Looking for server rack integration? Well, before that you must consider the importance of data center design. Building a well-organized data center needs significant analysis of several factors, including the number and types of servers needed, anticipated power usage, cooling requirements, footprint, cabling paths, and more. Each of these factors can influence the others, and as such, the thumb rule states that procurement should not take place until and unless the design has been firmly established- a rule that is often broken, particularly when procuring server racks.
Server racks are the components that will be most affected by all the other data center design factors. However, the procurement cannot take place until the following questions can be answered by the buyer:
- What is the net weight of equipment being loaded into the enclosure?
Although this information might seem unimportant, every design choice of an enclosure largely depends on the weight load capacity. Therefore, making it one of the most critical information to provide to the manufacturer. Because recommending something with insufficient capacity could pose safety concerns and ultimately lead to equipment damage.
- What kind of environment is required for equipment installation?
Efficiency, reliability and performance of network equipment is dependent on the level of protection of the equipment against harmful environmental factors. As electronics are being introduced to new and harsher environments, protection against factors like water, dust, and radiations are becoming increasingly common requests. And failing to fit the enclosure design on the operating environment can lead to decreased lifespan of the equipment.
- Industry Regulations?
Apart from introducing new equipment protection concerns, new environments come with new regulatory standards. Many industries have specific design, manufacturing, and the installation process that must be used to meet all the regulatory standards. Industry regulations make sure that there are standards of equipment protection based on environment. Meeting the industry regulations is often a legal requirement for the customers; however, it is common to experience a gap in communication between the buyer and the installer, resulting in project delays and increased costs.
- What size enclosure will be an optimum long-term solution?
Size often is a relatively easy decision to make depending on the number of rack units required to house all the equipment and accessories. But there are couple of other factors as well that buyers do not consider, the most common among of all is the possibility of future growth. It is very significant for a buyer to take future growth in consideration before deciding on a size. Moreover, the other factors that buyer fails to consider include the size of building elements, like service elevators and doorways through which the enclosure will have to pass in order to get it installed.
- What type of equipment is being installed, and what is the optimum temperature of the operating environment?
Now these are the two most significant questions to assist enclosure manufacturers evaluate the airflow design and the selection of all enclosure components that affects the airflow. By knowing the type of servers, wattage and fan locations can be used to determine waste heat generation and the airflow paths in order to recommend the perfect location and the type of a/ac unit, heat exchangers, as well as the right type of enclosure panels-whether they are solid or perforated. Airflow efficiency is one of the most significant factors in reducing the cost of power and making sure that the electronics are running smoothly.
- What are the areas that regularly need to be accessed?
The amount of time required in servicing the equipment can decrease considerably if the enclosure is designed in such a way that accessibility to key components becomes easy and efficient. As far as cabling is concerned, having a patch panel can help in freeing up space, thus making service much easier.
Procurement taking place too early in the design or miscommunication between the purchasing agent and designer, and not providing sufficient information to an enclosure manufacturer can lead to delay in projects and increased cost due to inefficient designs. However, with today’s enclosure manufacturers increasingly taking efficient steps to sales, buying the most efficient enclosure solution is easier than ever; as long as the buyer can answer to all the above mentioned questions in the webcast.
