Best Practices for Server Rack Cooling

Server racks are important to the smooth and efficient running of a data center. A server rack is a structure specifically designed to securely house the important technical equipment within a data center, such as servers and routers. They help to keep equipment organized, while helping to maximize the floor space within a data center.

The technical equipment in a server rack is designed to handle large amounts of data every second and can produce large amounts of heat. Keeping server racks cool is essential to stop this equipment overheating.

Data centers usually contain specialist equipment to keep the entire room cool, however, it is also important that the individual server racks themselves are kept cool. Even if the data center as a whole is kept cool, the inside of a server rack or cabinet could still overheat.

Overheating can be very damaging to server equipment and can cause it to stop working. This can cause significant delays for businesses that need to access their data. Computing equipment that is overheating can also pose a fire hazard, so it is important to prevent this for health and safety reasons.

Server racks come with elements designed to keep equipment ventilated, however, this on its own is not enough to keep the racks and equipment cool. There are other practices you can put in place to help keep your server racks cool.

Airflow in the server racks should be managed to ensure that every component within the server rack receives cool air and remains at a safe temperature. The airflow should also be good enough to prevent the build-up of heat/hot spots. Also, the doors of a server cabinet should be perforated or removed altogether to allow an adequate flow of air.

It is also important to keep the data center itself at a cool and safe temperature. You can’t keep a server rack cool if the room temperature of the data center is too warm or overheating.

The temperature of each server cabinet should be carefully monitored and regularly checked. It may also be necessary to have more than one temperature monitoring point within each individual server rack.

At USystems, we provide a range of innovative cooling solutions, that help data centers stay cool. We provide local and global scale coverage, offer customer support from inquiry to installation, and look to build long-term partnerships with our clients. USystems are at the forefront of modern data center cooling.