room with their shoes. Don't cover the floor with subtances like carpets. Static electricity is a very important issue.

This is all for now. I hope I wrote smt. useful.

For room without backup air conditioning, design/retrofit with second door (or other large openable aperture) across room from main door, to allow emergency cross-ventilation with assistance of large portable fans drawing in one side, pushing out other side.

Colo Part 1

I apologize in advance but I could not shorten this much without losing the reasoning - so due to the character limit on posts I split this in 4.

If the moderators allow it, they have my blessing to paste it into one story

Hi Folks,

You can all read the very many details that one has to take into account when placing ones server, in the many great posts here. Those are the very reasons that one should consider the services of a collocation facility first.

Unless youare part of a BIG company that has many servers, thus a HUGE space requirement, you are not likely to recover the costs of building your own server room anytime soon. Usually the requirements of the technical personnel and those who sign the chequesare FAAAAR apart and cost savings result in often-disastrous shortcomings of the server room. DO NOT read me wrong here.! MOST OFTEN money IS an issue!!! Unfortunately!!!

Let me use one of my latest cases as an example. A friend of mine works fora company that supplies servers (and everything else that goes into a Data Centre) and I work freelance as a consultant. My friend had a client who bought several servers and also requested quotes on various items to build their server room. Their budget ? Yes, that darn MONEY thing again ? quickly became an issue and they were frustrated, trying to accomplish everything at once within their budget. In the end it meant scaling way down to have a modicum of their requirements met. Nobody in their company was happy. So my buddy suggested collocation space and his client had no idea what he was taking about. To make a short story long, my buddy requested my presence in an upcoming meeting.

Colo Part 2

Here is what happened ? this company wanted to build a server room for an immediate 7 U?s (1 U = Unit of height = 1.75 inches) + growth. Additionally to spending money on equipment for the server room they were planning to put a T1 connection into their offices ($1500.00 / month). ALL the costs escalated to the point where they could not even accomplish half of the things they wanted and in order to have even a little bit of back up and security, they had to scale down even theirSERVER! It was a REALLY bad situation, as scaling down the server would immediately impact their services.

I looked at them and smiled !!! ? YES SMILED ? Folks, I have seen this over and over.

Here are the facts !!! A collocation facility or better yet a designated Data Centre offering collocation services is BY FAR the better option for most companies. Here is why? The cost and overhead of all the requirements of a Data Centre is shared by all its tenants!!!

To continue with the story and example ? I suggested a Data Centre and made an appointment for them to show them around. I met the clients in front of the building and to gain access to the Data Centre we first had to ring a doorbell. The camera above showed the people inside who we were and we were buzzed in. That allowed us access into the common area (reception & offices) where we were able to actually see the server room through a shatter resistant window. Only authorized personnel has actual codes to get into thatroom.

Colo Part 3

Security is very tight and monitoring of ALL systems, including servers is 24/7. (Owners will be informed ? if they so choose ? by instant msg to a cell or pager if their server fails) The power is what I call ultra-redundant (2 powergrids, UPS?s and generator). The Data Centre has raised floors ? cabling is in the floors (secure) and the air-conditioner (redundant) pumps cool air into the raised floors, which feeds the server racks from below. The Internet connection to the facility allows clients to choose any connection from 10-Mbit & up (Fibre too). Clients who need to install their servers are escorted into the room (easy ramp access and wide isles) and never left alone. No competitor would have a chance to get to the cables or MUCK up your server. By request of the data centre all servers are labelled by their owners on the inside, so that nobody (other then the data centre by means of a bar-code) knows which server belongs to whom.

Now the biggy !!! PRICE ???!!! All this security and redundancy is costing my clients only $450.00 / month (7 * $50 / U + $100 connection). That is $1050.00 BELOW their quoted Telco cost of a T1 to their office. A savings of $1050.00 and no need to build their own server room ? the bottom had just dropped out of their cost. What a reversal of fortunes!!! They now had the money to get the servers they wanted and because they were leasing the equipment they were paying only a little more (for both space in a designated Data Centre and the servers) then what they had previously budgeted for the T1 connection to their offices ALONE. Now comes the Real Kicker!!!

