Planning Server room layouts

I recently upgraded our network infrastructure here at Sundog and in the process I rearranged our server room. That got me thinking about writing some of my thoughts on server rooms and their layout. I’m not saying that this is the preference of every network admin, but I think it’s pretty sound advice.

First off, if you’re going to have a dedicated server room, you need to keep in mind that servers and network equipment produce a considerable amount of heat. So a coat closet isn’t the best place to store it all. The room needs to be quite cool or an air conditioning unit needs to be installed. But just doing that won’t guarantee that your servers will not overheat. Most if not all rack-mounted servers have at least one thing in common - they pull in cold air from the front and blow the hot air out the back. So, pointing the AC unit’s cool air at the back of the server doesn’t do any good. If it’s possible, have the racks facing the AC unit’s cool air discharge. If the room has an air return in it, position the racks so it is behind the rack and will then pull out the hot air from the room.

Next, make sure you have room to work with the servers. Having to compress and contort yourself into unspeakable positions so you can plug in a new cable or install or remove a server will become quite irritating and will probably keep you from wanting to do any such upgrades in the first place.

My rule of thumb is to layout the room as if I was going to be working in there every day - as if my desk was in there. I’d want room to move, everything neatly put away and comfortable places to stand and work on things. Even if I actually only go into the room once a week or less, I find it less stressful to not have to worry about tripping over something and creating a whole other set of problems while trying to fix the problem that brought me in there in the first place.

Anyway there’s my 2 cents.