Server Room Cooling

As with enterprise data centers, today's smaller server room environments are dealing with higher and higher server rack densities.  At one time building HVAC systems were sufficient to handle the cooling needs of these smaller computer rooms.  Not anymore. Server room cooling has become a much higher priority for today's IT professionals.

The question is, how much cooling is needed?  Simple cooling calculators don't tell the full story.  Each server room is unique and requires a different approach.  Portable cooling units may work in some server rooms, while others may be too space restricted.  In some cases an engineered computer room cooling system may be a more efficient, economical choices in the long run; while precision, in-rack cooling may be the best option in others.

What's for sure is that open doors with box fans pushing office air isn't going to cut it anymore.

The data center cooling experts at 42U can help you discover the best cooling solution for your data center, server room, or computer closet. Schedule your Server Room Power & Cooling  Evaluation today to learn how you can jump start efficiency and capacity gains in your server room.

SynapSense Active Control Data Center Cooling Software

Data center monitoring is an integral part of managing any server room. Beyond monitoring though, efficient use of cooling resources is critical to reducing data center operating costs and effectively managing IT capacity changes.  To help data center professionals with this critical task, SynapSense has recently released a new software package which, when combined with SynapSense wireless sensors, affords IT managers the fine grain control over cooling resources that today's energy efficient data centers demand. 

SynapSense's new Active Control automated data center cooling software monitors server room cooling needs by tracking server inlet temperature and sub-floor pressure differentials via the wireless sensors. Using this data, Active Control dynamically adjusts CRAH (Computer Room Air Handler) temperature set points and fan speeds to meet changing IT demand loads. This dynamic approach to controlling data center cooling can dramatically reduce server room energy costs up to 30%.

SynapSense Active Control Server Room Cooling Software Dashboard

You don't leave all of your lights on every day, why cool data centers to meet 100% capacity 100% of the time. Take control of your data center cooling today and realize immediate energy savings and increased efficiency.  Learn more about SynapSense Active Control from 42U, your data center engineering professionals.

TOP 10 WAYS TO SAVE ENERGY IN THE DATA CENTER

By Shamus McGillicuddy, News Writer
11.29.2007 | SearchCIO.com

LAS VEGAS -- Gartner Inc. has predicted that the cost of supplying energy to a server over its three-year lifetime will soon exceed the server's acquisition cost.

With this in mind, Chris Loeffler, product manager of data center solutions at Eaton Corp. in Cleveland, offered delegates at this week's Gartner Data Center Conference the top 10 ways to save energy in the data center. He said these "low-hanging" management options and technologies can combine to reduce data center energy consumption by up to 50% without compromising availability.

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8. Adopt cooling best practices.
Loeffler said many data centers may use hot aisle/cold aisle configurations to improve cooling efficiency, but there are also some small things they can do. Simple "blanking panels" can be installed in server racks that have empty slots. "That's a great way to make sure the cold air in the cold aisle doesn't start mixing with the hot air in the hot aisle any sooner than it needs to," he said.

Loeffler said organizations should also seal cable cutouts to minimize airflow bypasses. He said data organizations should consider air handlers and chillers that use efficient technologies such as variable frequency drives, which adjust how fast the air conditioning system's motors run when cooling needs dip.

9. Assess the utilization and efficiency issues in your data center.
In addition to turning off unused IT equipment, as mentioned above, organizations should also retire unused software applications and focus on adopting more effective software that requires extra CPU cycles.

10. Prioritize actions to reduce the energy needs of your data center.
Loeffler said organizations should identify and prioritize the steps needed to reduce the energy needs of a data center. He said IT should get executive-level support before embarking on these efficiency gains and form a cross-functional team to develop an energy strategy for IT operations.

Click here to read the complete article.

Gartner Sees Gains for In-Row Cooling

"Power and cooling is a pandemic in the world of the data center." That was the message from Michael Bell, research vice president at Gartner Inc., speaking at the Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations and Management Summit 2007 this week in Orlando. "By next year, about half the world's data centers will be functionally obsolete due to insufficient power and cooling capacity to meet the demands of high-density equipment."

By 2011, in-rack and in-row cooling will emerge as the predominant cooling strategy for high-density equipment. This has been a consistent message from the vendors in this space, but its interesting to see agreement from Gartner on this point.

By the end of the decade, 15 percent of servers will use chip-level or in-chassis cooling technologies from companies like SprayCool and Cooligy Inc.

To read the entire article go to Data Center Knowledge.

Click here to read more about server rack cooling options.

Liquid Cooling: Powerful Cooling for Today's Datacenter

Organizations are increasingly evaluating and implementing liquid cooling solutions to meet the heat challenges of blade servers and high-density computing. Liquid cooling solutions utilize air/liquid heat exchangers to provide quiet, uniform, effective cooling.

Many IT professionals list cooling as a top issue in data center management, as excess heat and high temperatures can shorten equipment lifespan, cause system downtime, and negatively affect equipment performance. As organizations add blade servers to their IT infrastructure, server rooms and datacenters demand more electricity and produce more heat, with some high-density racks exceeding 30 kW and some experts estimating up to 50 kW per server rack, within the next five years.

Click here to read the entire Liquid Cooling article.

liquid cooling

Beat the Heat—Effective Cooling Strategies For Today’s Datacenters

Datacenter cooling is the main concern for many datacenter managers. Excess heat in a server room adversely affects equipment performance, shortens its lifespan, and leads to a premature end of life for equipment. Keeping a server room at the recommended 68 ° to 77 ° F (1) is not an easy task. There are many factors that make cooling today’s datacenters a significant challenge, including high-density computing clusters and rapid changes in technology.

For more information visit: http://www.42u.com/cooling-datacenter.htm.