Colo Part 4

Because I suggested a Canadian facility, the prices I mentioned here are in Can$, which made for even more of a price savings because of the incredible exchange rate. (divide the $450.00 by 1.58 = ca. US$285.00 / month for space and connection) You do the math ? HOW long would this company be on the hook to make up for the initial and associated cost of having their own data centre, when their monthly cost is so little to collocate - and now they can grow as big as they want. If they really grow huge and at some point having their own Data Centre can be justified ? hey - I am more then happy for them if they do. But until then, a Data Centre is a far more cost effective and a far SAFER solution then running your own server room!!!

In closing I would like to repeat this. It would take this company YEARS to recover the cost of their own data centre IF EVER !!! (and most of you out there are in the same position)

Unless there is a compelling reason to have a server in your office (i.e. network server) DON?T !!! The cost ? or RISK ? is to high... and you are trading one for the other!!!

In case of a network server and the information on it ? place an Intranet server in a collocation facility for the information and keep nothing that can?t be replaced on the office / network server. If you loose the office due to a disaster or the office server goes Splush for whatever reason ? you have really lost nothing much. In this case the huge savings you had everymonth in NOT spending money on your own Data Centre will easily make up for the cost of lost time.

If you have any questions ? please email me to modima@usa.net

I just left a place that just built a new server room for about 15 servers. Here are the things that I really liked and didn't like so much. First they had it's on AC Stand alone unit. A server room doesn't have to be COLD it just has to keep theair moving so it stays cool. With a stand alone AC unit. It keeps the air moving all the time and cools when it needs to. GREAT IDEA. We also had the server rack right in the middle of the floor. That way we could get to both the front and back. GREAT IDEA. We also had a ups that powered everything but the AC. With that it could shut the servers down over the network so it was put off to the side out of the way. GREAT IDEA. We had 6 swithes in the room They were monted on the wall. BADIDEA. I would like to see them on a rack of some sort. I also would of liked to see a little more oragaization of the wires. BUT you know how that goes. So theres my thougts.

If you do not have room for a raised floor, try overhead cabling trays to organize all your wires. Also, use ties to secure bundles of cables to the tray. Organization is next to Godliness.

My company is also "looking" a head. We're putting together recommendations for a server room several years down the road. Can somebody tell me how much floor space is required around / between server racks ?

Carpet would cushion the cables that have run across the floor in some places I've landed on Contract!

I am in a position right now that the person who was here before me did not document ANYTHING and so I am here trying to map all of the connections in the building to each desk. It is a nightmare. Wires hanging and it is just an ugly set up.
So I cannot stress enough DOCUMENT DOCUMENT DOCUMENT.

For Small Server Rooms: not the Farms

Server Room Cooling (AC)
Server Rack Placing
Server Rack Earthing
UPS For Server Rack & Servers
Server Room Sitting Plan
Network points
Server Room Security (Door)
Server Rack Switch
Server Rack Patch Pannel
KVM Switch
Dust Free Zone
Carpet

I'm putting this out as a plea for help. I hope that someone may be able to provide me with some information or point me in the right direction. I am truly fascinated by the level of expertise of the people posting. I feel somewhat intimidated even putting anything out here. But here goes. My name is Derrick Brewer. I'm an old mainframe analyst/developer that's back in school to try to learn what I will term "The New Way". I have very little knowledge of server equipment and I found all of the post on server rooms fascinating. Things are so different now. To get to my point of contacting you. I working on a project in school. It involves building a lights out server room. My part of the project is researching the walls and doors. Now I say to myself a wall is a wall and a door is a door. I know you have a special need for a secure door to prevent access to a sever room. I puzzled about the walls. For one, is there any difference between walls for a lights out server room and a server room manned by people? I guess the same question can be asked for the door. I have to come up with the wall dimensions and doors for this lights out server room. I have to document the cost and the justification for the cost. I'm been able to come up with just general information on a lights outs server room as far as the walls and doors are concerned. Any information or a place where I can find this information is greatly appreciated.