Server coolant: extreme cold weather condition

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Server coolant: extreme cold weather condition

camilord

11:51 am on Jan 20, 2013 (gmt 0)

Hi.. Been wondering if you could give me some tips..

I want to setup a server or mini-data center in my house, i'm in a country which is cold.. Can i use my country's cold environment as my server coolant or cooler instead of installing aircondition to cool down the servers?

Does do it best? Or i can get my servers in trouble?

Please advise? Thanks..

wheel

2:58 pm on Jan 20, 2013 (gmt 0)

Uh, no.

First, you're not going to want to install the typical 1u data center server in your house. Those machines are way too loud for home installation.

Which means you'll likely just be installing a typical tower server, or even just a regular PC.

And if you're installing a tower PC, then you don't need any more cooling than your household environment in most cases.

Besides, I can't even imagine the costs of installing some type of PC cooler for home use that takes advantage of some external hoogamajig for cooling. That's hobbyist territory.

I've been running some servers in my basement for years. And really, just go get a cheap desktop PC and be done with it. For example, I run my phone server on one of those $300 fanless mini-PC's used for home entertainment. And I'd have my database server on one as well except I need space for a row of hard drives for my backups. I used to run it on a tower server but I don't even bother with that anymore, just a regular low end PC in a decent case.

So I've got two routers, two modems (because I maintain seperate internet connections for business and home), two enterprise class 1-u switches, a battery backup, a mini-PC for my phone system, and a tower PC for my other stuff - all on a shelf in my basement. No additional cooling required.

In the end, the data centers need extra cooling because they have large amounts of very hot computers in a sealed environment. You'll have a couple of machines likely in an open room. So no additional cooling required.

Don't get fancy. Do the bare minimum, keep it simple, and keep the money in your pocket.

camilord

5:33 pm on Jan 20, 2013 (gmt 0)

Oh.. I forgot to mention that i will install 3u PC casing.. I will just assemble it from PC.. :)

Anyway, thanks for the tip buddy.. I will do the same you said..

scooterdude

5:48 pm on Jan 20, 2013 (gmt 0)

As a matter of interest do you chaps have special dsl/adsl , leased line ... web connection

camilord

9:49 am on Jan 22, 2013 (gmt 0)

Internet connection is not a problem.. Its just the condition for the servers that i want to last for a long time. :)

J_RaD

5:09 am on Jan 23, 2013 (gmt 0)

haha yea i have a few 2u servers in my house that when fired up sound like really really pissed off hair dryers.

you can cool them using the outside air, just keep the humidity in check.

as said above if you aren't running anything nutty, heat won't really be much of a problem.

i'd agree with no extra cooling needed as well.. but after running some LAN parties with friends... lots of computers in a room, will heat it up in a hurry.