What is Going on In Your Server Room?
The server room is built and then often forgotten within a non-tech company. It is just the cold, quiet dark room down the hall that brings to mind sleeping soundly on Monday mornings when someone leaves the door open and hum draws you in to images of being back in bed and surrounded by white noise. This room is often the dirtiest dustiest and most neglected because the janitorial crew is not permitted near the equipment. But few other go near it either, unless they are the tech person, and the area falls into a no-man wasteland.
Even companies who bring in outsiders to run their server rooms still need to maintain the standards that are set in place when the room is set up. A server room, unlike a broom closet, is not a forgotten room in the building. Regardless of what the company does, the server room is likely the brain hub of the entire business that employees are happy to take for granted as long as it works. To ensure this mysterious room continues to work, it is important to establish standards from the start.
High Server Room Standards Start With Quality Racking Methods
Not all racking methods are created equal, and a sub-par system can lead to hotter slower servers inefficient use of space, and increased energy use.
Good racking methods include screw in fixed shelves, sliding shelves, and speed rail shelves. They are compatible with nearly every rack and different OEM servers, the sliding shelves also pull out and maneuver easily, but can be more difficult to install.
A better racking method would be to go with the after market in fixed, sliding, and speed sliding rails. These are going to allow more customization, faster installation and a better fit. They are also, often a cheaper option than OEM rails.
The best choice would be OEM speed rails and screw in rails. This is because they are made by the server manufacturer and are specifically designed for their purpose. The screw in rails come compatible with round, square, and treaded hole racks alike for flexibility. The downside is that they are often more expensive than their counterparts, but you’re paying for convenience and ease of use over and over again.
After all, who wants to be worry about a rack sticking or breaking? No one. Not when there are so many other components that need to be regulated in a sever room. Choosing a great server rack means that even when the tech guys are not there to monitor that “room down the hall”, every thing will stay just as it was left until the experts come back.