Challenge for a New Server Room

We had a project to do an IT move and as the new premise did not have a server room therefore we need to organise to build a new server room with a minimal budget as possible. The previous server room on the old tenancy was already built when the client moved in and did not have proper air conditioning and only use the exhausted fan with a controlled switch and had a small grill area on the door area. They also have to run multiple fans to keep airflow. We tried to design and build a similar one but with a better setup.

The Step by Step Solution

Design for the server room

The new premise has LAN cables running down from the ceiling including the termination from IDF. It’s an open area and it’s closed to the kitchen area. We decided to create a dedicated room and have a clear separation between the kitchen areas. We measured the size that we need to try to fit 2 full-size racks plus a cabinet for storing IT equipment and cables. The size that we need is 3m x 2.7m with the door and glasses facing as main entrance and wall for separating the kitchen area.

Grilled Door

Learned from the previous server room at the old tenant, we decided to make it wider so it will have better airflow. The measurement for this X cm x X cm.

Server Racks

The owner of the previous tenant allows the client to take the racks. This will save around AUD 1,500 each. However, the logistic to move these 2 racks is a nightmare as needs to dismantle some part of it – the top part as the previous tenant lift is not tall enough. With the help of the builder, they managed to squeeze the server rack amazingly through the lift with an angle.

Dedicated Power Point

As the client has 2 racks, we need 2 dedicated circuit power points – one for each rack. However, due to they only have a single UPS unit for covering some IT equipment, therefore, they need a 15 AMPS on that socket. So with this, 1 dedicated circuit with a normal 10 AMPS with 2 sockets and 1 dedicated circuit with 15 AMPS.

Next to those power socket, we also need 2 additional with 2 socket each and this is non dedicated swith – shared across the floor. This will be used for fans for emergency, vacuum clean to clean the room or tech that want to use connecting for testing purpose.

Reallocating the LAN Cables and Internet Cable

As the positioning of the LAN cable and internet cable is not ideal where the comm rack sits so we asked the electrician to reallocate the LAN cabling close to the comm rack. As the client wanted to reuse some of the LAN cables for patching, so so can be limited to be moved but lucky the electrician can reallocate this.

Replacing the Carpet with the Anti-static Mat

This piece of task to remove the carpet was missed during this project. We made assumption that the builder will take out the carpet once the the room completed but apparently it is out of scope. We and the builder have to scramble to remove this carpet and find a cheaper antistatic mat.

Exhaust Fan

The plan originally to look at the dedicated aircon and the cost to set up is 10x than an exhaust fan. Looking at the previous tenant plus the temperature on the room is around between 22-27 degrees Celcius so they decided to make it similar but with more power on sucking the hot air through the exhaust fan. The electrician can calculate this based on the room size. The bigger fan, the noisy will be. Also, we made an improvement by setting this fan running 24×7 all the time – no switch and with the new technology this will run small electricity plus it will run through a dedicated circuit outside the general circuit.

Shared Air Conditioning

When we design the room, we ensured to have a current air duct in the server room otherwise it will have a cost to move this unit inside. As this air duct temperature regulated based on the floor temperature, therefore, if the cold temperature and it will try to regulate by pumping more hot air and it’s vice versa. However, we found that during the morning in the winter, we found the degree is around 27 degrees Celcius and it only lasts 1 hour or so.

The air con for the entire floor and building is running between 8 AM – 6 PM Monday to Friday. It can be requested to running on the weekend but it will have an extra cost associated with it and it per request based so it can not be permanently set up. It designed only for if the employee comes during outside business hours.

Door with Key

For security, we requested to have a door with a key.

The End

If you have reached the end of this article, congratulation. Hopefully, we have been able to shed some light on outlining what you need to know to build a minimal budget server room and still looks good and professional.

We write this in such a way that this is not a fixed article. Like in this journey, we learn as we go and we re-write some parts of the article so please keep pinging with this article or any tech posts.

We also would love to hear about how you deal with the situation and what IT-related challenges you might be facing. Please feel free to leave us a comment below this article or you can contact us on the Dewacorp website for your IT support, application integration, application development, or other IT-related. Let us know if you have any questions that we can help with. Thanks again!

Big thank you for the photo by Manuel Geissinger from Pexels.

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