Server Room Temp? Opinion

[NetworkAdmin123]

Hi,
Are main server room is always pretty hot. I'm talking close to 80 degrees F. I've told my boss this could end up being a problem. What does everyone in the business world try to keep their server room temps at so I can bring this to my boss for convincing.

Thx!

 

[mrmoneymatters]

65

 

[wdoellefeld]

65

Oh, and if you end up buying a separate AC unit for the room please refrain from putting it on the roof over the server racks. Don't ask me why I know this is a BAD idea.

FRCP

http://www.frcp.net

 

[jdemmi]

80?! Wow! think about it, if it's 80 in the room, what is it on the surface of the processor? Drive platters? (They're in a slim, poorly ventilated case, stacked on top of one another in a rack, with the door shut!)

We keep our room between 60 and 65 and have removed all the doors off the server racks.

 

[longlivegoku]

We had this problem as well. Room was constantly 80-83 when I came in in the morning. We have an AC unit now for just our room and we keep it around 65. Sometimes the powers that be just don't listen. Took us 2 years to convince them we needed our own AC unit.

 

[mwiner]

Our 2 very large AC units (I don't know BTU - sorry). Our server room is about 66' x 24' are set to RFC (Really F***ing Cold) and 45% RH. Which keeps the room at about 64 and 70% RH.

When we have a power failure it is bad news because our lack of a generator. So the AC units shutdown and the servers keep running for a couple hours or so. It is amazing how fast it heats up.

A long time ago I was consulting for a company that had a SGI machine with 8 processors in it about the size of a small refrigerator. We would be working in there network/server room (about the size of a walk in closet) and the display on the front of the server had a display for processor usage (a bar graph for each processor). We could see the graphs jump up and then almost immedietly feel the temperature change.

 

[zabagar]

Heat and electronic equipment have quite a long history of not playing together well.

While 80-degrees F may not cause your servers to seize up, I'm sure it will shorten their lifespan.

I wouldn't want to work in an 80-degree room either!

For some reason, there are those that need to experience it first hand to learn the heat lesson. When you have a major piece of equipment fail, the "powers that be" will be racing to get the room cooled. At least you can say "I told you so."

-bz-

 

[lgarner]

Definitely below 70 F. We keep ours at 65-68, and I get an alarm when it hits 72.

Also, you might want to monitor actual CPU temp, as well.

LOL, wdoellefeld, I know *exactly* what you mean!

 

[jfp23]

65 is good, and if you can it is also a good ideal to get a fan for your server rack that sucks the air up and out of the rack and keep the doors on.

 

[NetworkAdmin123]

Believe it or not we have some people here today working on the AC so hopefully this will change. It has a seperate thermostat so hopefully we can keep it cooler now. It's sad when the hottest room is your server room

At least and can tell them 65 is the lucky number! Thanks guys

 

[drew1701d]

65-69 is a good range
alarms sound for us when we go above 74

 

[technome]

Link on hard drive temperature vs longevity

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/technolo/drivetemp/drivetemp.htm

 

[dholbrook]

If you run your equipment at 80+ degrees room temp, you will severly shorten the life of any rack mounted equipment even faster than towers because the dense packing reduces air flow, plus blowing 80+ degree air across hot processors is really not very efficient! If the room temprature is 80+, then the equipment is much hotter than that, especially inside the case. Keep the room Temp at 65-70 degrees, max. That will keep you equipment happy.

First problem you will probably see will be failures in your UPS batteries, as this will shorten their life considerably. Next you will start having drive failures from overheated bearings, then probably other electronic parts like your very "cheap" CPU units. CPUs last a litte longer than the drives because they have their own fans, but they also die from overheating, unless your systems shut down from thrermal overload.

The other failure will be the temper flairups from the IT people having to work in this condition. Besides, it is not good to drip sweat onto electronic equipment!

As for convincing your boss, here is the path to take:

1. Remind him what this equipment costs to replace, and the time it will take to repair or rebuild each system if you suffer multiple drive failures, etc. (Good for the justification for backup tapes also!)
2. Ask him how long they can operate when the system goes down, and what it will cost them when no one can get mail or do any work for an extended time (READ: DAYS)while you try to order, receive and rebuild from scratch.
3. A thermal failure usually results in one or more failed components and many degraded parts that usually work initially, then promptly fail also once the other failed parts are replaced and a full electrical load is restored to degraded power supplies, etc. Result: Extended, and repeated, downtime!

4. Compare the AC cost to the lost manhours when no one can work.

GET a 24x7 AC unit dedicated only to the computer room, as many buildings shut off the building AC in the evenings and on weekends. Just because you are not there to check, it does not mean it has not gotten very hot in the room!

HTH,

David

 

[KFCHI]

60-65

 

[MarkhP]

Yep - we run our room at 65-66f (~18-19c). All racks have quad fans blowing down through them. We dont like to talk about AC units in Server rooms either . Building management system alarms if the temp goes up by 4f.