Rackmount Or Tower Servers

[rlculver]

Hi,

Our school at present is being redeveloped, including a major rebuild.

I am also looking to installing a new network.

Do I go for a rackmounted server or the standard tower based system.

Any comments would be great

Robert

[webman]

With rackmount you will be able to save more space and keep things neat. When you need access inside just pull it out (if it's on rails that is). If you get tower servers as well you can get shelves in the rack cabinet to put them on. There's some pictures of various ones in the EduGeek Gallery and in my own here.

[sidewinder]

If you're starting from scratch and have the space then rackmount all the way - far easier and tidier

In fact you probably need less space for a rack/cabinet than you would towers because you can get so much more in the space

[rlculver]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.....

I have a very small room to store my new equipment, so I suppose the rackmounted option will be best

Also, webman, I see you have RM servers. You using CC3?

Robert

[webman]

Hi Robert, yes we have been running CC3 since 2002

[m25man]

Don't forget to consider the noise levels. Check the server specs carefully.

Rackmounts may give higher density, more servers in a smaller space however on the downside they tend to create as much heat as a tower in a smaller chassis.
This means they tend to have more fans to assist cooling.
This leads to a higher noise levels unless you can keep the ambient temperature low enough which requires air-con.

So, unless you have somewhere you can lock them away with some decent air-con to keep them cool and you don't have to have your own desk in the same room racks are the way to go.

If however you plan to have them all in a neat little row in the room you have to work in for 7 Hrs a day you might want to consider pedestal servers as they tend to have a lower dbm factor.

I have worked in too many server rooms all day long and come out with my ears ringing. How do these guys do it every day!

[NetworkGeezer]

Rackmounts are a bit like laptops (and not just beacuse they tend to use the same slim-line CD-ROM drives) in that the expansion caperbilities are limited. You don't have much room to fit anything else e.g a tape drive.

[webman]

You get used to the noise. Anyway.. what noise?

Larger >1U rackmount cases support the usual 5.25" drive bays though, it's just the 1U ones you are usually restricted with.

[localzuk]

As others have said, the noise levels on rackmount servers is much higher (on the 1U, 2U style models) as they have usually got around a dozen fans in them (the ones I have do) which all buzz like loud angry bees.

However, if you are worried about noise, you can get tower size units and rackmount them (depends on the model - some of the HP ML series ones allow this, as do most of the fujitsu-seimens models). This way you get quit servers and a tidy rack.

The real question though, is how big is the school and how many servers are you going to be needing? If it is a large school with plenty of servers then 1U optimised models are the ones to go for as they leave plenty of room when (not if) you expand further.

And whatever servers you get, if the room is small and gets hot during summer, I would recommend Air-con from the outset. I have just had it installed at our school and my server room now feels like a proper server room. A slight chill when you walk in the door

[rlculver]

Hi,

I will post the dimenions of my server room tomorrow.

You guys can then let me know if this is going to be too small etc.

This room will store the following : -

Alarm System.
Phone System.
Central Cabinet (Servers & Cabling - Internet).
Possible Air Con (Do you think their is a need - New building is well insulated - Heat during summer months!!!!!).

Robert

[tosca925]

Rackmount

[DMcCoy]

Hi,

I will post the dimenions of my server room tomorrow.

You guys can then let me know if this is going to be too small etc.

This room will store the following : -

Alarm System.
Phone System.
Central Cabinet (Servers & Cabling - Internet).
Possible Air Con (Do you think their is a need - New building is well insulated - Heat during summer months!!!!!).

Robert

The servers (depending on how many and processor density) will produce large amounts of heat, when testing the ambient temperature in my server room rose from 20 to 35 degrees within 30 minutes. I currently have a very serious looking 14kw air conditioning unit for the servers.

I also prefer rackmount, and with the large rack servers the cases are often similar to the towers except they are on their side with rackmount additions.

[localzuk]

The servers (depending on how many and processor density) will produce large amounts of heat, when testing the ambient temperature in my server room rose from 20 to 35 degrees within 30 minutes. I currently have a very serious looking 14kw air conditioning unit for the servers.

My sentiments exactly. We have ours in a room which is well insulated but that just means that the heat can't escape.

We have a 3kw aircon which maintains the temperature at 18/19 degrees. That is for 7 servers and a 'core' switch.