London Cool advises on Server Room Temperatures
To protect business-critical equipment from data storage
problems or system crashes, it is essential to ensure that the temperature in server
rooms or data centres stays within certain limits.
With many housing large amounts of equipment, the heat
generated can potentially cause computers and networking equipment to fail as
they are designed to work within a fairly narrow temperature range.
What temperature is
right?
Air conditioning should be considered crucial for any server
room. Technology experts recommend a server
room temperature of between 18ºC to 27ºC and not less than 10°C or above 28°C. Relative humidity should be between 45-50% to
stop damaging static electricity building up.
Even a few degrees too hot can blow a server chip or cause
permanent damage to hard drives. The
cost of a serious server failure can be considerable – not only the cost of
replacement, but lost online business, lost customer details, wasted staff time
etc.
How do you maintain
the right temperature?
Even if everything is working the temperature may fluctuate
during the day or from season to season, and there is always the possibility of
localized hot-spots around equipment giving off extra heat.
Servers run hotter at certain times of the day than at
others and air conditioning systems sometimes run at lower power at night. If a webserver suddenly starts to work hard
because of a difference in time zones, the machine may heat up faster than the air
conditioning can cool it.
Newer machines run faster and often hotter as well, while
data networks require more capacity to handle faster speeds, all of which increases
the load on the air conditioning system.
If you’ve recently introduced new servers or modern switches, it might
be time to evaluate your air conditioning system to make sure it is still adequate.
It is also recommended that you install environmental
sensors and monitors which will check humidity and temperature levels and alert
you if they are reaching dangerous levels.
London Cool has a 24/7 emergency or breakdown helpline (0800 440 444)
and can supply portable air conditioners and fans with same day delivery. These can be used to circulate cold air
around server cabinets and create ‘cold corridors’ between devices to maintain
a consistent temperature.
For advice on server room cooling, or for a free site survey
for a fixed air conditioning system or additional portable air conditioning
units, London Cool can be contacted on 0800 440 444.
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