Need a Data Center, trying to convice Supervisor, need advice.

[Mike_87]

Hello,

Currently our setup in our office isn't really up to par. I have 2 servers in my office, which is 11' - 11' and I need to convince my supervisor, and the higher ups that we need something to change here. I have a bit of money to work with in my budget (enough to get a small data center built), and I need to make a presentation showing why we need it. Factors such as climate control, battery backups, the dust factor from the server sitting on carpet (Which I am sure will overheat these servers one of these days), fire suppression, and a way to keep everyone else out (such as a keycard entry system) or to limit who goes in there.

 

Could I get some advice on how to present this, or what to include in my presentation from anyone who has been in this situation? I know the server has crashed before and all our information has been wiped, so they are already aware of how much time it takes to recoup all the losses.

 

Thanks everyone,

 

Mike

[ChrisH]

Main things to talk about is how much it will cost the company if the X, Y or Z happened or how they could be breaking the law/getting sued because of how potentially easy it is to get at the servers and any sensitive data.

[Mike_87]

Here is what I have come up with so far in my presentation. Have about 6-7 pages so far for them to read over.

 

Climate Control

Air flow and ventilation

Fire Protection

Cleaner Environment - less dust

Access Entry

Expandability

[Ric_]

TBH an 11'x11' room isn't that small and two servers isn't a lot

 

You could just install a quiet cab (check out the range at Kell Systems Inc - Acoustic Server Rack Cabinets ). It would reduce noise and provide a secure enclosure for an UPS, your two servers and some comms gear. If you also get air con installed in your office you will benefit from it as well as the servers.

 

If you envisage your server farm growing to more than 5 servers, it would probably be worth building a separate room.

[Mike_87]

They are also having me look into getting an Exchange Server, Proxy Server, and down the road we may need another file server, so if I can convince them to get a Data Center now, down the road we will be all set to add some new toys

[torledo]

i managed to convince mgmt to repurpose a small office into a dedicated server room with a couple of cabs. Air conditioning was preinstalled, but it's not very expensive to get a wall mounted unit.

 

fire protection beyond building smoke detectors, is probably overkill. Environmental monitoring, good backup strategy and possibly have a DR server(s) setup somewhere else in the building would be a lot cheaper than going with room based gas fire surpression systems. you can get rack based fire supression but i don't know how expensive or effective these are.

 

electrical wiring plus UPS and access control shouldn't be all that expensive either. And are a minimum requirement. In the UK i'd go with 2 rackmounted UPS with commando plugs on the inputs, plus wiring for two sockets that feed the ups these sockets would each use a dedicated takeoff on the distribution board(s).

 

It may be you start off with a 24U 1000mm deep rack, and have space to add a second 24U rack should you require it.

 

how much do you have to spend ?

[Mike_87]

I'm looking at having around $20,000 (USD Keep in mind) But, if its not all that expensive, I may end up using some of that money and purchase an exchange server, and a proxy server so we can monitor usage. I know with that kind of money I could do some great things here.

[jsnetman]

How many users and computers do you have, the price invested is is down to that really. We have 450 machines out in the school and about 8 servers in a similar room, it gets very hot in summer but no servers have failed we just turn on a portable air con. Might not be the best solution but it hasn't failed in 10 years.

[mjs_mjs]

How many users and computers do you have, the price invested is is down to that really. We have 450 machines out in the school and about 8 servers in a similar room, it gets very hot in summer but no servers have failed we just turn on a portable air con. Might not be the best solution but it hasn't failed in 10 years.

 

that existed here but now we have a room, 3dc's 4 member and about 10 other linux machines/web servers and other devices. we have a small air con and it keeps the room below 20deg all year, and quiet!!!

[Mike_87]

We have around 20 users in our building, with our file server, DC, and soon to be an exchange server, and may end up getting a proxy server also. I'm not sure if we could run the proxy on one of our other servers, but I don't want to bog down our file server, and our DC really isnt the best of the best of servers. It's a starter server. So that would end up being 4 servers in my room. I think I may end up trying to get a server cabinet in here that has the acoustic dampening inside to keep it quiet.