12 cooling tips and tricks in the data center
With the rapid rise of the ambient temperature of the cabinets and servers in the data center, the cooling system configured for them is often overwhelmed, and the operators of the data center are under great pressure to quickly and effectively reduce the temperature of the computer room. If cooling facilities cannot be added, operators can use some cooling techniques and tricks to prevent IT equipment such as servers from overheating.
The following tips and tricks may not solve the long-term effective cooling problem of the data center, but they can also play a role. Many times, when the actual heat load of equipment does not significantly exceed the actual capacity of the cooling system, optimizing airflow can improve this situation until a new cooling system is installed in the data center.
1. Don't panic if the temperature rises. It does not matter even if the temperature of the air passage reaches 80 ° F. Although this is higher than the standard temperature of a data center between 70 ° F and 72 ° F (the staff may not like working in such an occasion), the server may not be as bad as people think. If the maximum temperature reading at the front of the rack is 80 ° F or less, it is still within the latest recommendations of ASHRAE TC 9.9. Even if the intake air temperature is slightly higher (up to 90 ℉), it still meets the A2 "allowable" criterion, which is within the operating range of 50 ℉ to 95 ℉ of most servers.
2、 Temperature measurement on the front end of the server 。 This is the place where the server breathes in cold air. In fact, it is the only effective and most important measurement place. Readings are taken at the top, middle, and bottom of the rack (assuming the data center has a hot cold aisle layout). The top temperature of the rack is usually the highest. If the temperature at the bottom of the rack is low and there is open rack space, you can try to relocate the server near the bottom of the rack (or the coldest area).
3、 Make sure to use blinds to block all unused open spaces at the front of the rack. This will prevent hot air from being recirculated from the rear of the rack to the front of the rack.
4、 Don't worry about the rear temperature Even if the temperature is 100 ° F or higher, do not use a fan to blow to the rear of the rack for cooling, which will only allow more hot air to mix into the cold air channel.
5. If the data center has elevated floors, It is necessary to ensure that the grating or perforation of the floor is correctly located where the hottest rack is located 。 If necessary, different floor grilles can be rearranged or replaced to match the air flow with the heat load. Be careful not to place the floor grating too close to the air conditioner in the machine room, which will make the cold air flow return to the air conditioner in the machine room immediately and make the cold air in other parts of the room/row lose.
6、 Check whether the floor has openings in the cabinet 。 The cable opening on the floor will allow hot air to be discharged from the raised floor plenum and the available cold air to enter the floor vent in the cold channel. The use of air tight kits can minimize this problem.
7. If possible, Try to redistribute the heat load and distribute it evenly in each rack to avoid or minimize "hot spots" 。 Remember, before moving the server, you need to check the temperature at the top, middle and bottom of the rack. Just relocate the hotter server (also based on the temperature at the front of the rack) to the cooler area. Then use blind plates to block the gap. Check all rack temperatures again to ensure that no new hot spots have been created.
8、 Check the rear of the rack for cables that block airflow 。 This will bring excessive back pressure to the fans of IT equipment, and may cause the equipment to overheat, even if there is enough cold air in front. This is especially true for racks with 1U servers that have many long power cords and network cables. Consider using a shorter (1 to 2 feet) power cord and replacing the longer power cord that comes with most servers. Also use the shortest possible network cable. Use cable management to clean the rear of the rack to avoid obstructing airflow.
9、 If there is an overhead pipe cooling system in the machine room, it is necessary to ensure that the cold air outlet is directly located in the front of the rack, and the return pipe is located above the hot channel 。 Experts said that the ceiling vents and return vents of some data center machine rooms were in poor positions, which led to room overheating. This was only because all cold air did not flow directly to the front of the rack or hot air was not extracted correctly. The most important problem is to ensure that the hot air from the rear of the cabinet can be directly returned to the air conditioner in the machine room without mixing with the cold air. If there is a pressurized ceiling, it is necessary to consider using it to capture hot air and install couplings from the top return air duct of the air conditioner in the machine room. Some pipe works may have a direct impact on the temperature of the machine room. In fact, the hotter the return air, the higher the efficiency and actual cooling capacity of the air conditioner in the machine room.
10、 Temporary "draw in" cooling devices should only be considered if heat can be discharged to the external area 。 Installing the exhaust pipe on the ceiling of the air conditioner in the machine room does not play a very important role, and the drawn in heat exhaust pipe must be discharged into the area outside the controlled space.
11、 The light needs to be turned off when there is no staff working in the data center 。 This can save 1% to 3% of power and heat load, which can reduce the temperature by 1 ℃ to 2 ℃ under the condition of marginal cooling.
12、 Check if any idle devices are still running 。 This is a fairly common situation and is easy to solve. Just turn it off.
epilogue
When the heat load of the data center completely exceeds the capacity of the cooling system, although there is no real effective solution, sometimes just improving the air circulation may increase the overall cooling efficiency by 5%~20%. This may make the servers in the data center spend the hottest days. In any case, this will reduce the energy cost of the data center, which is always a good thing.
Data center operators need to take precautions. If other methods fail, a backup plan should be developed to shut down the least important load so that the more important servers can remain running (e-mail, finance, etc.). Ensure that the most critical load is deployed at the lowest temperature, which is better than that the most critical load is unexpectedly shut down due to overheating.
Source: foreign translation, please indicate the source if it needs to be reproduced
