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How Have You Equipped a Tiny Server Closet?
BenEnglishAtHome asks: "One of our remote offices will soon be gutted/rebuilt and our local IT staff managed to fumble the political ball. Our server closet is being reduced to 45 square feet and there will be no more unused desk space that can be occupied by visiting techs. Result? That 45 square feet must house 3 desktop-size servers; 3 UPSs; a fully-adjustable user workstation that includes separate adjustments for work surface height, keyboard height, and keyboard angle as well as a big ergo chair; an area suitable for workstation diagnostics; a good KVM switch; 2 monitors, keyboards, mice, and laptop docking stations that must be simultaneously available; and some amount of small item storage, while still having enough room for a door to swing into the roughly square room. The only bright side is that I can have all the A/C, power, and LAN drops I want. Has anyone managed to find and deploy a freestanding server rack/workstation/furniture system (probably something L-shaped) that can perform this many tasks in such a small space?"
Start having lots of conversations in earshot of management about electrical fires.
Well, since your first problem is that your servers aren't rack-mountable (or, if you can get conversion kits, rack-mount them and forget the rest of this), your next best bet is some good shelving. I've purchased some heavy-duty 4' x 18" stainless steel shelves from Costco for about $75 a set. Each shelf can hold 500 lbs if necessary. Find a way to attach the shelves to the wall (several half-inch-thick zip-ties screwed into the wall studs works well), and use cargo straps (the kind with built-in ratchets to tighten them) to attach the servers to the shelves. Very space-efficient and sturdy.
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Reverse the door. You'll want pinned hinges so the room's still secure, but that'll buy you a LOT of extra space.
If your workload per server is light enough, then buy 1 decent server with RAID and lots of memory and CPU. Virtualize the machines on this new server. Put in a Ethernet remote management card. This will allow you to forego the monitor and access it remotely. Make sure this machine is fully redundant and hot-swappable. Now instead of 3 servers you have one. You don't have to actually enter the server closet. For even more space, mount the unit up above.
Write down every even remotely possible hazard this could lead to (electrical fires and server failings due to heat, as well as long downtimes because you have to "un-build" a lot of the server farm to get to the failing computer, etc. Whatever comes to mind, write it down), but make sure you leave out anything that could remotely be tracked to your convenience (managers hate it if their subjects are working in a convenient environment, it will make your complaint look like you're just trying to get more comfort).
Then, assemble a list of managers that could even remotely be connected to the problem, or who could get fired when one of those hazards really happen.
Next, draw together what services of your company rely on computers. Managers don't understand the implications of a failed server, but they do understand what happens when people can't work because of it. Make sure you describe in very easy terms the connection between the server being down and Joe Cubicle sitting around and twiddling his thumbs because of it, for as long as the server is down (that the server will be down for LONG and chances that it is down was already covered in the first paragraph, I hope). Also make sure you include that they will not get a SINGLE EMail when (NOT if!) the servers fail, and for as long as the servers are down, no electronic communication AT ALL with the outside world and the other offices, or with clients! No mails, no files, no reports, NOTHING will come in and go out when the servers fail!
Pull it all together and write memos. Emphasis on the s. Not one. Make sure you write to them until you get a reply, don't let it rest, make sure that they understand the urgency and that it is a serious, serious, SERIOUS problem to the company. Make sure they understand that everything your company does stands and falls with the availability of the servers and their services. That nobody can be productive when your department is working at sub-par conditions.
Also, look around for possible solutions. Is there some space where you could put a server? Is there a way you could "grow" your space at the expense of some other department? Try to offer a solution, not only a problem. For two reasons: NObody likes a complaint (sounds like "waaah, I'm unhappy"), and when you already offer a solution, your chances are good that they will be picked up instead of a manager trying to come up with an idea. This is bad for two reasons: First and foremost, he has NO clue what you and your servers need, you might end up with a server in a toilet right under the water reservoir. And second, they will decide it behind your back, without you having a say in it, and they will try to meet your bare minimum requirements (if at all).
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.