What do you want from a 'server room'?

[Vini]

We've been given permission to have a designated server room - which is a nice step up!

What fundamental gadgets and gizmos would you want in your server room?


Aircon and Shelving is top of our list

... we dont have UPS which I've put on my list, any other ideas.

Things like receiving a text message when the room goes above a temp etc has been mentioned. We believe we've been given a pretty decent amount of wonga compared to what we actually need, though I guess the budget could be eaten away at pretty quickly...

Just looking for off the wall, no holes barred ideas.

[RavenNight]

You can get loads of network sensor type stuff to give you information about a room remotely:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...Thumbnails=yes

Those look pretty cool, besides that the usual requests of an earthed workbench etc.

Off the wall... Jacuzzi? Gaming Station? (And other such employee productivity enhancers!)

[weegie.geek]

aircon

shelving

(maybe airconditioned cabinets?)

nice cable tidying duct stuff - when you start using loads of cables in a small space, having the layout planned in advance is a must. colour coded cables are good too. at least tag them.

ups

your sms/email monitoring stuff would be good

remote reboot hardware is handy too

kvm-over-ip stuff

[saltynay]

servers eat a way at a budget at an unbelievable rate!!!! but you may want to get one of these for security:

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...ationKey=11264

[Moby-Dick]

We use the APC Netshelter kit
http://www.apcc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=95

the 2 most important things are cooling and power - everything else is bonus.

ensure that you have sufficient power per square foot and that you can cool things.

the biggest problem server rooms have isn't space, its power.

[flcherb]

We use the APC Netshelter kit
[url]h

the biggest problem server rooms have isn't space, its power.

And heat is a big problem. We had three of our four ac's fail and the DC was so hot so think about backup ac's.

Herb

[dave87]

As has been mentioned, AC, Sufficient Power Feeds, Rack Cabinets, Sufficient links to the rest of the building (Fibre runs can cost a fair whack).

What are you actually running in this room? if its two dual p3s you don't need much of a setup, but if its blade servers, you'll need a fair bit more...

[Moby-Dick]

And heat is a big problem. We had three of our four ac's fail and the DC was so hot so think about backup ac's.

Herb

you'll note I mentioned cooling

we did full cooling tests on our suite - ran a bank of heaters on full along with the cooling on full and still maintained temperature. The cooling you need does depend on the number of racks and the design of the room ( ie do you run hot and cold isles etc )

[alsenior]

fire suppression?
servers are expensive so if you do look towards fire suppression look for an argon based system so servers can keep running through a fire. but this type of system is expensive so is really viable for big expensive datacenters. also there is a iso spec for data centers but it costs about $200 to download

[DougMcDonald]

One thing we found in ours, was that certain air conditioning is not given enough space underneath it, the unit goes on overdrive and as a result, cools the air until it forms droplets ... which end up soaking your rack underneath.

We had a hot rack directly below, and because of the flow of heat upwards, the A/C thought the room was roasting and went into overdrive!!

Practical advice, don't put anything directly underneath the A/C!!

[DougMcDonald]

Oh yeah, one more thing - make sure you arrange for offsite storage for your backup drives if you haven't already

[Lucio]

Good luck with this, unless your office already has AC though you might hit a snag in getting enough power to the building. I remember when one company I worked for wanted AC and were told it'd be £25,000 GBP just to get the power lines fitted and would involve the carpark being shut for two weeks whilst they dug up the road.


As for fancy toys, don't forget a lock on the door and seriously, don't get a digital code lock if you plan on opening the door regularly, get an electronic one as they tend to last longer and are harder wearing.

[DR]

- Multiple Redundant Links
- 3 Networks, Internal, External, and Test Network
- APC
- Security
- Air Conditioning
- Cabinets
- Multiple Power Feeds

You need to define how many servers you are talking about rather than us guessing

... maybe a suite at Telehouse would make more sense

[kungpo]

A decent (ethernet) webcam is useful as well. Allows you to see the servers and cabinets. Especially handy of you have to guide someone through rebooting a server or patching.

[Nox]

can't believe no one has suggested servers yet!! so there is my suggestion - put some servers in it

Nox

[Vowo]

Maintenance contract on the AC units, barring that, get your duster out and give the filters a clean every 2-3 months