When you put technology assets into an unfriendly environment, the lifecycle of your equipment may be cut in half. Fortunately, you can take steps to help preserve it, along with simplifying maintenance, operations, and support.
If you've ever had to put a computer in a shop environment, you know that its lifecycle may be shortened -- even halved -- by exposure to high temperatures, moisture, air particulate, or other irritants to electronics. Here are some lessons learned from deploying technology to harsh environments that will help you maintain the IT equipment lifecycle in the worst of conditions.
#1: Solutions for visibility and security
As many members will attest, having good visibility is key
to being able to support a critical piece of equipment that's outside the data
centre -- and possibly at a location that has no IT staff. This goes for harsh
environments as well. Products today offer many solutions to ensure both visibility
and security so that operators (and anyone else) can see "the red light"
on the server or whatever is deployed. For example, Figure A shows a server system pair in an enclosure.
Figure A |
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From outside the enclosure, you can:
- See which server is powered on (with this equipment, green is on, amber is off).
- See which hard drives are spinning (green is running, black is off, red is failed).
- See the blue UID (unit identifier) light on the server (a handy feature of ProLiant servers).
- Determine whether the external hard drive array (top) is spinning all drives.
This enclosure has a lockable front panel to keep unwanted users out. Note that the batteries are outside the enclosure. In this case, this was done to reduce the exhaust inside the enclosure.
If you choose this option, bear in mind that you may or may not be able to fully support the system entirely remotely.
#2: Selecting an enclosure and air conditioner
This market has many offerings covering a range of quality,
features, and price. When deciding on an enclosure, make sure you can
accurately calculate:
- Interior dimensions
- Weight capacity and overall weight
- Ergonomic considerations
- Cable entry/exit accessibility
Most enclosures allow you obtain detailed technical information. Figure B shows an ITS Enclosures ICEStation 7219 rack enclosure. ITS Enclosures offers good technical information for your planning phase.
Figure B |
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You may need to deploy an air conditioner with the enclosure, and most providers will help you select the correctly powered air conditioner for the system you're implementing, sell you the unit, and attach it to the enclosure. Be sure not to under-provision a system in cooling management from the start. Thermal overloads in your integrated management logs are not pleasant.
Most, if not all, enclosure air conditioners detail their information on the exterior in a visible manner, as shown in Figure C.
Figure C |
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This label indicates that the air conditioner can operate between 3800 and 4000 BTU for thermal cooling. The power requirements and thermal ranges are also detailed.
A good rule of thumb is to add approximately 35 percent utilisation to your base BTU requirement to ensure adequate thermal provisioning. Also consider using TFT screens instead of CRT monitors for less thermal strain on the interior (unlike our photo examples).
#3: Power provisioning
Although most IT staffers are familiar with getting basic
power service in the data centre, getting selected power in other locations brings
new challenges. When working with non-data centre locations, be sure that you
clearly communicate the power requirements with the following traits:
- Provide quantity and connection type requirements (e.g., QTY 2 NEMA L5-30P would be the "30 Amp Twist Lock" that is used by many UPS units).
- Provide a picture of the connection type -- you can obtain this from the technical information of all products you're feeding.
- Request separate circuits for your power protection (UPS) and air conditioner unit.
- Know the input voltage requirements.
#4: Drainage for thermal management
This may be peculiar topic, but many air conditioners rely
on standard evaporation from a small tray for the liquid discharge that it
pulls from the interior air. As the air becomes more conditioned, less humidity
will come from the interior, but there's still a drainage factor. Drainage
can't be ignored, especially if there's frequent access to the inside of the
enclosure.
Two basic options are available:
- A heated metal plate that causes instant evaporation of the drip condensations
- A bucket and flex tubing
The bucket and flex tubing may sound unsophisticated, but it's a $10 solution that's quite manageable, and it doesn't take much effort to install. The heated plates require additional power, and installation is not at all pleasant.
