speckytecky Posted April 21, 2015 Posted April 21, 2015 We recently had a floor to ceiling Comms cabinet installed in our server room. The room previously had three tower servers and the noise level was pretty tolerable in the air conditioned room. In the Comms cabinet there is currently one HP Procurve and the ancillary network router and associated items. We will be having VOIP and CCTV kit installed in the cabinet in the near future and the plan is to have a UPS and new server with associated fold flat screen etc to replace one of the tower servers. I'm thinking this lot is going to significantly increase the noise level and I'm looking for suggestions toward noise minimisation please?
3s-gtech Posted April 21, 2015 Posted April 21, 2015 Noise generally equals good cooling. So, rather than quieten the servers down, I'd look at noise dampening the room. This can be done with tiles on the walls and ceiling (as you may have a common roof void with the surrounding rooms as we do). You may need to look at a draught excluder under the door, and possibly some dampening on the door too. Also look at the ambient temp in the room - if it's too high, the servers will scream anyway! 1
zag Posted April 21, 2015 Posted April 21, 2015 (edited) We recently had a floor to ceiling Comms cabinet installed in our server room. The room previously had three tower servers and the noise level was pretty tolerable in the air conditioned room. In the Comms cabinet there is currently one HP Procurve and the ancillary network router and associated items. We will be having VOIP and CCTV kit installed in the cabinet in the near future and the plan is to have a UPS and new server with associated fold flat screen etc to replace one of the tower servers. I'm thinking this lot is going to significantly increase the noise level and I'm looking for suggestions toward noise minimisation please? I'm a massive silence crazy person, as I have always worked next to servers. We use: Dell R320 (these are dead silent with solid state storage) Netgear GS724T gigabit switch (again silent) APC SMT3000RM (silent 3000 volt UPS) I have our aruba and smoothwall controllers in a different room due to the noise they create. The result is a perfectly quiet server room Edited April 21, 2015 by zag 1
Chris_ Posted April 21, 2015 Posted April 21, 2015 Probably not really what you want to hear as you've just had a new rack, but there are various companies that make silent/noise dampening server racks. http://www.apc.com/products/family/?id=468 1
speckytecky Posted April 21, 2015 Author Posted April 21, 2015 Thanks - it's already a air conditioned room. The HP Procurve switch is the noisiest bit of kit in there currently. My worry is as the cabinet gets rigged with the new CCTV and VOIP kit the noise load is going to be greatly increased. Naturally I've had no say over what or squat! Noise generally equals good cooling. So, rather than quieten the servers down, I'd look at noise dampening the room. This can be done with tiles on the walls and ceiling (as you may have a common roof void with the surrounding rooms as we do). You may need to look at a draught excluder under the door, and possibly some dampening on the door too. Also look at the ambient temp in the room - if it's too high, the servers will scream anyway!
win Posted April 21, 2015 Posted April 21, 2015 Put them in an enclosed acoustic rack. You will need to drill 2 large holes so the extractor fans can let the air out the back but at least it will be reasonably quiet. 1
zag Posted April 21, 2015 Posted April 21, 2015 I spoke to HP about the acoustic qualities of their switches at BET a few years back. Their answer was pretty much that they preferred performance over DBA levels. I'd factor that into your buying choice of switches. There are other options and I have not noticed any performance problems with our netgear switches. 1
iom100 Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 How about a pair of ear defenders? Seriously - you shouldn't be working long term in a server room, and temporary protection is much cheaper than silencing all your kit. 1
Oaktech Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 Get rolls of acoustic foam. stick it to the walls, the inside of the rack side panels, the ceiling, and failing all of the above wrap it round your own head. I did an amp room out with it to prevent the audio from a club coming back in and causing vibration issues, it's your situation in reverse, but it'll work just as well. Lots of spray glue required. 1
PotNoodleTech Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 (edited) If you want to minimise noise, avoid 1U devices. 2u-3u are usually OK and 4U or tower size usually quite quiet. The outgoing 1U rack servers we have are outrageously loud compared to anything else. You should defiantly wear ear protection in the server room if you have any equipment in there that is louder than the average PC. That us, unless you actually want tinnitus? Trust me, you don't! :0 Edited April 22, 2015 by PotNoodleTech 1
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now