Topic: Building a server room (Read 7554 times)

Chris · « **on:** March 16, 2007, 07:39:14 PM »

I'm going to be moving to a new house in Pennsylvania with the folks in a couple of months. In fact, they just had the closing today, so all that's left is selling their current house here in New Jersey. The new location that the folks are moving to has a fairly large basement, and I got the go ahead to build a dedicated room to house my server rack and other equipment in.

I'm planning on making the room about a 10 foot square with drop ceiling tiles, and some kind of flooring that prevents static electricity from building up.

Before I went ahead and started building this room, I wanted to ask you guys what I should be on the look out for, or what pitfalls to avoid. I know some of you have pretty extensive experience working in data centers and/or server rooms, so hopefully I'll be able to get some good advice.

pbsaurus · « **Reply #1 on:** March 16, 2007, 08:07:23 PM »

If you can get a dedicated circuit(s) on the panel that would be a good thing. Also you will want good air conditioning. BizB's e-cliner would be a good accessory to have in there.

Chris · « **Reply #2 on:** March 16, 2007, 08:22:00 PM »

Good advice. Thanks. I'm planning on running a dedicated 20 amp circuit to the room. This should be pretty easy since there aren't any walls yet, and the box is pretty close to where I plan on putting the room.

As far as ventilation goes, that could be a problem, given that it's in the basement, and the AC unit has already been installed. I could make some kind of hood like device that is commonly found over grills and stoves in kitchens to vent the heat outside the basement, or I could get a portable AC unit during the summer, but they are fairly expensive last time I checked, and they probably consume a fair amount of electricity. Though, without a doubt, it's something to think about before going through with it.

Anyone have any suggestions on ventilation, or any other areas they think need to be touched upon?

pbsaurus · « **Reply #3 on:** March 16, 2007, 08:29:23 PM »

The exhaust hood is an interesting idea, but will probably be pretty expensive. Portable A/C units are actually pretty cheap, just make sure you put it on a different circuit than the servers. If you could get away with it have two dedicated circuits for the servers that way you can separate them, and have the possibility of having some up and running if you blow a circuit. It would be great if you could talk your parents into installing photovoltaics and a back-up generator that way you can be grid independent. Since you will be building the room, put in plenty of insulation that way you can keep the cool in the room and cut down on noise at the same time. Go to a local hardware store and present your ideas, problems to one of the old retired engineering/contractor dudes who work there now part-time. If you find the right guy their suggestions can be incredible.

milifist · « **Reply #4 on:** March 16, 2007, 08:39:03 PM »

Couple of questions:

How many servers?

What kind of basement (dirt on all sides, three sides, etc)?

And if you happen to know:
Square footage of house?

Tonnage of the house’s ac system?

Chris · « **Reply #5 on:** March 16, 2007, 08:58:51 PM »

To make the exhaust hood idea work, I was thinking of somehow modding a fan that you would normally install in a bathroom to vent the steam, but in this application, it would just be used to vent heat. The server rack that I have now has two 120mm fans at the top that blow all the hot air out, so it may actually work. Talking to some of the guys at a smaller hardware store is a good idea - they do usually have loads of ideas. Places like Home Depot are a hit and miss type thing, as you may be talking to someone who is only there for the check.

As for the other questions you asked, milifist:

1. I plan on having 4 to 5 servers. File sharing, web servers, backup, etc.
2. The basement is surrounded by dirt on three sides. The back of the basement is facing a hill, so the entire concrete foundation is exposed at the rear of the house.
3. If I had to take a guess, the square footage of the basement is about 2000 square feet. The first floor is also about the same amount.
4. I have no idea about the AC unit. I believe the folks are going to have it replaced before the summer starts around here. It looks like it's in bad shape, anyway.

milifist · « **Reply #6 on:** March 16, 2007, 10:50:45 PM »

I would be inclined to believe that cooling the room wouldn’t be a big issue. Most basements tend to stay cool year-round. This is mainly because ground temperature below 5-6’ is constantly around 50º F (which is what makes ground-coupled geothermal heat pumps work). Generally, when we install a system for a basement, we really only worry about heating it. Although, I’ve seen a couple three-side basements down here that needed a small amount of cooling.

The main thing I’d worry about is just venting the heat out of the small room into the rest of the basement. This could probably be done with one or two simple grilles in the walls, or with a bathroom vent like you said (it probably wouldn't be necessary to vent it outside, but it wouldn't hurt). That said, it should also be fairly easy to add in a small duct (about a 6” one should do) to the existing duct system. This, of course, would depend on what the current duct system was like, but in most cases it is easy enough for the homeowners to do themselves. The big concerned would be if the unit can handle the extra duct without significantly affecting the cooling of the rest of the house. However, if the ac is going to be replaced soon, then whoever replaces it should simple include the extra duct in their sizing calculations.

