Computer Room Design?

Onion asks: "My company is considering giving us a new Computer Room, and Command Center, as our existing building is nowhere near meeting current needs, let alone future needs. I have seen a few plans for command center furniture, but no real designs or ideas for the layout of these two rooms. We have five racks for the actual computer room, and need around 25 screens for the command console. Add to this bench space for repairs, and things like: a cupboard, bookshelf, plus more storage space, and the design becomes more complicated. We need enough space for three or four admins. Has anyone seen plans for this type of setup ?"

Comments

Bond Villain Command Center

[GuyMannDude]

My advice is to build your own command center by studying those featured in the James Bond movies. Most of the bad guys have a fully staffed, very impressive command center filled with computers and cool looking wall-sized flat screens. Make sure you get the center chair that overlooks the whole setup. Not only will it be a joy to work at but a command center like that will impress even the most stingy of VCs or customers.

Always happy to help,
GMD

Remote Control or KVM

[ScumBiker]

I'm a little confused here. If you only have 5 racks of servers, why on earth do you need 25 consoles? 5 racsk can easily be controlled with one decent KVM, I prefer Blackbox myself. You also didn't say how much room you have. 25 consoles, even stacked 3 high take up a hell of a lotta room. Get a really good KVM, leave the people that need to be there in the noisy hel of a computer room, and then go back out to your desk and run everything from ssh or a Win2k terminal session. That's the way I do it.

The word is "Architect"

[dotslash]

There is a special kind of person who can answer your question, an "Architect". Perhaps your company should get their act together and pay a professional to do the job properly. After all the cost of an architect will be a fraction of the construction cost and will make the difference between a usable space and ... not.

Think of it in terms of design before implementation.

Re:The word is "Architect"

[Nos.]

True, but you need to have knowledgeable people from all areas involved. There is A LOT to consider when building a LAN room. I went through this last year for one of our smaller offices. About 6 servers, a switch (telephony) handling 6 T1s, plus associated gear.

An architect is definitely a necessity, but they don't always know everything you'll need. First off, you have to determine the amount of heat generated in the room, and this is affected by the number of people normally in the room. Take whatever you have know, and double it. You don't want to have to add in another air conditioner later (trust me on this - its a pain, and very expensive).

Fire alarms are another big one. In fact, yesterday we learned about problems with them. When we originally setup the system, the idea was the sprinkler system (some type of foam, not sure what) was only designed to go off if both detectors in the room had two signs of fire (heat and smoke). However, I didn't know they also setup the fire alarm with an emergency kill. That is, should the fire alarm be activated, it will cut power to the room. Okay, we've got UPSs, however, they also wired up the one UPS in the room that is smart enough to receive this type of kill signal. (There's also a panic button that will cut the power). Yesterday, the company showed up to test the system, didn't know/forgot about the kill signal, and while testing the system shutdown about 1/2 the machines in the room. The other 1/2 were on dumber UPSs and the switch is on its own battery backup. So, in the even of a real fire, the most expensive piece of equipment in the room would have been powered when the foam came down!

Other things - racks right against the wall are bad, leave room for someone to squeeze behind them because you'll need to eventually. Lighting is another issue, it should be bright, but you don't want a lot of glare. Where are the cables going to run? In the walls (not a great idea when you want to replace bad jack) or overhead cable trays (which can get in the way of lighting and cooling).

Short answer, you need professionals who not only understand architecture, but also power, alarms (fire & security), cooling, and finally usability!

VNC Sessions!

[agrounds]

We're extremely co-located here at my current job. In fact the closest server is two hours from me. (This is for security reasons) Anyway, we do it all with just a few terminals and a whole lot of VNC. I think the best answer for you is to set up a few simple boxen that exist to only run VNC sessions for guests and the like, and then hook up a tunnel encryption to the servers if you are worried about it. I can honestly say that Zebedee has been the easiest thing to set up. It runs over port 11965 if you want to push it out the firewalls as well.

KVM switches rock, but tie you to one location, and then you fight over the terminal with the other admins. When you can do it all from your desk with just a click, why not?

Re:VNC Sessions!

[MrResistor]

They keep the servers at least two hours away from you for security reasons, huh? Seems like it would be easier to just fire you and hire somebody they trust... ;-P

Re:Seven Circles

[SN74S181]

Heavens no. The servers should be a snarl of ethernet cable, switches, hubs, etc. all mixed in with torn apart boxes. If you can't tell which machine is the server except by which box has the SCSI card in it with the LEDs illuminated (cover on said box should be OFF of course) you're wasting valuable company time fiddling with a phillips screwdriver when you should be:

changing the f-ing toner cartridge on the LJet2 up on the second floor.

Hop to it, now, admin-boy.

NO workers in computer room all day.

[duffbeer703]

Unless you want to get sued and fined by OSHA.

Noise levels, particularly high-pitched noise in computer rooms are way too high for human habitation. You will go deaf if subjected to for many years.

If people need to sit in the raised floor area, there needs to be a wood/glass wall between them and the computers and chillers.

Workcenter design

[Lando]

You really need to step back and consider what you want to do here.

Do you want a data center, ie computer server room, a noc, a workroom, etc?

If you have 4 admins, why do they need to see a massed array of consoles? Thats a job for Operations, not administrators. Put your administrators in cubes... Various cube designs out there.

Datacenter use open space and raised floor if possible.

Operations, couple of screens maybe 2 for each operator and use programs to pipe information to said operators, they shouldn't need a screen each. If your running MVS systems which "require" dedicated consoles... You can find cards and "hllapi" interfaces to run several console servers on one machine.

It doesn't sound like you actually have that big of needs.

Myself, I would just take over some custodial closet for the computers, beef up the ventilation and add in a ups system... Your going to need an electrical engineer to look over the power situation which should provide most of the space requirements for you.

As far as the admins go, find out what they want, usually 6x6 cubes with room for 2 computers is adequate...

As far as working on machines, find a room somewhere 20*40 or so that has a locking door. This way your's not concerned with parts walking out the door...

In truth, the computer room with be more of a engineering design, and set by your space requirements. The workspace for the admins is mainly set by getting input from management and admins.

What difficulties are you forseeing?

Obvious Ingredients First

[4of12]

First,

• raised floor
• refrigerated air
• big electric circuits

then think about UPS units.

And, just as you can never be too rich or too thin, you can never have too much storage space.

After that, move onto your network drops, benchspace, lighting, chairs, etc.

I'd advise having some locks on the doors, too, not only for the obvious security implications, but also so you have a place to hide when things go south (have a prepared placard to the effect of "We're actively working on the problem and will update you immediately as it's fixed.")

Re:The word is "Architect" - AMEN

[legLess]

I was the IS manager at a large architecture firm for years. Architects are a pain in the ass to work with, but a good architect is worth his weight in gold. Architects at their best are integrators and managers as well as designers.

Other posters have mentioned heat, alarms and fire supression levels as examples of things an architect might not understand. In my experience, most architects are pretty good about subbing out work they know they can't do. Architects don't draw plans for the whole project - they design the frame and facades, the interiors and the fixtures, but they usually leave other work for specialists. This means that your plumbing, electrical, etc will be handled by a consultant who does it for a living.

Your best bet is to find an architect with demonstrated experience in the kind of project you have in mind. Then ask for references and visit his(her/its) past projects. If possible, talk with the internal project manager at those sites (the person who dealt with the architect on a daily basis).

Nearly any architect can probably do your job, but it will be very painful with one who is inexperienced. Architects have a long and formal internship system - let your architect get his computer room experience as an intern on someone else's project, not as a lead on your project.