Oftentimes, servers are treated as a whole and not paid attention to as a multiple unit in terms of temperature conditioning. Sure, it’s common knowledge that computer equipment generates heat, and probably needs to be kept cool to prevent overheating–stick an air conditioning unit in the room, and the servers will be fine. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
According to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), servers and generally all computer equipment temperatures should range around 18°C-27°C (64.4°F-80.6°F).
The thought process behind an environmental conditioning system implemented for a data center should be just as conscientious for a server room. A server room with a single air conditioning unit placed thoughtlessly within the room will not be an adequate cooling system for the servers or computer equipment in lowering server temperatures. The approach to server rooms shouldn’t be taken see if you can “get away” with a sloppy job (especially if you’re not getting away with anything).
You may think, “Well I’ll just put the air conditioners closer to the server racks to counter the hot temperatures generated”. Maybe this would work, but that runs the risk of leaking water and causing water damage to the servers, in fact, a water leak detector should be armed against water leaks regardless of how the distance between server racks and the air conditioner (or any other equipment that may leak water).
A system that generates airflow should be installed to move the heated air generated from the servers away from the racks and replace cool air to the server’s air intake. Airflow sensors should be placed deliberately on each rack to monitor airflow. Airflow is key to stabilize the server temperatures to proper conditions. Without a systematic airflow conditioning, air conditioners would have to be on full blast to lower the temperature surrounding servers. That is a waste of energy.
There are no excuses to put in a weak effort to keep the server room in a safe environment with proper temperatures, so visit Ravica to implement an environmental monitoring system to keep the environment and temperature in check for your servers.
Server room environmental & security monitoring systems
The post Pay Attention to your Servers, Not Just your Server Room appeared first on Ravica Blog.