The tens of thousands of dollars worth of server equipment and priceless company data can quickly be at risk for loss if server room temperatures aren't just right. Because the equipment emits so much more heat than just about any other location in the office, portable air conditioners are the ideal solution for cooling the server room without freezing the entire office.
Server room cooling needs: Before purchasing air conditioners for the server room, you'll need to calculate how much heat must be displaced. With the excessive amount of heat produced by the server room equipment, you can't choose portable air conditioners based on the unit's general square foot recommendation alone. Instead of the square foot cooling recommendation on the spec sheet, you'll need to pay attention to the unit's BTU's.
Calculating the necessary BTU's for your portable air conditioning unit: To determine the number of BTU's that your server room's portable air conditioners will need to offset, you'll need to calculate the amount of BTU's being generated by your equipment, lighting, and the occupants in the server room and take into consideration the square footage of the room and number of windows.
1. Equipment BTU: Total wattage for servers, switches, and routers x 3.5 2. Lighting BTU: Total wattage x 4.25 3. Occupant BTU: Number of occupants x 400 4. Square Footage: Length (m) x width (m) x 337 5. Window BTU: South facing - length (m) x width (m) x 870 North facing - length (m) x width (m) x 165
Choosing A Unit: Portable air conditioners, also called spot coolers, are ideal for server room cooling because they focus a lot of cooling energy exactly where it's needed. Window units are generally not a consideration for server rooms since the window must remain open for installation which can compromise the building's security. Though swamp coolers are a type of portable air conditioner, they aren't much help in the server room either. These portable air conditioners tend to be very noisy, require constant attention, and just don't have the BTU power needed for server rooms.
Another reason why swamp coolers aren't suited for the server room is that they produce a great deal of moisture. In fact, all portable air conditioning units produce condensation as they cool. Some portable air conditioning units will humidify the air as they cool while other portable air conditioners have condensation tanks that require emptying on a regular basis. Unless you'll be routing the excess moisture through the ceiling or out of a window, portable air conditioners with condensation tanks are better suited for server rooms to keep the air and equipment dry.
When comparison shopping, you'll want to identify those that are quiet, compact, low maintenance, and that are extremely reliable. The last thing you want is to come into the office one summer morning and find that your spot cooler has decided to quit. When it comes to protecting your company's critical data, you' can't afford to take chances.
The computer room initially starts off with a high powered computer that acts as the server, this is fine until more and more servers are needed to control different aspects of the business. With the increased number of servers in a small room, the heat that is given out by the computers and monitors increases too. There are ways to control this.
1.Use a KVM (Keyboard, Video and Mouse) switch; this can control multiple servers that are daisy chained together through 1 monitor, keyboard and mouse. This saves space, extra costs on air conditioning and the extra investment for the equipment.
2.Use 19 inch rack mount servers, these fit into a rack mount cabinet that normally has a footprint of 600 mm wide x 1000 mm deep and come in different heights. These servers normally are more expensive.
Also, the computermanager needs an area were he or she can work, with room for manuals etc, for software and hardware upgrades. However there are companies that specialise in planning server rooms, one such company is Computer Security & Solutions.
They have undertaken many projects in major cities in the UK, including London, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh and Glasgow, were office space is at a premium, so the more technology they can fit into a square metre, the more efficient the server room is and most important, more affordable for the client. The computer room is the backbone of any successful business, so it needs the right approach.
They did a study for a financial establishment in London and found they could accommodate 16 servers, 1 monitor and keyboard complete with a working area in a footprint of 1200 mm x 700 mm, with a total area of 0.84 M2. Comparing this with previous the original footprint of 3200 mm x 900 mm, 2.88 M2. The annual cost per square metre of office space, was $2544, saving the company over $5,000 in the first year.
By storing the servers, computers, monitors and keyboards in free space above the work surface, this frees up actual square footage in the office. The LAN racking units could also be placed in an open office, however this is not ideal, as any employee could unplug a server and down the business communications network, so some security is required, ideally in a locked room with limited access.
Access can be controlled by a numeric keypad or by a swipe card system, the later offers the best security available, as finger print recognition can also be attached to this.
Network furniture will allow small businesses to house the same amount of affordable servers as a Blue Chip organisation with their rack mounted servers, in a similar if not smaller foot print. Enabling small businesses to compete with the dominating companies in their business sector.
Both Christine Harrell & Robert D. Thomson are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Christine Harrell has sinced written about articles on various topics from Mortgage, Careers and Job Hunting and Personal Desktop. Author is a writer for Cold Air which specializes in renting nationwide. For more information you can visit. Christine Harrell's top article generates over 550000 views. to your Favourites.
Robert D. Thomson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Dog Care, Real Estate and Dental Practice. Computer Security & Solutions are a manufacturer of , providing affordable solutions for all Computer storage including a unique range. Robert D. Thomson's top article generates over 2240000 views. to your Favourites.