Also, I don’t know what wattage your power supplies are, but I’d recommend going with a 30 rather than a 20 breaker.

jeee · « **Reply #7 on:** March 17, 2007, 03:03:58 PM »

I reccomend a small ups as well, they are not that expensive and also generate a steady power stream (don't know if that's correct english)

12AX7 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 18, 2007, 12:20:02 AM »

If you use a 30 amp circuit breaker; you have to use 10 AWG wire by the NEC. Thirty amp overcurrent protection on 12 AWG wire is illegal. 20 amps is as high as you can go. It would (most likely) be totally safe with a 30 amp breaker; but if anything EVER happens, and your parents homeowner's insurance examiners sees that (which they will); you're totally fux0red. And possibly charged a big fine as well. 20 amps would be plenty, and two 20 amp circuits would be more than enough; but you have the option of not having everything down at once if something happens to trip one of the circuits.
Also the power conditioner jeee mentioned is a GRAND idea; if you dont already have that.

ivan · « **Reply #9 on:** March 19, 2007, 11:18:20 AM »

Don't forget the wet bar.

Crystalmonkey · « **Reply #10 on:** March 19, 2007, 01:41:11 PM »

So to sum up:

For the room:
-Insulate the walls
-Dedicated Circuit(s)
-AC Duct Extension (Or a heat exhaust hood)
-Racks off the ground (I added this because it's always good to keep stuff a bit off the ground... for obvious reasons)

For the servers:
-Small UPS

Is the connection to the internet going to be separate from the rest of the house? If so, make sure the cables are set up in the room so that everything is easily accessible. If not, consider it anyway and just have a single network cable extending out to a hub/switch for the rest of the house to use.

pbsaurus · « **Reply #11 on:** March 19, 2007, 01:53:02 PM »

Quote from: ivan on March 19, 2007, 11:18:20 AM

Don't forget the wet bar.

Good point, it's always a good idea to be prepared for martini time.

dcrog · « **Reply #12 on:** March 19, 2007, 02:12:44 PM »

Make damn sure that that basement never has and never will get wet.

Servers and floods don't mix well.

Oh and get plenty of insurance on the equipment since you can never be sure it won't flood under the right conditions. Unless of course the house is on top of a hill, with one side of the basement exposed, and the floor sloped so that it drains out the back door in case of flood. Even then keep the stuff up as high as possible.

dcrog · « **Reply #13 on:** March 19, 2007, 02:14:20 PM »

Oh and if you install the wet bar, be sure to install a pole in the room for the dancers. Along with the appropriate web cams.

ivan · « **Reply #14 on:** March 19, 2007, 02:15:26 PM »

Best way to test for this is to turn everything on and then fill the basement with water using a common garden hose. If your servers survive the test, then you're cool.

Demosthenes · « **Reply #15 on:** March 19, 2007, 03:13:16 PM »

Quote from: ivan on March 19, 2007, 02:15:26 PM

Best way to test for this is to turn everything on and then fill the basement with water using a common garden hose. If your servers survive the test, then you're cool.

I just did this. Except substitute the "garden hose" with "2 feet of snow that melted into a pond of several inches of standing water along that side of my house that leaked into the room in which I store my guitars and computers".

pbsaurus · « **Reply #16 on:** March 19, 2007, 03:15:23 PM »

And was the test successful?

Demosthenes · « **Reply #17 on:** March 19, 2007, 03:18:47 PM »

Quote from: pbsaurus on March 19, 2007, 03:15:23 PM

And was the test successful?

Insufficient data. Define paramater "successful".

pbsaurus · « **Reply #18 on:** March 19, 2007, 03:21:02 PM »

Everything survive without any damage.

Demosthenes · « **Reply #19 on:** March 19, 2007, 03:27:07 PM »

Quote from: pbsaurus on March 19, 2007, 03:21:02 PM

Everything survive without any damage.

Yes. It was successful. Though by luck, not by design.

I'm baffled that nothing was destroyed.

pbsaurus · « **Reply #20 on:** March 19, 2007, 03:32:18 PM »

Thank Pepe it all worked out.

Demosthenes · « **Reply #21 on:** March 19, 2007, 03:35:13 PM »

My dopjeo was definitely LISTing null that day, I can tell you.

Agent_Tachyon · « **Reply #22 on:** March 19, 2007, 04:22:37 PM »

Quote from: dcrog on March 19, 2007, 02:14:20 PM

Oh and if you install the wet bar, be sure to install a pole in the room for the dancers. Along with the appropriate web cams.

It doubles as a Festivus utility!

ivan · « **Reply #23 on:** March 19, 2007, 04:30:12 PM »

In my experience, most guitars float, whereas quite the opposite applies to most computers.

Demosthenes · « **Reply #24 on:** March 19, 2007, 04:41:59 PM »

We all float down here, Georgie. You'll float too.

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Author Topic: Building a server room (Read 7554 times)

12AX7