Five considerations for building the perfect server room
In the building of server rooms, every business’s needs are a little different. But, there are vital things – structural load limitations, cooling, power and technology choice – that should always be considered when a company sets out to construct its ideal server room.
Fortunately, we have a host of technology offerings that will make it simple for you to store, protect and monitor your equipment and data. Here are our recommended considerations to take before you build your server room:
- Analysis of current and projected computing needs
Determine the scope and size of the IT environment required. This will give you an idea of other requirements such physical space, the number and type of cabinets, cooling system, environmental monitoring as well as power from supply to distribution, surge protection, backup and monitoring, among other things.
- Space
If you haven’t got a lot of it, or need to take your server room with you when you work remotely, then our Data Centre in Box (DCIB) will serve you well. It’s an IP54 rated, self-contained cabinet that will enable you to wheel in and rollout a complete standalone server room in minutes, complete with access control, environmental monitoring and control, power management and optional fire detection and control.
If the DCIB doesn’t cover what’s needed you may want to invest in one of our server room cabinets to house your equipment. We offer them in heights ranging from 4U to 47U and depths of 600, 800, 1000 or 1200mm and are available for the floor standing type and 450, 550 or 650mm for the wall-mounted type. Other variations include indoor/outdoor rating, and front and rear door types, and we have a complete range of accessories to complement these products.
- Power
Managing the power supply in your cabinet can be difficult, especially in South Africa where we frequently experience power dips, spikes and outages. But the management of power is absolutely vital if you want to protect the assets in your server room. Our Smart Zero-U Power Distribution Units (PDUs) will help you achieve effective power distribution, protection and management as well as enable you to connect sensors to it to manage environmental conditions inside the cabinet.
When it comes to things like lightning strikes and power surges, which are an all too frequent occurrence, we offer rack mountable NLEDU-PROCXX-1U Cabinet Lightning and Surge Arresters Class 11 I + II. These units protect sensitive IT equipment from the potentially damaging effects of voltage spikes.
- Environment
Environmental monitoring is one of the most critical functions in a server room. You must know at all times that the optimal temperature and humidity are being maintained, that the power remains on, and if there are unwanted smoke, gas or human intrusions into the room.
On top of that, you must have remote access to this information so that if any of these anomalies take place after hours, you have the information needed to take the appropriate action at your fingertips. Netshield’s NVIROMON range of environmental monitoring products and solutions includes models that offer one, a combination of, and even all of these functions in a single device.
- Monitoring power supply & temperature
Monitoring power supply or temperature is an important job that is made simple and affordable via the Netshield Simple GSM Power Monitor PH1. The unit, which accepts a SIM card, plugs into a wall socket and in the event of a power failure or temperature fluctuation will automatically send SMS notifications to a preprogrammed cell number.
The building of a server room from the ground up is not a task to cough at and is best done the right way, the first time around. Equipment is expensive and mission critical operations and data are at stake if you fail. So make sure you factor in all the above considerations before you set out and choose good quality technologies with a proven track record like ours.