server room - rack spacing - AC

Tue Aug 23 17:04:01 PDT 2005

hua d tim

On Tue, 23 Aug 2005, Tim Pozar wrote:

> > i want 4' ( 48" ) so that i don't bump into the
> > adjacent racks behind me
> 
> Yup, that is the spacing in our new facility at 200 Paul.   We rarely 
> get someone or thing that needs it, but we had the space. :-)

good ... that is sorta what i was looking for, if some folks
are crazy like me in wanting mroe space in front of the rack
when its available ( as it is in our new server room )

> > yup  or you leave the back cover off and let it stick out
> 
> You may or may not want to do that depending on how your air will flow 
> through the rack.  For example, if you have computer flooring and forced 
> A/C then this is not a good idea.

ummm... me thinks i'm dumb but not stupid or stupid but not dumb ???
and yeah... sometimes one does see  open backs on subfloor-t0-ceiling
cooling .... more whacky "getups"

we're using plain ole split ducts ( intake and exhaust ) with 
the AC unit on the roof

> > racks/cabiners are made by chatsworth ( the ibm of racks/cabinets )
> 
> Uh...  Not sure what you mean by "the IBM of racks", as they don't meet 
> many standards such as Zone 4 (ie. The Bay Area) earthquake standards 
> and electrical bonding.

SF bay area has whacky building standards .. as does LA ...

maybe the market for racks/telco that meets those standards is
not big enough for chatsworth to go after ??

lots of server rooms that i've seen does NOT mean "earthquake" standards
as the so called reinforcement means will just wiggle out since its
just itty-bitty nails  vs screwed into studs in the wall

> Ya... Not good.  What does it do during the day when the system's 
> efficiency goes way down with the rising outside temp?

during the work week, the server room temp is normal at about 67
since the building ac is on but goes up to 80F at nights implying
the AC in the server room is not working

and they wonder why their servers are acting flaky and dying randomly :-)

> > 	- and i keep telling them it's not a 4-ton ac ..
> > 	and at least the real estate agents laughed too
> > 	when they say the AC unit
> > 
> > 	- the AC has official looking part# and manufacturer
> > 	but if you google for it, it'd show a non-existing
> > 	model#  and if you look closely at the AC, it is 
> > 	a home-brew AC built with spare parts ( imho )
> 
> OMG... You are considering these folks?

not my choice ... 

the big bosses left it in the real estate agent's hands
who probably hired their buddies and bro of their gf or something
as they are obviously not qualified based on: 
( that's always my conspiracy theory of how bozo's get into the picture )
	- they wanted to use 2' - 3' of spacing in front of the racks
	- they wanted 4ton ac cause thats what we have now 
	  even if it's more like a 1ton home-brew unit
	- they did not show hot air exhaust and cold air intake
	- they have the racks back-to-back with the hot air in between
	  the racks in a space of 2'-3'  where you and/i would normally
	  be between the racks working on it
	- more fun stuff in the rest of the floor plans too
	- they are probably billing (us) by the hour  which i 
	  wouldn't pay their invoices since it violated our initial specs

	- their layout is sorta like:

		"back" of rack
		"front" of rack

		each rack/cabinet is say 4' deep 

		wall -- F-racks-B -- 3' aile -- B-rack-F  -- wall

- my layout using their scheme :

	wall -- B-racks-F -- 4' aile -- F-rack-B  -- wall

	( we have 14' or 16' depending on orientaion of the
	  racks in the room to play with )

	but that doesn't leave "walking" room between the walls
	and the racks which brings us to a single row of nicely
	spaced racks along the wall .. no spacing problem anywhere

> > - the entertaining part ...
> > 	- their "server room experts" are clueless interior
> > 	decorators per the google results of their names
> 
> I can point you at a number of other places (including us) that will be 
> much more clueful.  :-)

hopefully, after the big bosses figure out that they dont want these 
interior designers, i'll see about getting some "real" server room
experts" into the meetings instead of me pissing into the hurricane

c ya
alvin