7 Signs That Your Server Room Is Lacking
Posted by Shane Corellian on Thu, May 24, 2012
For those of us who have worked in smaller companies, we know that not all server rooms are raised floor, precision cooled, glass walled, bio-metricly secured rooms.
However, it's not just the ma 'n pa companies that have server room issues. While consulting for a very large organization a while ago I was amazed that their server room, which housed easily 10 million bucks worth of hardware, was constantly plagued by cooling issues. When servers get hot, they turn themselves off, and that was happening on a nearly weekly basis for probably two months.
Upper management reacted by starting the requisition of over a million dollars worth of cooling equipment because obviously the existing AC was not sufficient.
After one such overheating episode I was discussing the ordeal with the lab manager when he said something that just didn't sound right.
"Yeah, another overheating. I guess I'm gonna have to turn the AC back on".
I stopped in my tracks. My brain must have been experiencing sensory overload. I looked at him and asked him to repeat. It turns out that his assistant had complained about the cool temperatures so the manager had, months ago, turned the AC off. Only after the upteenth shutdown did he think he may want to turn it back on.
A week later I walked in the lab I saw his assistant sitting at her desk in an oversized artic parka with a very noticable scowl on her face.
Alas, the list. Seven signs that your server room is lacking.
7. Server room door requires a door stop to stay closed
6. Carpet
5. The only electrical outlet is an extension cord fished through a crudely kicked hole in the wall
4. Room cooling exclusively provided by an open window
3. "Server Room" exists under the bosses desk
2. Redudant power means having two extension cords plugged into the same outlet
1. Removing one server requires advanced Jenga skills
Here's a photo collection of server room nightmares as collected by TechRepublic.