Questions tagged [physical-environment]

This tag is appropriate for questions dealing with the physical environment of a system/deployment (e.g. dust, vibration, etc.) with no better, more specific tag.

This tag is appropriate for questions dealing with the physical environment of a system/deployment. Examples include questions asking about "special" environments, like:

  • Substantial shock/vibration
  • High dust levels
  • High levels of EM interference
  • Extremely hot or cold temperatures, or wide temperature swings
  • Extremely humid areas

If a more specific tag exists, please use that instead.

196 questions
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12 answers

Physically locating the server

I've got a CentOS server somewhere in the building; I can login into it remotely and VNC, etc. Now I've got to physically move it, and for that I need to physically locate the machine among the lookalikes around the office. What can I do remotely to…
Michael
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Can you mount a network switch upside down?

We just took delivery of a new Avaya 2500 48-port switch, that has 24 PoE ports. The problem is that all the PoE ports are on the left-hand size of the switch, and our PoE device cables can only reach the right-hand side of the switch (we're…
Mark Henderson
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103
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11 answers

Cooling Server Closet - No A/C Is Possible

We're moving into a new office in an old building in London (that's England :) and are walling off a 2m x 1.3m area where the router & telephone equipment currently terminates to use as a server closet. The closet will contain: 2 24-port switches…
JamesCo
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18 answers

Do you skip a rack unit between servers?

It seems like there's a lot of disagreement in mindsets when it comes to installing rackmount servers. There have been threads discussing cable arms and other rackmount accessories, but I'm curious: Do you leave an empty rack unit between your…
Matt Simmons
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65
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16 answers

What is the correct temperature for a server room?

When I was working in our server room, I noticed that it was very cold. I know that the server room has to be cold to offset the heat of the servers, but perhaps it is TOO cold. What is an appropriate temperature to keep our server room at?
freddiefujiwra
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57
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6 answers

What's the best fire suppression for a server room?

What is the state of the art in fire suppression for server rooms? What are the top priorities in choosing a good system?
Dennis Williamson
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51
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On a dual CPU server, is it normal for one CPU to run hotter than the other?

I have a dual Opteron server running Linux with libvirt to host several VMs. The VMs work fine and the server processes OK, but I notice one CPU always runs about 69C (throttles at 70C) and the other runs about 15C. This doesn't seem normal to me?…
samoz
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48
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7 answers

Cable Management Policy

We've all seen good and bad examples of cable management. What are objective, measurable requirements that can be used in a policy to maintain cabling order in the rack/server room/data center? I'm not looking for "Don't do spaghetti wiring!" but…
44
votes
11 answers

Does an unplugged hard drive used for data archival deteriorate?

If I were to archive data on a hard drive, unplug it, and set it on a (not dusty, temperature-controlled) shelf somewhere, would that drive deteriorate much? How does the data retention of an unplugged hard drive compare to tapes?
Jim Hunziker
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40
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3 answers

How do servers with redundant power supplies balance consumption?

I have several servers from the HP DL360 line (generations 5-8). Each of these servers has two power supplies installed. The 2 power supplies in each server are fed from different circuits. My question is will the power draw be roughly balanced…
40
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34 answers

Monitoring server room temperature

I have a small server room with its own AC unit. Recently, the AC died, and the temperature increased from 70 F to > 90 F. We rarely go in this room, so I was lucky that someone happened to notice that the fans were running a lot louder than normal…
user640
30
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8 answers

Putting servers inside a refrigerator?

It could be a silly question, but I decided to go for it. I shall be buying 3 servers in the next few weeks to set up a small webfarm at my home. I am told by different people who work in server rooms, that I should keep my servers in an air…
Muhammad Jamal Shaikh
29
votes
5 answers

How to build and run a machine room?

The last guy quit (I think a lot of adventures begin this way?) and I've been given the job to build a new machine room. I am coordinating with 2 engineers, campus ITS, campus Facilities Management, a project manager, a construction company and 2…
27
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20 answers

Do you work in your server room?

I once had a job offer from a company that wanted my workstation to be in the AC controlled, noisy server room with no natural light. I'm not sure what their motivation was. Possibly it made sense to them for me to be close to the servers, or…
Gary Richardson
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23
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Protecting Servers from Dust

I have a single server rack (31 of the 42U occupied) in a small (about 10'x10') basement room in a building that is seeing some light renovation... nothing huge, but some non-load-bearing-walls going up in what used to be a cafeteria to create a…
Joel Coel
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